Enter the Post-Dispatch 2023 Travel Photo Contest
Last year, nearly 600 of our readers entered our annual Travel Photo Contest. Of all those entries, what were the chances that our first-place winner was the same man who won first place the year before?
Allen Ahner of Kirkwood defied those odds with his first-place photo capturing a Hmong woman walking in the fields on Horseshoe Hill in Vietnam.
In 2021 he won with a photo of “Movie Road” in California.
And if that’s not wow-inducing enough for you, he took 2022’s winning photo on a trip with eight others to Vietnam. Our third-place winner was one of those eight people on that same trip. And all three winners are members of the St. Louis Camera Club.
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Vietnamese Street Vender
Paul Kulessa – Saint Charles, Missouri
But you don’t have to be a member of a photography club to win our contest. Any amateur from the St. Louis region who traveled outside the area and took a snazzy photo could win.
So it’s time to enter your travel photos, from wherever you went, as long as it meets our criteria. This year, the winner of the Post-Dispatch’s annual travel photo contest could be your photo. We are accepting entries through Nov. 26.
A panel of Post-Dispatch journalists will choose first-, second- and third-place winners, plus honorable mentions. The winners will be announced and published Dec. 24 in the STL Life section.
Second place • Barbie Steps of University City earned second place in our contest for her photo of the northern lights in Canada.
The rules
• Deadline for submitting photos is Nov. 26.
• Only one photo may be entered per person.
• Images may be in color or black and white. The photo must have been taken between Nov. 1, 2022, and Nov. 1, 2023.
• It must come from a trip during which the photographer spent a night away from home outside the St. Louis Post-Dispatch distribution area. This means the photographer must live in our distribution area.
• Cropping is permitted. Minor burning, dodging and/or color corrections are acceptable.
• Photos believed to have been altered or have colors enhanced digitally will be disqualified. Images that combine more than one photograph, have elements digitally added or removed, or feature purposely unnatural colors also are unacceptable.
• Employees of Lee Enterprises and their relatives may not enter.
• Only amateur photographers may enter. Anyone who has sold more than one photograph for publication since January 2022 is considered a professional.
How to enter
• Go to stltoday.com/contests to enter.
• We will NOT accept photos that are mailed or emailed.
• Uploaded images should be 200 dpi and 8 inches across, horizontal or vertical. Eight inches is equivalent to 1,600 pixels, if you prefer to size it that way. Save the photo as a jpg.
• If you have any questions, email [email protected]
See the finalists from our 2022 travel photo contest
See the finalists in our 2022 Post-Dispatch Travel Photo Contest
Alpe di Siusi Sunrise
Alpe di Siusi is in the Italian Dolomites and a spectacular location for sunrise and sunset photos. The morning for added a great mood.
Dale Miller – Edwardsville, Illinois
Aqua colors
Monterey California aquarium
David Gruenenfelder – Litchfield, Illinois
Aurora Borealis over our cabins in Canada
I stayed a week in a small cabin south of Arviat on the frozen shores of Hudson Bay. I was with a group watching for polar bears to amble by while the bears are waiting for Hudson Bay itself to freeze. I was fortunate in that many polar bears and other wildlife meandered by in the day and the northern lights were spectacular in the evening! But could not ask for more!
Barbie Steps – Saint Louis, Missouri
Awesome morning
Catching the sunrise at Hilton Head each morning was a great part of our vacation. The alignment of the waves and cloud pattern caught my attention!
Brad Warner – Frontenac, Missouri
Video: 2022 Post-Dispatch Travel Photo Contest
Baboon – Lake Manyara NP Tanzania
Olive baboon watching several dozen family members cross a road in Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania
Bruce Steinke – Saint Louis, Missouri
Best Friends
Zebras hugging in the Serengeti, Tanzania.
Rob Mitchell – Clayton, Missouri
A pathway of flowers
Photo taken at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival held each April in Mount Vernon, Washington.
Jerry Thomas – Glen Carbon, Illinois
Boquillas Rider
As sunset approaches, a local resident rides his horse at the mouth of Boquillas Canyon, Big Bend National Park.
John Niebling – Saint Louis, Missouri
Cat in Saint-Paul de Vence
The perfect cat pose with a surprise in shutters
Maurice Hirsch – Chesterfield, Missouri
Croatian Sky
Zadar is an overlooked gem in Croatia. Alfred Hitchcock said it had the greatest sunsets in the world. He should have come out earlier.
David Capps – Valley Park, Missouri
Desert Camels
Camels in Wadi Rum, Jordan
Robin Snitzer – Chesterfield, Missouri
Doorway to Scotland
Inside St. Clement’s Church on the Isle of Harris, Scotland.
Becky Croxton – Alton, Illinois
Fishing with Big Daddy
I captured this photo while vacationing at Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park, CO. The boy was so engrossed in his fishing, he did not turn around to see the “Big Daddy” Elk behind him.
Denise Motta – Saint Louis, Missouri
Florida beach vacation
Running on Ormond beach
Melinda Medling – Saint Charles, Missouri
Geirangerfjord in Norway
Cruise on Geirangerfjord from Hellesylt, Norway to Geiranger, Norway.
Emily Bullard – Saint Jacob, Illinois
Giverny October 2022
Water lillies at Giverny, France
Jane Matoesian – Saint Louis, Missouri
Glacier Bay National Park
A beautiful day at sea in Glacier Bay National Park in June of 2022, Absolutely spectacular weather and scenery!
Ronald Pozzo – Saint Louis, Missouri
Glacier Morning
Nathanael Brunner – Saint Charles, Missouri
Hippo
Beautiful yet menacing hippo in Chobe NP, Botswana.
Elaine Leach – Chesterfield, Missouri
Hmong Woman at Horseshoe Hill
The terraced rice paddies in Vietnam have long been a iconic shot I’ve wanted to capture. The colors and flowing lines easily draw our attention to the young woman doing her spiritual walk in the morning.
Allen Ahner – Kirkwood, Missouri
Horseback ride on the Oregon Coast
There are so many different ways to enjoy the Oregon coast even riding a horse on the beach at sunset.
Jack Clark – Wildwood, Missouri
Joy in the simple things!
This little Ugandan girl was giggling and making the best time out of playing with a simple piece of fabric! What a beautiful spirit!
Dawn Malcolm – Ballwin, Missouri
Lake Tahoe
Hot air ballooning in South Lake Tahoe
Norm Singler – Saint Louis, Missouri
Lightening Crashes
Power of nature. New Port Richey, Florida
Michael Badolato – Wildwood, Missouri
Lighting the Tundra
The Aurora Borealis casts an eerie glow as it flickers and moves across the tundra adjacent to the Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba near Churchill, Canada.
Tom Watkins – O’Fallon, Missouri
Longs Peak Sunrise
Sunrise over Long’s Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park
Jonathan Jory – Saint Louis, Missouri
Lunch Time
An enjoyable icy Clarksville afternoon with the eagles
Donald Torlina – Valley Park, Missouri
Native Bluebird at the Grand Canyon
Beautiful Morning, Beautiful Bluebird
Carol Holmes – Saint Louis, Missouri
Northern Lights over Blachford Lake
100 miles outside of Yellowknife NWT
Fred McCall – Webster Groves, Missouri
Rainbow in Tucson
This rainbow was captured in Tucson, specifically, in the Oro Valley.
Tucson received much needed rain and this beautiful rainbow was an extra special gift.
Janice Hovis – Saint Charles, Missouri
Setting Moon over Agrigento
Full moon straddles the Temple of Hera at Agrigento, Sicily
Patrick Kelly – Saint Louis, Missouri
Sunflower Visit
Bee Catching Lunch
Diane Martin – Eureka, Missouri
Sunset at Rialto Beach
We caught the 1pm ferry to Kingston, WA, drove across the Olympic Peninsula, checked into our motel, ate dinner, and then sped over to Rialto Beach in Olympic National Park. While the sun was going down, we anxiously hiked over a mile along the beach to Split Rock. Thankfully, we were blessed with a warm breeze, cloudless sky, and receding tide as I squeezed this shot off at 8pm.
Sven White – Saint Louis, Missouri
Sunset Surfers at Hawaii’s Historic Pipeline
Pipeline on O’ahu’s north shore, arguably the most popular surf break in the world, draws crowds of surfers even as the sun slips below the horizon.
Scott Perdue – O’Fallon, Missouri
The Stalker
I shot this during a visit to Anna Maria Island FL in January 2022
Don Linhorst – Glen Carbon, Illinois
Vietnamese Street Vendor
Vietnamese Street Vender
Paul Kulessa – Saint Charles, Missouri
Woman and swans
Woman feeding swans in Bruges, Belgium
Pat Chambers – Saint Louis, Missouri
Zebra at sunset
Zebra in the Masai Mara of Kenya Africa
David Weller – Saint Louis, Missouri
Zodiac Expedition of Neko Harbor, Antarctica
It’s so beautiful. It could bring tears to your ice!
Steve Gerstenschlager – Hillsboro, Missouri
