Every year for the past 12 years, the Smithsonian has collected some of the best photos from around the world to feature in their annual photo contest. Now that they've revealed their finalists, we finally have the opportunity to see some of the best photos from the 2014 contest, which had more than 26,500 entries done by professional photographers from 93 different countries.

The Smithsonian's photo editors chose ten finalists each from the Natural World, Travel, People, Americana, Altered Images and Mobile categories. Voting is also open for the reader's choice award, which will be awarded $500 and be presented together with the category winners ($500 prizes) and the Grand Prize photo ($2,500 prize) on March 31st. This date will also mark the opening of the 2015 competition!

The Smithsonian has a knack for collecting wonderful wildlife photos – their 'Wilderness Forever' contest had some amazing wildlife photography submissions!

More info: smithsonianmag.com (h/t: lustik)