National Geographic’s Director of Photography Kurt Mutchler weighs in on the magazine’s 21 awards at this year’s Pictures of the Year International competition.

“Winning POYI really speaks to our talented visual staff—from our photo editors to our design editors, and of course our amazing photographers. It really is a community effort.

“I’m very, very proud because we really won for stories. National Geographic is all about the story. I was reading an article in this morning’s newspaper that said that if people have to wait longer than the blink of an eye, they get irritated. So our attention span is getting as short as a blink of an eye. And what the Geographic is so good at is making people slow down and look at the world around them. I think these POYI awards are testament to that.”

National Geographic’s Picture of the Year International Awards 2011

National Geographic
First Place: Best Use of Photography (Magazine)

“Vietnam’s Infinite Cave” — January 2011
Award of Excellence: Science/Natural History Picture Story
Third Place: Feature Story Editing (Magazine/Newspaper)

“Opium Wars” — February 2011
Award of Excellence: Issue Reporting Story (Magazine)

“The Coming Storm: Bangladesh” — May 2011
Award of Excellence: Issue Reporting Story (Magazine)

“Yosemite: Daring. Defiant. Free.” — May 2011
Second Place: Feature Story Editing (Magazine/Newspaper)

“Too Young to Wed” — June 2011
First Place: Issue Reporting Story (Magazine)
Second Place: Portrait
Second Place: Issue Reporting Story (Multimedia)
Second Place: Issue Reporting Picture Story (Freelance/Agency)

“Africa’s Super Park” — June 2011
Award of Excellence: Feature Story Editing (Magazine/Newspaper)

“Baghdad After the Storm” — July 2011
First Place: Feature Story Editing (Magazine/Newspaper)

“The Tuareg: Lost Lords of the Sahara” — September 2011
Award of Excellence: Feature Picture Story

“Rift in Paradise” — November 2011
Award of Excellence: Science/Natural History Picture Story

“A Cry for the Tiger” — December 2011
Winner: Global Vision Award
Award of Excellence: Science/Natural History Picture Story

“Japan’s Nuclear Refugees” — December 2011
Finalist: Global Vision Award
First Place: News Story Editing (Magazine/Newspaper)

“Rhino Wars” — March 2012
First Place: Science/Natural History Picture Story

“7 Billion”
First Place: Series or Special Section (Magazine Edition)

“Visions”
Third Place: Series or Special Section (Magazine Edition)

Sarah Leen, Senior Photo Editor
Second Place: Picture Editing Portfolios

For updates, follow @NatGeoMag on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.