Focus on Nevada: Grand Prize

Published June 1, 2014 at 5:00 AM PDT

Welcome to Desert Companion’s second annual “Focus on Nevada” photo contest. A quick note before you feast your eyes on the pages of terrific imagery that follow: This year, to bring a heightened mojo to these proceedings, we enlisted a cohort of judges — folks whose aesthetic sophistication jumped the decision-making process to a new level.

And there was plenty to judge: We received 1,442 submissions covering every conceivable permutation of our five categories: People/In the moment; artistic/abstract; landscapes/nature; places; and smartphones. The entries were strong, too; collectively they remind us what a vivid, diverse, fantastically interesting place we call home. We’re glad we had help picking the winners.

Now: enough of these words — on to the photos!