The Carbon County Environmental Education Center revealed the winners of their annual photo contest, with the winning entries beautifully highlighting local nature.

Laura Clarke of Albrightsville took the People's Choice award, David Levandusky of Weissport won the Wildlife category, Jean Marie Perry of Saylorsburg earned the Landscape award, and Jim Denicola of Northampton received the Landscape prize.In its fifth year, the contest has inspired locals with a love of photography and the great outdoors.Naturalist Jeannie Carl, who works at the center, proposed the idea to chief naturalist Susan Gallagher as a way to celebrate those passions."It kind of was my baby, if you will, because I belong to the Palmerton Camera Club. I enjoy getting out in nature and taking pictures, and I was interested in seeing what other people see," Carl said.Though Carl describes the contest as a small event, the center receives dozens of submissions each year, and interest seems to be increasing."We always have a nice selection. People are excited, we get the public voting on these photos. They like that, they like getting their chance to have a say, as well as our professional judge," Carl said.The broad theme of "What a Wonderful World" inspired a variety of entries highlighting shimmering waterscapes, soaring birds, and much more.Perry's macro, or extreme close-up, of an amaryllis flower captures the fine detail of its vibrant pink petals. It's a subject that she loves to focus on, and not just when it comes to photos."I'm an artist, and an art teacher. I'm always growing flowers for their beauty, drawing and photographing that. It was such a beautiful flower," Perry said.Levandusky caught a highly detailed photo of an owl, which is staring at the camera, just as it was about to enter its home."It was last year in Ephrata. I just went on over, set up, and waited for the right shot," Levandusky said of his photograph.As it turns out, when you aim to capture an image of the local fauna, waiting is the name of the game."Oh my God, yeah, that's 90 percent of it," Levandusky said. "Sometimes, you'll sit there all day and nothing, some days you get something as soon as you set up."Contest judge Joe Matukonis, a photographer himself, said that critiquing the photos was a difficult practice of evaluating many nuances."You've got to look at everything in a picture - the composition, how the background is. You see the flaws in it, or you see the beauty in it. These were pretty hard this year, there were a lot of good pictures."For those who are interested in breaking into nature photography themselves, Carl has a few words of advice."Join the Palmerton Camera Club! Don't give up, don't stop taking photos, practice, practice, practice, and get out here for next year's contest," she said.