2024 Photo Contest Winners
Prepare to be wowed by the winning images from our annual photo contest
Thousands of entries poured in for the 2024 AAA World Photo Contest. Our staff selected 25 semifinalists, with you, our members, then voting for your favorites in the gallery at AAA.com/PhotoContest. We then awarded a grand-prize winner with a $1,000 Visa gift card and four runners-up with a $100 Visa gift card each.
Here, we showcase the runner-up images and, on the following page, the grand-prize-winning photo.
AAA World 2024 Photo Contest Winner:
Shake It Off! by Leigh Scott
In early July 2022, Leigh Scott took an hourlong seaplane flight to reach Katmai National Park & Preserve in Alaska. There, where Brooks Falls bisects 1.5-mile-long Brooks River, she saw many bears fishing for the salmon that are present in large concentrations. She set her sights on one bear in particular and kept photographing, capturing the bear in this dramatic moment.
“Survival in the Alaskan wilderness is challenging for bears, with a short summer season and a long winter. The mission of the bears is simple: to catch and eat as many salmon as possible so that they become fat enough to survive the long, cold winter,” Scott says.
Scott’s perfectly timed and artistically composed shot was chosen as the best photo in the 2024 contest.
First Runner-Up:
Lake Wānaka, New Zealand by Monika Jaeger
The sun’s rays over the mountains and Lake Wānaka in New Zealand’s South Island bring a peaceful essence to this golden shot of sleeping birds on a lone tree.
Second Runner-Up:
Cape Elizabeth by Mariann Mudd
This image of Portland Head Light at Fort Williams Park in Maine was captured as the sun set, a colorful background to complement the fall foliage.
Third Runner-Up:
Brotherly Love by Kara P.
Pure love radiates from this sweet moment of two adorable young boys hugging at the Choctaw-Apache Annual Pow Wow in Louisiana.
Fourth Runner-Up:
Reflections in Strasbourg by Trish Caron
This stunning photograph was taken in Strasbourg, France’s La Petite France quarter with its German-inspired half-timbered homes and colorful flowers mirrored in the canals.