Third Place
Ami Vitale 
Freelance

"Panda Release"

Panda costumes are worn by caretakers inside the Wolong Nature Reserve managed by the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. Babies are born in a quiet moss and as they grow they are moved to progressively bigger, more complex and wilder enclosures, eventually learning to climb and forage for themselves. From birth, a panda slated for release will never see a human, its training administered equally by its mother and its unseen keepers in panda costumes. China released its first female, captive born panda back into the wild this year in an incredible effort to save this highly endangered species.