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This stunning image just won the 2015 National Geographic photo contest

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but this one is valued at $10,000.

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The National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest announced its winner on Tuesday, selecting a photo of a tornado in Colorado as the grand-prize winner:

It's by photographer James Smart of Melbourne, Australia. Last spring he spent more than two weeks chasing storms with his brother and some meteorologist friends in the United States. He captured this winning photo, titled "DIRT," outside Simla, Colorado, on the last day.

01 Grand Prize   James Smart   Dirt, national geographic 2015 photo contest winner
"DIRT": Jaw-dropping, rare anti-cyclonic tornado tracks in open farm land narrowly missing a home near Simla, Colorado. James Smart/National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest

"The tornado was slowly getting bigger as it picked up the dust and soil from the ground on the farmland," Smart said in a statement. "It wasn't moving very fast, so we kept getting closer as it tracked next to the home as you can see in the image."

"Driving down a Colorado dirt road, we were lucky enough to be on the west of the tornado, so it was front lit," Smart added. "This really helped to get great detail out of the image and the perfect light for the sky and foreground."

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Here's Smart on the job near Lamar, Colorado, last June:

 

As the grand-prize winner, Smart will receive $10,000 and a three-day trip to National Geographic headquarters in Washington, DC, where he will go behind-the-scenes of the magazine's annual photography seminar.

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