More From Picture Of the Year Awards

Award of Excellence
Milan RadisicsFreelance
"Solar Eclipse from Apajpuszta" Capturing this image of a solar eclipse involved thorough preparation and a little luck for nature photographer Mil�n Radisics. He began by creating and studying digital replications of the phenomenon, and then took to the road in search of an ideal location from which to shoot. On the morning of the eclipse Radisics set up in Apajpuszta, near Budapest, but to his great disappointment, the horizon appeared impenetrably cloudy. Suddenly, as luck would have it, the tip of the sun's red crescent emerged from the haze, and he got his shot.

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Award of Excellence Bob SachaFreelance One of the most widespread allergens that set off people to sneezing and wheezing in the allergy season. Each spring, summer, and fall, tiny particles are released from trees, weeds, and grasses. These particles, known as pollen, hitch rides on currents of air. Although their mission is to fertilize parts of other plants, many never reach their targets. Instead, they enter human noses and throats, triggering a type of seasonal allergic rhinitis called pollen allergy, which many people know as hay fever or rose fever (depending on the season in which the symptoms occur). Of all the things that can cause an allergy, pollen is one of the most widespread. Many of the foods, drugs, or animals that cause allergies can be avoided to a great extent; even insects and household dust are escapable. Short of staying indoors when the pollen count is high -- and even that may not help -- there is no easy way to evade windborne pollen. People with pollen allergies often develop sensitivities to other troublemakers that are present all year, such as dust mites. For these allergy sufferers, the 'sneezin' season' has no limit. Year-round airborne allergens cause perennial allergic rhinitis, as distinguished from seasonal allergic rhinitis. Plants produce microscopic round or oval pollen grains to reproduce. In some species, the plant uses the pollen from its own flowers to fertilize itself. Other types must be cross-pollinated; that is, in order for fertilization to take place and seeds to form, pollen must be transferred from the flower of one plant to that of another plant of the same species. Insects do this job for certain flowering plants, while other plants rely on wind transport. The types of pollen that most commonly cause allergic reactions are produced by the plain-looking plants (trees, grasses, and weeds) that do not have showy flowers. These plants manufacture small, light, dry pollen granules that are custom-made for wind transport.