National Geographic Photo Contest 2012

On May 1, 2008, National Geographic won three National Magazine Awards—an award solely for its written content—in the reporting category for an article by Peter Hessler on the Chinese economy; an award in the photojournalism category for work by John Stanmeyer on malaria in the Third World; and a prestigious award for general excellence.
Controversy
Linda Steet in her book Veils and Daggers: A Century of National Geographic's Representation of the Arab World criticizes National Geographic for its masculinist rhetoric, the one-directionality of its cross-cultural contact, its claim of objectivity and representations that build layers of a... world hierarchy.