Sand won the hearts of judges in The Bee's 16th annual Travel Photo Contest. A Washington beach at sunset earned first place in the West Coast category, and a towering African dune was the winner in the World category.

More than 1,000 entries were judged. Winners in each category were awarded $300, second places got $150, and third places, $50. The judges -- Bee staff members and a member of the Cosumnes River College faculty -- also awarded an honorable mention in each category.

Heather Cline of Carmichael won the West Coast category with her photo of a sunset on Crescent Beach in Washington state.

Mai Harvill of Sacramento wowed judges to win first in the World category with a shot of a Namibian sand dune at sunrise.

Overall, judges were impressed with the quality of submissions, but wished they'd seen more people in the photographs. Entries mostly focused on scenic settings.

"Where are the people?" asked Bee staff photographer Randy Pench while judging an entry with two empty Adirondack chairs in the foreground.

Jim West, Cosumnes River College photographer and a judge, observed that in a contest judged by photojournalists and sponsored by a newspaper, people are important in photos.

Barbara Stubbs, The Bee's assistant design director for features, also served as a judge. All entries were screened for the four judges by Mark Morris, Bee director of photography.

Below are small versions of the winning photographs; see Pages M1 and M6 for large images.

First place, West Coast

"Crescent Beach Sunset" by Heather Cline, Carmichael

Cline nearly missed her opportunity.

"I was chatting with somebody on the beach and almost missed the shot," she said.

On a driving trip to Alaska, Cline had been camping across the street from the beach, near Port Angeles, Wash. The day was cloudy and foggy, but when the sun peeked through before sunset, she clicked off the winner.

"What I really liked was the added box where you could look inside the driftwood and there was a frame within a frame," said Pench. "It's quiet, serene -- a place people might seek out."

As a credit analyst, Cline was seeking out those types of places while on vacation.

"My job and my photography are totally different," she said. "I sit at a desk and look at loans all day."

First place, World

"Sunrise at the Dunes at Sossusvlei" by Mai Harvill, Sacramento

Red, orange or pink, the Sossusvlei Dunes in Namibia show different colors depending on time of day. Harvill, traveling with her godmother, awoke early and set out for the dunes, the tallest in the world.

"To get that good color you have to be there when the sun is coming up," said Harvill. "We got up at 5 or so, and the sun was just coming up. There were already people up there."

"The simplicity, the color, it just slices through the brain," Pench said about Harvill's photo.

She had other photos she considered entering, including a couple of Victoria Falls (on the Zambezi River between Zimbabwe and Zambia) shot from a helicopter. But it was sunrise at the dunes that made the lasting impression and became her first-ever photo contest entry.

"We had to get up early all the time in Africa," she said. "I really noticed how beautiful sunrises and sunsets are in that part of the world."

Second place, World

"Tibetan Woman at Gyantse Horse Festival" by Bill Roe, Davis

Roe credits good fortune for an event that attracted thousands of rural people.

"The scene was glorious," he said. "There must have been 10,000 rural people who had assembled for this horse festival. Other than a few Chinese soldiers, they were all Tibetan."

As riders performed acrobatic feats on horseback, Roe said, the crowd became "totally engrossed." Those at the back, like the old woman, couldn't see as well.

"She was trying to see what was going on and I was trying to photograph her," he said.

"She's not looking into the lens, so it doesn't feel so posed," said judge Sue Morrow.

West called the photo "a beautiful image," and Stubbs was impressed with the rich colors.

The Bee's Dan Vierria can be reached at (916) 321-1119 or dvierria@sacbee.com.