These images were among those I entered into international photo competitions and received distinction of some kind: one won top prize in its category, another received a judge's commendation, another 6 made it into the top 100 round, and 13 more made it into the final judging or shortlist round (typically about the top 5% of all entries).  All the contests had at least 5000 entries submitted, and some had as many 190,000.