As one of the 2009 judges, my standout image from the Travel Photographer of the Year was shot by a well-travelled hospital manager from a small village in the Netherlands. Johan Ensing's photograph of a group of fishermen cleaning their nets besides Erhai Lake was shot on a two-week trip to China. Reminiscent of the golden era of Dutch painting in its use of light and composition, it's the antithesis of the snatch-and-grab approach of most travel photography, yet clearly the half-hour he spent with his subjects didn't impinge on the timeless scene.

I was also impressed by Canadian photographer Lung Liu's picture of a sleeping child. Using a similar composition, with the frame slit by a bold vertical, it's taken from a series on her homecoming journey to her Vietnamese birthplace, once again demonstrating that story and close engagement with the subject pays.

Kevin Cozma, another Canadian, got my attention with his simple and effective photograph of a girl shooting through the sky on a swing, captured from a gravity-defying angle that captures her against vibrant tree tops. Simplicity was also key to Sue Flood's winning image of a whale, caught in close up, while Louis Montrose perfectly captured the spirit of the Festival, Fiesta & Celebration category with his ghostly shot from one of Mexico's El Dia de los Muertos processions.

But it's in the folio categories that aspiring professionals demonstrate the versatility you need to shoot travel, and the ability to form a coherent story from a series of images. This year's winner, GMB Akash, a photojournalist from Bangladesh, hit the mark with two series from his home country, including a story (overleaf) on train passengers, for whom free rooftop travel is an everyday commute.

My personal favourite, however, was shot by a 21-year-old Swedish student, Martin Edstrom, whose Men of the Atlantic captures life on the ocean precipice with a story on a fishing town in Cape Verde. With several well-worked stories under his belt, and commissions from the likes of the Red Cross and Saab, he's definitely one to watch.