They say a picture paints a thousand words, so we've set out to discover what photography might be able to tell us about today's Europe and are pleased to announce the winners of our January / February competition.

We had a good feeling about the topic for this edition of Europe Through a Lens and were not far wrong. Our readers responded imaginatively to the theme "European landscapes", showing the continent in all of its natural glory. With entries ranging from verdant valleys and rolling hills to desolate, wind-swept scenes, the judges faced their toughest challenge yet in deciding which photo should claim top honours.

In the end, though, it was Junyuan Chen, a Chinese photographer and winner of the competition back in November last year, whose image The lonely tree was awarded first place. Junyuan, who lives in Glasgow, captured the shot in the late afternoon at Loch Lomand, just in time for the last light of the day. He believes that the centrepiece of his prize-winning composition is probably the most photographed tree in Scotland. You can find more of Junyuan's work on his Flickr account.