Message #238774

[Britany Lincicum]

Jeju Island

Photograph by Lonely Planet Images/Alamy

Patches of snow cover the crater on top of Mount Halla on Jeju Island in South Korea—one of the seven natural wonders of the world, according to the latest global voting competition by New7Wonders.

The final vote tally for the New 7 Wonders of Nature contest hasn't been disclosed, although New7Wonders' Weber said the count beat that of the last competition by "many hundreds of millions."

Despite its popularity, the contest has drawn criticism for being unscientific—there is no process in place to protect against repeat votes, for example—and for a lack of transparency about the criteria used to select the finalist sites.

"Some of these sites are in crisis or facing serious problems," Traveler's Christ said. "Was that looked at? Was that considered or part of the criteria?"

The foundation has already invited nominations for its next campaign: New7Wonders Cities.

Published November 14, 2011