Merit Prize Winner: “A Well Earned Rest in the Sahara”. This photo of Moussa Macher, our Tuareg guide, was taken at the summit of Tin-Merzouga, the largest dune (or erg) in the Tadrat region of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. Moussa rested while waiting for us to finish our 45-minute struggle to the top. It only took ten minutes of rolling, running, and jumping to get back down. The Tadrat is part of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park World Heritage area, famous for its red sand and engravings and rock paintings of cattle, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos that lived there when the climate was milder. Photo location: Summit of Tin-Merzouga, Tadrat, Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, Algeria. (Photo and caption by Evan Cole/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“The Dragon and The Hopper”. Eyrean earless dragon (Tympanocryptis tetraporophora) standing tall on a very hot rock in western Queensland. For a short time it was joined by a hopper, who jumped off before becoming lunch. (Photo by Harrison Warne/Nature Conservancy Australia 2021 Photo Contest)

Women Wrestlers, Bolivia. Lucha libre (Bolivian wrestling) is one of the most popular sports in the country. Women wrestlers are known as cholitas and have in the last ten years become popular in the sport. Here, Carmen Rosa and Yulia la Pacena perform in a benefit show to raise money for the bathrooms of a school in La Paz, Bolivia, 26 June 2011. (Photo by Daniele Tamagni)

“Red Land: Sunset Cloud Village is one of the most picturesque places in Red Land, China. As its name indicates, it's best to see before sunset. The reddish brown soil turns redder after rainfall and after farmers plow the land”. (Photo and comment by Peng Jiang/National Geographic Photo Contest via The Atlantic)

A man in traditional costume tunes his guitar before performing in a traditional Verdiales Flamenco contest on December 28, 2011 in Malaga, Spain. Verdiales is a style of Flamenco thought to originate near the Andalucian port of Malaga, and is performed by groups of musicians known as “Pandas” during the contest held in the outskirts of the city. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

South Korean divers prepare to plunge through a hole in the ice of the frozen Imjin River on January 16, 2005 in Yeonchun, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

A dog named Yoda looks on during the 23rd Annual World's Ugliest Dog Contest at the Sonoma-Marin County Fair on June 24, 2011 in Petaluma, California. Yoda won the $1,000 top prize as the world's ugliest dog. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Competitors prepare backstage before the 2015 Brazil Miss and Mister Fitness contest in Sao Paulo, Brazil, June 18, 2015. Some 96 men and women from all across the country competed in the event. (Photo by Paulo Whitaker/Reuters)