“The fantastic landscape of Bagan in Myanmar features hundreds of temples and pagodas as far as the eye can see. Experiencing this sight at dawn from the basket of a hot air balloon will remain engraved in my memory for ever. Mick Ryan, judge – What a magical photograph and place. The Buddhist temples and pagodas fill the plains of Bagan in Myanmar at sunrise… the golden hour providing beautiful light to illuminate the retrogression of the temples and balloons toward a misty, mountainous distance. An excellent, exotic photograph that makes you want to book a flight”. (Photo by Alastair Swan/The Guardian)

Nyaueth by Peter Zelewski – £2,000 third prize winner. This was taken near London’s Oxford Street as part of Zelewski’s series Beautiful Strangers. Zelewski explains: ‘The aim of Beautiful Strangers is to challenge the concept of traditional beauty with a series of spontaneous street portraits of everyday citizens who show character, uniqueness and a special inner quality’. (Photo by Peter Zelewski/Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2015)

A dancer poses for a photograph as part of the “Dance as Art” photo project in Times Square in New York, on September 22, 2014. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

A person holds an umbrella against strong wind and rain as he walks on a street Friday, June 2, 2023, in Kawasaki near Tokyo, as a tropical storm was approaching. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)

Giant panda Xiao Qi Ji plays at his enclosure at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, Thursday, September 28, 2023. (Photo by Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)

An endangered desert bighorn lamb leaps in play at a park where bighorns are tempted to leave the safety of their native habitat to eat grass and drink water in the summertime on August 9, 2023 near Indio, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

Someone struggles with an umbrella on Mudeford Quay seafront in Dorset, UK during storm Nelson on March 28, 2024. (Photo by Steve Hogan/Picture Exclusive)

In this September 19, 2019 file photo, an aircraft passes the rising sun during take off at the international airport in Frankfurt, Germany. Germany’s top court has ruled that the government has to set clear goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions after 2030, arguing that current legislation doesn’t go far enough in curbing climate change. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo/File)