Demonstrators celebrate with green headscarves - the symbol of abortion rights activists – outside the Argentine Congress in Buenos Aires on December 11, 2020, after legislators passed a bill to legalize abortion. (Photo by Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP Photo)

Mortuary workers walk past a Christmas tree as they remove the body of an elderly person who died of COVID-19 from a nursing home in downtown Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, December 23, 2020. (Photo by Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo)

Artist Sayna Soleimanpour shaves her legs in a bathtub as she performs a photoshoot in protest against the mistreatment and alienation of Turkish women based on their clothing, during a two-day curfew amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on a street leading to the historical Galata Tower in Istanbul, Turkey, late December 25, 2020. (Photo by Umit Bektas/Reuters)

Breath of an Arctic fox by Marco Gaiotti, Italy. Marco was watching this little Arctic fox as it incessantly called another nearby. Gradually he noticed the fox’s wet breath was quickly freezing in the air after each call. It was late winter in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, and the air was -35C (-31F). Photographing Arctic foxes is often frustrating, as they are normally running around fast in search of food, but this one was very relaxed and let Marco get close enough to focus on it, with the light glowing perfectly in the background. (Photo by Marco Gaiotti/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021)

Aurorae category runner-up: Lone Tree under a Scandinavian Aurora by Tom Archer (UK). The photographer decided to explore the area around the hotel on a very crisp -35C evening in Finnish Lapland. When he found this tree, he decided to wait for the misty conditions to change and could not believe his luck when the sky cleared and the aurora came out in the perfect spot. Archer spent about an hour photographing it before his camera started to lock up because of the harsh conditions, but by then he was happy to call it a night. (Photo by Tom Archer/2020 Astronomy Photographer of the Year)

Aleksandra Miroslaw, of Poland, competes during the speed portion of the women's sport climbing final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, August 6, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Tsuyoshi Ueda/Pool Photo via AP Photo)

A demonstrator plays the role of person hanging herself during a protest over the Thai government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and to demand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha's resignation, in Bangkok, Thailand, September 6, 2021. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

People walk past the sculpture by artist Danger Dave titled “Damien Hirst looking for sharks” at the Swell Sculpture Festival at Currumbin Beach on the Gold Coast, Australia, 17 September 2021. The Swell Sculpture Festival is the largest outdoor art exhibition in Queensland and features 65 large scale contemporary sculptures set along Currumbin Beach. (Photo by Darren England/EPA/EFE)