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)

“Hatem Moussa joined The Associated Press as a photojournalist in 1998. Since then, the Gaza City-based Moussa has covered repeated rounds of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in Gaza, including the wars of 2008-9, 2012 and 2014”. – Associated Press. Photo: A Palestinian youth jumps into the Mediterranean sea on the beach at the port of Gaza City, Gaza, Monday, August 27, 2012. (Photo by Hatem Moussa/AP Photo)

Tokyo DisneySea at Urayasu, Chiba prefecture, is holding Christmas festivities each night until December 25, 2012. At neighboring Tokyo Disneyland, the Christmas Fantasy parade is held twice daily at the theme park. (Photo by Disneyland)

Barrier tape is tied around 15-month-old Shivani's ankle to prevent her from running away, while her mother Sarta Kalara works at a construction site nearby, in Ahmedabad, India, April 19, 2016. Kalara says she has no option but to tether her daughter Shivani to a stone despite her crying, while she and her husband work for 250 rupees ($3.8) each a shift digging holes for electricity cables in the city of Ahmedabad. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

The HFR x LeBron 16 shoe is unveiled at the Harlem Fashion Row show and awards ceremony before the start of New York Fashion Week, Tuesday, September 4, 2018. (Photo by Diane Bondareff/AP Photo)

A person walks through the Brooklyn Bridge during a snow storm, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in New York City, New York, U.S., February 1, 2021. (Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

Cloud inversion taken at Sunrise in Mam Tor, Derbyshire, UK on August 30, 2016. (Photo by David Zdanowicz/REX Shutterstock)

Thousands gather to rally for marriage equality ahead of a national postal survey on September 10, 2017 in Sydney, Australia. The High Court handed down its decision on Thursday to allow the government's proposed postal ballot survey to go ahead. Ballots with the question “Should the law be changed to allow same-sеx couples to marry?” will be sent to households across Australia on September 12. (Photo by Jonny Weeks/The Guardian)