Shooting star by Tony Wu, US/Japan. Winner, underwater. The electrifying reproductive dance of a giant sea star. As the surrounding water filled with sperm and eggs from spawning sea stars, Wu faced several challenges. Stuck in a small, enclosed bay with only a macro lens for photographing small subjects, he backed up to squeeze the undulating sea star into his field of view. The dancing posture of spawning sea stars rising and swaying may help release eggs and sperm, or may help sweep the eggs and sperm into the currents where they fertilise together in the water. Kinko Bay, Japan. (Photo by Tony Wu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

World War II reenactors gather ahead of the 80th anniversary of the 1944 D-Day landings in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, Normandy region, France, on June 2, 2024. (Photo by Benoit Tessier/Reuters)

General view of a herbal store in Cairo, Egypt January 10, 2017. In an economic crisis that has led to a shortage of medicines, Egyptians are skipping trips to drug stores and instead turning to herbal remedies to treat every-day illnesses. (Photo by Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)

Vendors selling vegetables wait for customers under a flyover in the early morning in Ahmedabad, India on February 1, 2017. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

Customers crowd around a vibrant mango market in Bangladesh in the second decade of May 2024. Farmers transport the tropical fruit by bicycle, with each cyclist carrying about 200kg. (Photo by Bipul Ahmed/Solent News)

People and Nature category winner: Why did the sloth cross the road? by Andrew Whitworth (Osa Conservation and University of Glasgow), taken in Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. “I was driving out from the Osa Peninsula, located on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica on a dark, stormy day. This female three-toed sloth (Bradypus variegatus) had luckily just about made it across the road, and the drivers of the Toyota on this occasion had spotted her in good time”. (Photo by Andrew Whitworth/2019 British Ecological Society Photography Competition)

A fuzzy caterpillar on a basil plant in west Bengal, India on December 25, 2023. The caterpillar’s defence system is its hair, which has microscopic barbs that break off easily in the skin of would-be predators. (Photo by Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

(L-R) American rapper Doja Cat, Jeffrey “J” Cyrus and American singer-songwriter Bebe Rexha attend the 66th GRAMMY Awards on February 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)