Tony North; First place, Breathing Spaces; Overall Winner; Blue Tajinaste, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. “Echium thyrsiflorum is endemic to the mountains of La Palma island – from high up, there was a magnificent view of both the caldera below, and the stars above. The Unesco La Palma biosphere reserve encompasses the entire island, with the Caldera de Taburiente containing mountains with a highest peak of 2,426 metres – the Roque de los Muchachos”. (Photo by Tony North/IGPOTY)

A person practices ski-joering at the Avoriaz resort in the French Alps on February 11, 2021. (Photo by Jeff Pachoud/AFP Photo)

French model Frédérique Bel attends the screening of “Top Gun: Maverick” during the 75th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 18, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters)

A newly hatched chick cuddles up to its mother at Santee Lakes near San Diego, California in May 2023. (Photo by Tammy Kokjohn/Solent News)

Canada's Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps perform in the gala exhibition during the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Beijing on December 10, 2023. (Photo by Wang Zhao/AFP Photo)

Buyan, a male Siberian brown bear, cools down under a stream of water sprayed by an employee in an enclosure on a hot summer day, at the Royev Ruchey zoo in Krasnoyarsk, Russia on June 14, 2019. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Some dozens of long-finned pilot whales lay dead on a remote beach in Iceland after they were discovered by tourists sightseeing in the Snaefellsnes Peninsula in western Iceland aboard a helicopter, Thursday July 18, 2019. The whales were concentrated in one spot on the beach, many partially covered by sand. (Photo by David Schwarzhans via AP Photo)

A visitor takes a selfie with “The Breach” by Leandro Erlich, during a photo call for Kew Gardens' forthcoming “Food Forever” exhibition, examining the fragile future of food and the impact of our day-to-day eating habits on the planet, at the Royal Botanic Gardens, in Kew, Richmond, Surrey on Thursday, June 16, 2022. (Photo by Dominic Lipinski/PA Images via Getty Images)