Shortlisted: Pooyan Shadpoor, Houcheraghi. While walking along the shore of Larak, Iran – an island in the Persian Gulf – Shadpoor came across this luminous scene. The “magical lights of (the) plankton ... enchanted me so that I snapped the shot”, he writes. (Photo by Pooyan Shadpoor/2016 EPOTY)

In this July 24, 2016 photo, a pilgrim takes a bath in a sacred mud pool during the annual Voodoo celebration in Plaine-du-Nord, Haiti, Saturday, July 23, 2016. Pilgrims come to bathe in the mud and make offerings expecting a miracle. (Photo by Dieu Nalio Chery/AP Photo)

An Iranian man sells colorful ropes at the Tehrans old Bazaar, the place where the main economy trades take place, in Tehran, Iran, 25 January 2016. Reports state that Iranian officials expected the Iranian economy to grow on an average of eight percent over the coming five years following the lifting of sanctions against Iran. (Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA)

A thirsty timber wolf, Lithuania, 2018. (Photo by Erikas Plucas/Alamy Stock Photo)

Police intervene as two women fight at a pro-law enforcement rally that clashed with counter protesters demonstrating against racial inequality, in Denver, Colorado, U.S. July 19, 2020. (Photo by Kevin Mohatt/Reuters)

Almost two years old male baby orang-utan Dalai looks on in the zoo in Dresden, Germany, 30 March 2017. Dalai was born to mother Daisy in June 2016. (Photo by Filip Singer/EPA)

An Emirati child plays with an airplane model near the venue of the Mazayin Dhafra Camel Festival, on December 20, 2012 near the city of Madinat Zayed, 150 kms west of Abu Dhabi. The festival, which attracts participants from around the Gulf region, includes a camel beauty contest, a display of UAE handcrafts and other activities aimed at promoting the country's folklore. (Photo by Karim Sahib/AFP Photo)

Hungarians witness the fallen statue of communist leader Josef Stalin in front of the National Theater in Budapest on October 24, 1956. Demonstrators revolting against communist rule in Hungary pulled the statue to the ground at Dozsa Gyorgy on Oct. 23 and hauled it by tractor to Blaha Lujza where it was later smashed to pieces by the people. (Photo by Arpad Hazafi/AP Photo)