Pangolins in Crisis: Brent Stirton, South Africa; 1st place, Natural world and wildlife. “Pangolins are the world’s most illegally trafficked mammals, with an estimated one million trafficked to Asia in the last 10 years. Their scales are used in traditional Chinese and Vietnamese medicine, and their meat is sold as a high-priced delicacy. As a result, pangolins are listed as critically endangered and anyone who trades or consumes them is breaking the law. This body of work exposes the trade, while exploring aspects of illegality and celebrating the people who are trying to save these animals”. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Sony World Photography Awards 2020)

A young woman poses for a selfie at Red Square which is under preparations for the Victory Parade during sunset in Moscow, Russia, Monday, April 26, 2021. Russia will celebrate celebrate 76 years of the victory in WWII on May 9, 2021. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

A model parades an outfit by Australian label Micky In The Van at Melbourne Fashion Week in Melbourne on November 18, 2021. As Australian labels were paraded on the runway at Melbourne Fashion Week, protests took place outside by female warehouse workers claiming they are earning up to $10 less an hour than male counterparts. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

Young women dance a group dance at the Palace Square in St.Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, September 24, 2020. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Twenty-four-year-old Maryam Aghayee makes hyper-realistic baby dolls acting as surrogates for some Iranian families who are apprehensive of having more children. “It has been about three or four months since I started this work”, says Maryam in Tehran, Iran on October 7, 2020. “After making my second doll, many orders have been coming in. The second doll was much more realistic than the previous one. After making my second doll, I said that from now on I can take customer orders. I did not intend to start a business from the beginning because it was a hobby, but after the second doll, the demand for these kinds of dolls increased, customers want to have such dolls”. (Photo by Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)

Police officers detain a FEMEN naked activist during an action at the Poland embassy in Kiev on October 26, 2020 in support of Polish women in their right to abortion. (Photo by Sergei Supinsky/AFP Photo)

A woman wearing a protective face mask carries her pet cat in a backpack as they wait to cross a street, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Barcelona, Spain on April 9, 2021. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

Rice seedling festival is a traditional folk festival in longji, guangxi, China on June 9, 2019, during grain in ear season. (Photo by Costfoto/Barcroft Media)