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)

A hogweed bonking beetle and yellow dung fly in a stalk standoff (the fly gave in), in Burley-in-Wharfedale, Yorkshire, England. (Photo by Rebecca Cole/Alamy Stock Photo)

In this aerial file photo taken on Tuesday, October 31, 2017, a woman walks past a statue of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan. The thousands of statues of Vladimir Lenin spread across the vast region bring to mind poet Vladimir Mayakovsky's ringing line of devotion: “Lenin lived, Lenin lives, Lenin will live”. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

These snaps were captured by a pro phone camera photographer. You can see the intricate detail in each shot, from the shining eyes of the insects to the tiny water droplets that splash down on them. Here: Komangs macro photography of insects using his Samsung Galaxy J7 and homemade camera lens in Bali, Indonesia. (Photo by Komang Wirnata/Caters News Agency)

Forgotten Guerrero. A female member of the community defence force holds her weapon. Since early 2019, the village has been attacked repeatedly by Los Ardillos cartel, prompting residents to take action. Rincón de Chautla, Guerrero, 10 June 2019. (Photo by Alfredo Bosco/Luz with the support of Le Figaro Magazine, Winner of the 2020 Humanitarian Visa d’or award, International Committee of the Red Cross/International Festival of Photojournalism 2020)

Times Square was one of many NYC locations where thousands filled the crossroads of the world to celebrate the Biden/Harris election win over Donald Trump on Saturday, November 7, 2020. This couple was thrilled with the news reenacting the famous sailor nurse WW2 victory in Times Square kiss. (Photo by Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Fallen leaves cover the undergrowth as a commuter on a bicycle makes her way through the Tiergarten park in central Berlin on December 7, 2020. (Photo by Odd Andersen/AFP Photo)

U.S. Capitol Police with guns drawn stand near a barricaded door as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, in Washington. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/AP Photo)