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 woman takes photos as Mount Agung volcano sends up another plume of smoke, seen from the Kubu subdistrict in Karangasem Regency on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on July 5, 2018. Mount Agung roared to life again on July 2, belching a plume of ash 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) high, as well as temporarily shuttering the airport and grounding hundreds of flights after erupting the week before. (Photo by Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP Photo)

Chunhun (R), the leader of Japan's North Korea fan club called sengun-joshi, or military-first girls, and other members practice a Moranbong Band dance in Tokyo, Japan on November 2, 2017. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

Charli XCX performs at Hype Hotel on March 17, 2016 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Lorne Thomson/Redferns)

Visitors wear shirts with an image of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong at the Shanghai World Expo site in Shanghai, May 2, 2010. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

Georgia Bulldogs cheerleaders celebrate at the conclusion of the Alabama Crimson Tide versus the Georgia Bulldogs in the College Football Playoff National Championship, on January 10, 2022, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo (R) seen at BRIT Awards 2022 Sam Fender's After Party at Four Quarters in Peckham on February 08, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Neil Mockford/Ricky Vigil M/GC Images)

Two monitor lizards wrestle at Singapore Botanic Gardens on February 7, 2022. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)