Aurorae category runner-up: Lone Tree under a Scandinavian Aurora by Tom Archer (UK). The photographer decided to explore the area around the hotel on a very crisp -35C evening in Finnish Lapland. When he found this tree, he decided to wait for the misty conditions to change and could not believe his luck when the sky cleared and the aurora came out in the perfect spot. Archer spent about an hour photographing it before his camera started to lock up because of the harsh conditions, but by then he was happy to call it a night. (Photo by Tom Archer/2020 Astronomy Photographer of the Year)

In this Tuesday, June 23, 2015, photo, an Israeli vendor waits for clients at the southern Israeli town of Sderot, next to the Israel-Gaza border. A year after the Gaza war, the community in southern Israel, long battered by rockets from the Hamas-run territory next door, has slowly recovered and is even seeing a quiet boom. (Photo by Oded Balilty/AP Photo)

Behaviour winner; Courting Royals: two royal terns in courtship display by Kristian Bell. Another beautiful morning on a beautiful beach on the Gulf Coast of Florida seemed to prompt these two royal terns to commence an intricate courtship dance. The photograph was taken with a Canon 300mm lens and 2x extender. (Photo by Kristian Bell/Deakin University/Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2018)

An observer watches the Perseid meteor shower at Mount Hamilton in California, United States on August 13, 2023. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Buddhist monks take shelter under a tarpaulin sheet to protect themselves from the rain as they attend the birthday celebrations of the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama (unseen) at Drepung Loseling Monastery in Mundgod, in the southern state of Karnataka, India, July 6, 2016. (Photo by Abhishek N. Chinnappa/Reuters)

Participants in fancy costumes take part in march during the Prague Pride parade in downtown Prague, Czech Republic, 10 August 2019. Several thousands of people attended the 9th Prague Pride to support the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) communities. (Photo by Martin Divisek/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A Nihang' or Sikh warrior performs “Gatka”, an ancient form of Sikh martial arts, during a Fateh Divas celebration a day after the Hindu festival Diwali, in Amritsar on November 5, 2021. (Photo by Narinder Nanu/AFP Photo)

Russian communists lay flowers at Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's tomb on Red Square next to the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia, December 21, 2015. Russian communists are marking the 136th anniversary of Josef Stalin's birthday. (Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA)