Merit: A Night at Deadvlei. The night before returning to Windhoek, we spent several hours at Deadveli. The moon was bright enough to illuminate the sand dunes in the distance, but the skies were still dark enough to clearly see the milky way and magellanic clouds. Deadveli means “dead marsh. The camelthorn trees are believed to be about 900 years old, but have not decomposed because the environment is so dry. (Photo and caption by Beth McCarley/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

Italian photographer and illustrator Giulia Pex has made a statement to the world using her dual crafts. She declared boldly “Dad, You Are My Favorite Superhero” by taking a series of family photographs of her father in ordinary settings.

Commuters attempt to shelter as they cross London Bridge during wet and windy weather in Central London on November 1, 2023. Yellow weather warnings for wind and rain are in place for parts of England as Storm Ciarán begins to influence weather in the United Kingdom. (Photo by George Cracknell Wright)

National Guardsmen are put through riot training in Boston's Commonwealth Armory on Friday, October 18, 1974. Massachusetts Gov. Francis W. Sargent called up the guard to quell school violence, but the city has been relatively calm and the guard has remained in the armories. (Photo by JWG/AP Photo)

A participant wearing Kokoshnik, the Russian traditional headwear, walks out of the water during winter swimming festival in the town of Podolsk, south of Moscow, Russia January 5, 2017. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

A man helps a child to dress as Jawa, a character from the Star Wars movie series, during an event organised by Star Wars fan club Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico, December 13, 2015. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

A member of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or the National Volunteers Association keeps watch from the top of a tree as others sit on the ground during their daylong camp on the outskirts of Pune, Maharashtra state, India, Sunday, January 3, 2016. Hindus, make up more than 80 percent of India's population of 1.25 billion. (Photo by Rafiq Maqbool/AP Photo)

American rapper Cardi B, left, with American model Slick Woods, right, at the Moschino Miami Party, Art Basel, Miami Beach, Florida, USA on December 7, 2017. (Photo by Griffin Lipson/BFA/Rex Features/Shutterstock)