Honorable Mention: “The Storm”. During I was taking photo with my nephew, the storm came and I caught this beautiful moment. Photo location: Kocaeli, Turkey. (Photo and caption by Aytül Akbaş/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Stadium security stop a pitch invader during the UEFA EURO 2020 Group B football match between Finland and Belgium at Saint Petersburg Stadium in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on June 21, 2021. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/Pool via AFP Photo)

An Afghan laborer works at a brick kiln, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, 24 February 2020. Afghan President Ghani said on 21 February, said that a seven-day reduction in violence promised by the Taliban will determine the government's next steps in Afghanistan's peace process. The Taliban has announced a decrease in hostilities in an agreement with the United States as a preliminary step to signing a peace deal with Washington on 29 February. (Photo by Ghulamullah Habibi/EPA/EFE)

Amar, who is one-and-a-half years old and a Syrian refugee living in Turkey, looks on as the search for survivors continues in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey on February 13, 2023. (Photo by Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

A Palestinian child plays with a sparkler in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on the eve of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan on March 10, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Photo by Said Khatib/AFP Photo)

A street performer walks past an image of a Russian serviceman reading “The Motherland we defend” at a street exhibition of military photos in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. A campaign to replenish Russian troops in Ukraine with more soldiers appears to be underway again, with makeshift recruitment centers popping up in cities and towns, and state institutions posting ads promising cash bonuses and benefits to entice men to sign contracts enabling them to be sent into the battlefield. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)

A man gestures during a demonstration over police killings of people protesting against the imposition of tax hikes by the government, in Nairobi, Kenya on July 2, 2024. (Photo by Monicah Mwangi/Reuters)

Pixie Howitt,left, Jada-Jo Branney and Darcey McKechnie, pupils at the Dance School of Scotland, pose alongside works in the exhibition Discovering Degas: Collecting in the Time of Sir William Burrell, in Glasgow on September 3, 2024. (Photo by Wattie Cheung/The Times)