Activists and supporters of Ukrainian nationalist groups light flares during a rally to mark the third anniversary of the Euromaidan Revolution in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, 21 November 2016. About one thousand activists took park in the rally during which they burned tires on the Independence Square, destroyed the Russian bank Sberbank and broke windows in the office of a Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, according to Ukrainian media. (Photo by Roman Pilipey/EPA)

A man lights up his cigarette with the flames of a bus burned by anti-government demonstrators during a protest against the constitutional amendment PEC 55, which limits public spending, in front of Brazil's National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil December 13, 2016. (Photo by Adriano Machado/Reuters)

For the Torajan people of Indonesia, death is part of a spiritual journey: families keep the mummified remains of their deceased relatives in their homes for years – and traditionally invite them to join for lunch on a daily basis – before they are eventually buried. Here: Todeng died in 2009. A young relative of his, Sam, lights him a cigarette and changes his glasses. (Photo by Claudio Sieber Photography/The Guardian)

Shortlisted: Pooyan Shadpoor, Houcheraghi. While walking along the shore of Larak, Iran – an island in the Persian Gulf – Shadpoor came across this luminous scene. The “magical lights of (the) plankton ... enchanted me so that I snapped the shot”, he writes. (Photo by Pooyan Shadpoor/2016 EPOTY)

A person lights fire crackers during the celebrations of Mawlid al-Nabi, the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad, in Hyderabad, Pakistan, 04 September 2025. Mawlid is observed on the 12th day of Rabi al-Awwal (the third month of the Islamic calendar) in Sunni Islam and on the 17th day in Shiite Islam. (Photo by Nadeem Khawar/EPA)

Will Rosner and a playful humpback whale pose for a selfie. This man is certainly knows how to enjoy life travelling the South Pacific and posing for selfies with a whale. Australian carpenter Will Rosner, 24, from Sydney, Australia, has been travelling the world for the past 18 months but nothing could have prepared him for this incredible postcard moment. Swimming in the pristine waters of the Tonga in the Pacific Ocean Will was lucky enough to have the chance to swim with an entire pod of humpback whales. (Photo by WIll Rosner/Caters News)

Professional conceptual category winner. Greetings from Mars, by Julien Mauve, France. Mauve says: “I have always wondered what it would be like to discover a totally different world ... and to photograph it for the first time as if I was Ansel Adams. So I came up with this project, which is about space exploration and discovery. But it’s also about our behavior in front of landscapes and how we create pictures that will share our personal story with the world”. (Photo by Julien Mauve)

A visitor looks at portraits of Mao Zedong amid his statues on display at a wholesale souvenir store in Shaoshan, Hunan Province in central China, 28 April 2016. Shaoshan is the hometown of former Communist leader Mao Zedong, popularly known as Chairman Mao. Thousands of visitors descend on this small Chinese town burrowed in the hills of Central China's Hunan province to pay homage to the “Great Helmsman” everyday. It is one of the core sites of the “Red Tourism” industry, where communist party cadres and ordinary Chinese tourists alike seek to relive the experiences and rekindle the spirit of the revolutionaries. (Photo by How Hwee Young/EPA)