Pangolins in Crisis: Brent Stirton, South Africa; 1st place, Natural world and wildlife. “Pangolins are the world’s most illegally trafficked mammals, with an estimated one million trafficked to Asia in the last 10 years. Their scales are used in traditional Chinese and Vietnamese medicine, and their meat is sold as a high-priced delicacy. As a result, pangolins are listed as critically endangered and anyone who trades or consumes them is breaking the law. This body of work exposes the trade, while exploring aspects of illegality and celebrating the people who are trying to save these animals”. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Sony World Photography Awards 2020)

Syrian boys play with plastic guns on the first day of the Muslim religious festival of Eid al-Adha in al-Dana in Syria's rebel-controlled Idlib region, near the border with Turkey, on August 11, 2019. Muslims across the world are celebrating the first day of the Feast of Sacrifice, which marks the end of the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and commemorates prophet Abraham's sacrifice of a lamb after God spared Ishmael, his son. (Photo by Aaref Watad/AFP Photo)

Farmer Ash Whitney stands in the middle of a dried-up dam in a drought-effected paddock on his property located west of the town of Gunnedah in New South Wales, Australia, June 3, 2018. “I have been here all my life, and this drought is feeling like it will be around a while”, said Whitney. (Photo by David Gray/Reuters)

Women smeared with “Gulal” as they celebrate Holi, the Hindu spring festival of colours, in Kolkata on March 25, 2024. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP Photo)

Kalep, 5, in a bear costume, participates in parade where his father Johnny Lopez was the Elder Angel, during the Oruro Carnival, a traditional celebration that can be traced back to the indigenous Ito festival, in Oruro, Bolivia February 26, 2022. (Photo by Wara Vargas/Reuters)

Pawel Karpinski and Nadine Kinczel of Poland dance as they compete during IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport European Championships in Lomianki near Warsaw, November 9, 2014. (Photo by Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

Armed with only paper, graphite and coloured pencils – plus his vivid imagination – the artist creates remarkable drawings that leap from the page when photographed. The 32-year-old, from Alkmaar in Holland, began experimenting with anamorphic 3D drawing five years ago. Photo: Ramon Bruin’s 3D illustration of two twins drawing each other. (Photo by Ramon Bruin/Medavia)

The sun rises over the north sea as The Couple by artist Sean Henery sits just of the coast at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, England, Wednesday October 8, 2014. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/AP Photo/PA Wire)