Merit Prize Winner: “A Well Earned Rest in the Sahara”. This photo of Moussa Macher, our Tuareg guide, was taken at the summit of Tin-Merzouga, the largest dune (or erg) in the Tadrat region of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. Moussa rested while waiting for us to finish our 45-minute struggle to the top. It only took ten minutes of rolling, running, and jumping to get back down. The Tadrat is part of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park World Heritage area, famous for its red sand and engravings and rock paintings of cattle, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos that lived there when the climate was milder. Photo location: Summit of Tin-Merzouga, Tadrat, Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, Algeria. (Photo and caption by Evan Cole/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Clown/comedian/filmmaker Pierre Etaix attends The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences' Presents “Pierre Etaix: The Laughter Returns” at AMPAS Samuel Goldwyn Theater on November 16, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Valerie Macon/Getty Images)

US actress Glenn Close, US actress Sarah Paulson, US actress Teyana Taylor, US reality TV personality Kim Kardashian, US actress Niecy Nash-Betts and British actress Naomi Watts pose during a photocall for the premiere of “All's Fair” TV series in Paris on October 21, 2025. (Photo by Bertrand Guay/AFP Photo)

An attendee dressed as Winnie the Pooh talks with a member of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department during the annual pre-Halloween High Heel Race in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 28, 2025. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Reuters)

Horse riding along the beach at Frinton-on-Sea in Essex, UK on Sunday, November 30, 2025 as the sun was setting, Becky James riding Ayla. Photo by Kevin Jay/Picture Exclusive)

North Kenya, Liboi. A young Somali refugee crosses a field filled with marabous storks in July 1992. (Photo by Jean-Claude Coutausse)

Russian servicewomen take part in the Victory Day military parade rehearsal at the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, May 5, 2024. The parade will take place at Moscow's Red Square on May 9 to celebrate 79 years of the victory in WWII. (Photo by Maxim Shipenkov/Pool Photo via AP Photo)

Over 30 Douglas C-47 Skytrains (Dakotas) making final preparations for flight formation practice before the 75th D-Day Anniversary flight to Normandy in Duxford, England on June 4, 2019. (Photo by UK Air Force Images)