October winner. “A burst of the aurora borealis over Kirkjufell, taken in September 2016. This shot has been a holy grail for me and was finally captured after many trips”. MICK RYAN, JUDGE: Iceland is a hotspot for aurora photography and this composition of the symmetric, free-standing Kirkjufell and the trident waterfall is much-sought after. If you can time your visit when the aurora “kp” index is high and know the settings for nighttime aurora images, you may end up with a beautiful photograph like this. (Photo by DВ/The Guardian)

British Waters Wide Angle category runner-up. Grass snake swimming along a garden pond by Jack Perks (UK)in Nottinghamshire, UK. “I’m always on the lookout for unusual freshwater subjects and grass snakes are a species I’ve been after for years. I was told about a pond where the odd grass snake hangs around the lilly pads for frogs. I put my drysuit on and got into the water and could see one slithering along the surface. Slowly making my way towards it with my head only just poking above I got the spilt shot”. (Photo by Jack Perks/Underwater Photographer of the Year 2019)

In this Sunday, September 23, 2012 file photo, masked and armed Somali pirate Hassan stands near a Taiwanese fishing vessel washed ashore after the pirates were paid a ransom and the crew were released in the once-bustling pirate den of Hobyo, Somalia. Pirates have hijacked an oil tanker off the coast of Somalia, Somali officials and piracy experts said Tuesday, March 14, 2017, in the first hijacking of a large commercial vessel there since 2012. (Photo by Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP Photo)

Sarayna Biswas, 6, wearing a face mask and dressed as Kumari wearing gold, takes part in a ritual during the Durga Puja festival celebrations at a pandal, or a temporary platform, amidst the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Kolkata, India, October 24, 2020. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

A server carries mugs during a barrel tapping at a beer garden near Theresienwiese where Oktoberfest would have started today as COVID-19 continues in Munich, Germany, September 19, 2020. (Photo by Andreas Gebert/Reuters)

This picture taken on May 4, 2020 shows gentoo penguins chasing krill during feeding time in their enclosure at the Ocean Park theme park, which is currently closed due to the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, in Hong Kong. Save for an absence of gawping crowds, life for the penguins of Hong Kong's Ocean Park has been much the same during the coronavirus pandemic – but their carers have worked long shifts to keep the monochrome troupe healthy. (Photo by Anthony Wallace/AFP Photo)

Visitors take photos of a child dressed in a traditional costume before a folk performance in Panyu, Guangdong province, China on April 20, 2018. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

This Monday, September 15, 2014 photo shows glazed bricks displayed at the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad. The Islamic State militants seek to purge society of all influences that don't conform with their strict, puritanical version of Islam. That means destroying not only relics seen as pagan but also Muslim sites they see as contradicting their ideology, particularly Sunni Muslim shrines they see as idolatrous as well as mosques used by Shiites, a branch of Islam they consider heretical. (Photo by Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)