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)

On August 18, 2012 the infection spreads again as the undead hordes shamble through Vancouver in search of brains. The annual Zombie Walk has been going on for years and each year gets bigger and bigger. (Photo by Gord Gallagher)

A girl carries utensils after filling them with water from a pipe that supplies water to trains at a railway station on the outskirts of Agartala, India, February 28, 2017. (Photo by Jayanta Dey/Reuters)

A woman participates in an insect-eating competition at a scenic spot in Lijiang, Yunnan province, China June 25, 2017. Insects have been a part of Yunnan cuisine for centuries, long before their potential as sustainable sources of protein caught the eye of the Western world. Bee larvae, grasshoppers and cicadas are just some items found on menus in the region. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A doll in a children's gas mask is seen amongst beds at a kindergarten in the abandoned city of Pripyat near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine on March 28, 2016. Deadly radiation still spews from Chernobyl 30 years after the worst nuclear meltdown in history, as a newly built giant arch is pulled into place to cover the stricken reactor for the next century. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

Britain Horse Racing, Royal Ascot, Ascot Racecourse on June 14, 2016. Racegoers in Britain and EU referendum themed dresses. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters/Livepic)

Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (C) walks towards the media after casting his vote for the parliamentary elections at a polling station in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, June 29, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

Children attend a swim training session at Hangzhou Chen Jinglun Sport school Natatorium, where Chinese Olympic swimmer Sun Yang and Fu Yuanhui also trained, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, August 10, 2016. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)