Tony North; First place, Breathing Spaces; Overall Winner; Blue Tajinaste, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. “Echium thyrsiflorum is endemic to the mountains of La Palma island – from high up, there was a magnificent view of both the caldera below, and the stars above. The Unesco La Palma biosphere reserve encompasses the entire island, with the Caldera de Taburiente containing mountains with a highest peak of 2,426 metres – the Roque de los Muchachos”. (Photo by Tony North/IGPOTY)

An aerial view shows the the Mountain Bike course at the X-Park at Deodoro Olympic Park ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 16, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Moraes/Reuters)

The waning moon is setting over the mountain “Les Cornettes de Bise” located at the border of the Haute-Savoie and the Valais canton of Switzerland in the Chablais Alps, photographed from Glutieres, January 7, 2015. (Photo by Anthony Anex/EPA)

A Mexican soldier burns coca plants in the mountainous area of Atoyac de Alvarez, Guerrero state, Mexico, on February 15, 2023. (Photo by Francisco Robles/AFP Photo)

In this photo taken October 12, 2019, a spiritual healer known as a “madrina” starts a ritual on Sorte Mountain where followers of indigenous goddess Maria Lionza gather annually in Venezuela's Yaracuy state. While her followers gather on the mountain for weeks at this time of the year, October 12 marks the biggest gathering, coinciding with Indigenous People's Day, known in Latin America as “Dia de la Raza”. (Photo by Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

Spectators in colourful attire cheer as the pack of riders (peloton) cycles by during the 14th stage of the 111th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 151,9 km between Pau and Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d'Adet, in the Pyrenees mountains in southwestern France, on July 13, 2024. (Photo by Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP Photo)

Bronze medalist Carlos Coloma Nicolas of Spain celebrates after finishing third in the cross-country cycling mountain bike race at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, August 20, 2016. (Photo by Patrick Semansky/AP Photo)

A local miner wades through water as he walks down from a mountain in Benguet a day after Typhoon Haima struck northern Philippines, October 21, 2016. Super Typhoon Haima slammed into the northeastern Philippine coast late Wednesday with ferocious winds and rain that rekindled fears and memories from the catastrophe wrought by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)