Yala national park, Sri Lanka. Category: Action. “The daylight was fading and I was scanning the bush for a leopard. Then, I saw this garden lizard and a common bronzeback snake in the road. When the snake struck, the lizard performed amazing acrobatics to avoid it. The snake didn’t enjoy the extra attention from the crowd of jeeps. The distraction gave the lizard the chance to live another day”. (Photo by Sajith Buddikha Withanage/National Geographic Traveller UK)

Nikolay Skidan, a hunter, carries the skin of a wolf in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 1, 2017. Wolf fur grows thickest in winter, so Belarussian hunter Vladimir Krivenchik only sets his traps once snow is on the ground. He and his wife live on the edge of the Chernobyl exclusion zone – 2,600 square km of land on the Belarus-Ukraine border that was contaminated by a nuclear disaster in 1986. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Professional conceptual category winner. Greetings from Mars, by Julien Mauve, France. Mauve says: “I have always wondered what it would be like to discover a totally different world ... and to photograph it for the first time as if I was Ansel Adams. So I came up with this project, which is about space exploration and discovery. But it’s also about our behavior in front of landscapes and how we create pictures that will share our personal story with the world”. (Photo by Julien Mauve)

A member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) pose for a picture at a camp in the Colombian mountains on February 2005. (Photo by Frank Piasecki Poulsen)

It is said that Torajans are people who “live to die”. For this Indonesian ethnic group, funerals are such extravagant events that they sometimes attract tourists. Families can postpone burials years (and the deceased are considered sick and hosted at home until the funeral) until the family can raise enough money and gather as many relatives as possible. And then it’s a jubilant multiday social event with a parade, dances and animal sacrifices. Agung Parameswara photographed these funerary practices when he traveled to South Sulawesi province, where the Torajans live. (Photo by Agung Parameswara/The Washington Post)

A student from the union territory of Pondicherry prepares to take part in the inaugural session of the national Balrang Festival 2017 in Bhopal, India, 20 December 2017. More than 500 participants from 26 states across the country take part in the three-day long cultural event to showcase their performances. The festival organised by Madhya Pradesh School Education Department and Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangralaya. (Photo by Sanjeev Gupta/EPA/EFE)

A man bundled up for the cold weather carries a dog in his jacket while walking along the waterfront in New Westminster, British Columbia, Tuesday, December 28, 2021. Environment Canada has issued an arctic outflow warning for Metro Vancouver and the south coast with well below normal temperatures forecast for the region. (Photo by Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP Photo)

The hair of CSKA Moscow cheerleaders flies high as they perform during the Euroleague Basketball game between Alba Berlin and CSKA Moscow in Moscow, Russia, 04 February 2022. (Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA/EFE)