Dressed in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, Maria Berdieva poses for photos to help raise money for Ukrainian troops in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 10, 2023. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)

A girl wearing a flower wreath takes part in the St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin, on March 17, 2025. (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)

A marine rescue worker from Sea World works in a joint attempt with his colleagues to help a juvenile humpback whale stranded at Palm Beach on the Gold Coast, in Queensland July 9, 2014. (Photo by Jason O'Brien/Reuters)

Hirotoshi Itoh graduated from Tokyo National Fine Arts University in 1982 and later went into his family business as a stonemason. He spent several years working with metal before turning his attention to stones. He utilizes stones found in a river bank near his home, and he creates sculptures that juxtapose the original shape and hardness of the material with surprising humor and texture. You can find more of his work on his Deviant Art page.

Women, who are members of Saaed group, prepare food to be given out as Iftar meals for the poor and internally displaced Syrians during the month of Ramadan in Damascus, Syria June 18, 2016. Iftar (or Fatoor) is the evening meal when Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset. Muslims break their fast at the time of the call to prayer for the evening prayer. (Photo by Omar Sanadiki/Reuters)

A human rainbow is created at a BASEOrlando coordinated event, “Orlando Strong Body Paint”, on Friday, June 17, 2016 in Orlando, Fl. The group created the rainbow, composed of volunteers numbering the same as that of the victims of the Pulse shooting, as a visual reminder of the amount of lives lost. (Photos by Amanda Voisard/The Washington Post)

Shortlisted: Pooyan Shadpoor, Houcheraghi. While walking along the shore of Larak, Iran – an island in the Persian Gulf – Shadpoor came across this luminous scene. The “magical lights of (the) plankton ... enchanted me so that I snapped the shot”, he writes. (Photo by Pooyan Shadpoor/2016 EPOTY)