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)

Britain Athletics, 2016 London Anniversary Games, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, London on July 23, 2016. Canada's Brent Lakatos crashes with athletes during the mens 1500m T54. (Photo by Eddie Keogh/Reuters/Livepic)

Polar frame, by Dmitry Kokh, Russia. When Kokh’s boat approached the small island of Kolyuchin in the Russian High Arctic, which had been abandoned by humans since 1992, he was surprised to spot movement in one of the houses. Binoculars revealed polar bears – more than 20 in total – exploring the ghost town. Dmitry used a low-noise drone to document them. (Photo by Dmitry Kokh/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022)

A climate campaigner in Dublin on November 9, 2024 dresses as Lady Justice to demand that world leaders commit to a fast, fair and funded phase-out of all fossil fuels when they gather in Azerbaijan on Monday for the Cop29 climate conference. (Photo by Stedman Photography)

Taylor Swift performs at the Billboard Music Awards. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision)

Football Soccer, France vs Iceland, EURO 2016, Quarter Final, Stade de France, Saint-Denis near Paris, France on July 3, 2016. Iceland fan. (Photo by Carl Recine/Reuters/Livepic)

Shoes worn by cosplayer dressed as Elizabeth Goddess during the Otamatsuri Anime x Manga convention held in Nairobi, Kenya on August 24, 2023. (Photo by Sarah Waiswa/The Guardian)

Jason Ramsay and Amy Laverty, from Arbroth, Scotland, pose beside a large Christmas tree at Bondi Beach on December 25, 2016 in Sydney, Australia. Bondi Beach is a popular tourist destination on Christmas Day. (Photo by Don Arnold/Getty Images)