Underwater photographer of the year – winner. Dancing Octopus by Gabriel Barathieu (France). Location: Island of Mayotte, off the coast of south-east Africa. “Balletic and malevolent”, one judge said of this octopus, hunting in a lagoon. Barathieu waited until spring tides when there was just 30cm of water on the flats and plenty of light in the shallows. (Photo by Gabriel Barathieu/UPY2017)

Women take a selfie with a giant dragon lantern decorated near the frozen Houhai Lake in Beijing, Thursday, February 8, 2024. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

Kahuna, an injured loggerhead turtle, returns to the ocean after years of rehabilitation. It has been two years since Kahuna, a 209-pond loggerhead turtle, was rescued from the wild by biologists at FPL’s St. Lucie Power. Half of one of her flippers had been sliced off, and the other flipper was badly injured. On top of that, she had severe bone infection doctors tried for months to cure with antibiotics, only to have it come back once they stopped the medicine.

Photo: Kahuna is kept calm and steady on the gurney by staff and volunteers.

Japan's Kaori Sakamoto performs during the Gala Exhibition at the World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama, Japan on March 26, 2023. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

Mary Hickey poses with her collection of dolls at her home in Ashbourne, Ireland October 9, 2013. Hickey has been collecting the dolls for over thirty years and now owns over 420 dolls. (Photo by Cathal McNaughton/Reuters)

Vincent Yu is a multiple award winner who won Honorable Mention in the 2013 Photographer of the Year category for Pictures of the Year International. Photo: A statue of Hotei Buddha sits in the debris in the tsunami-destroyed town of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan Friday, April 1, 2011. (Photo by Vincent Yu/AP Photo)

A woman guards stand at the gate of a cosmetic factory during a government organised visit for foreign reporters ahead of 70th anniversary of North Korea's foundation in Pyongyang, North Korea on September 8, 2018. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)