Merit Prize Winner: “A Well Earned Rest in the Sahara”. This photo of Moussa Macher, our Tuareg guide, was taken at the summit of Tin-Merzouga, the largest dune (or erg) in the Tadrat region of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. Moussa rested while waiting for us to finish our 45-minute struggle to the top. It only took ten minutes of rolling, running, and jumping to get back down. The Tadrat is part of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park World Heritage area, famous for its red sand and engravings and rock paintings of cattle, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos that lived there when the climate was milder. Photo location: Summit of Tin-Merzouga, Tadrat, Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, Algeria. (Photo and caption by Evan Cole/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A nurse bows to the life size statue of Pope Francis as her friend takes a photograph at the St.Louis hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, November 19, 2019. Pope Francis arrives in Thailand on Wednesday for the first visit here by the head of the Roman Catholic Church since St. John Paul II in 1984. (Photo by Manish Swarup/AP Photo)

Shannon Courtenay exchanges punches with Buchra El Quaissi during the Bantamweight between Shannon Courtenay and Buchra El Quaissi at York Hall on December 19, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by James Chance/Getty Images)

West Ham United's Mark Noble and Bournemouth's Dominic Solanke take a tumble during a match at London Stadium in London, Britain on January 1, 2020. (Photo by Eddie Keogh/Reuters)

An Afghan woman clad in burqa begs in a snow-covered street in Kabul, Afghanistan on January 7, 2020. (Photo by Mohammad Ismail/Reuters)

Singer Halsey attends a basketball game between The Los Angeles Lakers Vs the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Ca. on January 13, 2020. (Photo by London Entertainment/Splash News and Pictures)

A Sumatran Owl is seen in Palembang City, Indonesia on March 5, 2020. (Photo by Sigit Prasetya/Opn Images/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

A dog plays with a giant soap bubble in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, 06 March 2020. (Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA/EFE)