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)

Pic shows two males tigers sparring for dominance over a female in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra state in India on Monday, January 16, 2023. The spectacular images of the big cats were taken by Narayan Malu who was just 150 yards from the action. (Photo by Narayan Malu/Magnus News)

A demonstration on March 15, 1922 on Palace Roof, 57th Street and 7th Avenue, showing the shellproof steel jacket. Leo Krause wearing the jacket, which weighs 12 pounds. Shots used, 38 and 45 calibre, at close range. (Photo by Bettmann Archive)

Hungarians witness the fallen statue of communist leader Josef Stalin in front of the National Theater in Budapest on October 24, 1956. Demonstrators revolting against communist rule in Hungary pulled the statue to the ground at Dozsa Gyorgy on Oct. 23 and hauled it by tractor to Blaha Lujza where it was later smashed to pieces by the people. (Photo by Arpad Hazafi/AP Photo)

Kites fly in the sky during the Kite Show at the historical complex “Fort Konstantin” in city of Kronstadt outside Saint Petersburg, on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Olga Maltseva/AFP Photo)

One of two black-and-white ruffed lemur pups born at Blair Drummond Safari and Adventure Park, near Stirling, UK on Friday, May 24, 2024.The critically endangered lemur pups, both female were born on April 14 and have been named Nova, meaning “new” and Evie meaning “life”. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)

A pro-abortion activist with a Venus symbol painted on her face listens to a speech outside of Congress after the presentation of an abortion bill in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, March 6, 2018. Under heavy pressure by women's groups that have taken to the streets in large numbers in recent years, over 70 legislators presented an abortion bill that will be first be discussed in several committees of the lower chamber. (Photo by Victor R. Caivano/AP Photo)

Anissa Barbato from New York looks out over the city as she takes pictures from the Edge, the highest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere on September 2, 2020 as it reopened to the public in New York. Rising 1,131 feet in the air from the heart of Hudson Yards it offers 360-degree views of New York Citys iconic skyline from the 100th floor outdoor viewing. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)