Honorable Mention: “The Storm”. During I was taking photo with my nephew, the storm came and I caught this beautiful moment. Photo location: Kocaeli, Turkey. (Photo and caption by Aytül Akbaş/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Why would you want to buy a Christmas tree if you have a luscious full beard? Or maybe you have a friend that is willing to volunteer? Just glue some ornaments onto his facial forest and make him stand in the corner. Just don’t forget to feed him! You don’t want your Christmas tree to go bad before the holidays are over! Stephanie Jarstad had created something similar in her project, The Twelve Bears of Christmas, in order to honor the Decembeard (much like Movember), in order to bring awareness to Men’s health problems. (Photo by Stephanie Jarstad)

Father Juan Manuel Villar blesses a dog during the feast of San Anton, the patron saint of animals, at the San Anton church on January 17, 2012 in the center of Madrid, Spain. San Anton is honored by many Catholic churches in Spain where thousands of animal lovers flock to their nearest place of worship to have their animals blessed. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)

Revelers celebrate during fireworks marking the start of the New Year on Copacabana beach on January 1, 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazilian revelers traditionally dress in white to honor the New Year's holiday along with the Brazilian Goddess of the Sea- Iemanja. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Members of the Mahogany Blue Baby Dolls including Victoria “Lady Lotus” Spotts (C) march in the 25th Anniversary Satchmo Salute second line parade, honoring New Orleans jazz legend Louis Armstrong, on August 3, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Revelers marched from historic St. Augustine Catholic Church in the Tremé neighborhood to the New Orleans Jazz Museum where Satchmo Summerfest is being held. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

A man wearing a face mask as a precaution against the coronavirus, walks past in front of an advertisement of an opera performance outside of a theater in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Photo by Lee Jin-man/AP Photo)

A man walks past the body of a man after he was shot in the head by unknown assailants during a protest in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, August 22, 2022. (Photo by Odelyn Joseph/AP Photo)

A man looks at the body of a man killed at a residential building damaged by a Russian military strike, as a journalist looks at the scene in Kharkiv, Ukraine, July 11, 2022. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)