This image released by Neon shows Matthew McConaughey in a scene from “The Beach Bum”. (Photo by Atsushi Nishijima/Neon via AP Photo)

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)

In this June 23, 2015 photo, Ashaninka Indian beauty contestants pose for a photo with members of a visiting music group, hired to perform during the annual founding anniversary festivities, in Otari Nativo, Pichari, Peru. The contestants wear the simple brown dresses of the Ashaninka woman, their faces dotted in a traditional design with a red dye extracted from a spice called achiote. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

A caiman in the Pantanal region of Brazil in 2021. They are used to seeing humans, allowing the photographer, Leighton Lum, a close-up shot. (Photo by Leighton Lum/Caters News Agency)

American plus-size model and television presenter Ashley Graham is seen outside the today show on October 30, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Raymond Hall/GC Images)

Second Place Winner: “Thunderstorm at False Kiva”. I hiked out to these ruins at night hoping to photograph them with the Milky Way, but instead a thunderstorm rolled through, creating this dramatic image. – Max Seigal. National Geographic Traveler Director of Photography Dan Westergren, one of this year's judges, shares his thoughts on the second place winner: “This photo combines two different scenes into one: the small kiva in a cliff dwelling and the grand vista of Canyonlands National Park across the valley. I really like the two different color palettes – warm inside and purple outside. This two-for-one scene was caused by the lightning storm outside the dwelling, which lit up the landscape like it was a huge electronic flash. Looking at this picture I can imagine what a wonderful sight it must have been for the ancient people who lived here. It doesn't seem too amazing now in our modern world, but might have been mind-blowing for the prehistoric residents”. Location: Utah. (Photo and caption by Max Seigal/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

The endangered antipodean albatross, which is often caught in fishing nets, won most first-choice votes out of the more than 55,000 votes cast during the 2020 New Zealand’s bird of the year competition. (Photo by Wildestanimal/Getty Images)

This picture taken on August 4, 2016 shows three orphaned orangutan babies hanging in a tree whilst attending “jungle school” at the International Animal Rescue centre outside the city of Ketapang in West Kalimantan. (Photo by Bay Ismoyo/AFP Photo)