Pangolins in Crisis: Brent Stirton, South Africa; 1st place, Natural world and wildlife. “Pangolins are the world’s most illegally trafficked mammals, with an estimated one million trafficked to Asia in the last 10 years. Their scales are used in traditional Chinese and Vietnamese medicine, and their meat is sold as a high-priced delicacy. As a result, pangolins are listed as critically endangered and anyone who trades or consumes them is breaking the law. This body of work exposes the trade, while exploring aspects of illegality and celebrating the people who are trying to save these animals”. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Sony World Photography Awards 2020)

A boatman rests on his boat in the flooded Ganges river under the Shastri bridge at Daraganj Ghat, in Allahabad, India on August 22, 2019. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)

A new species of monkey found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and identified as Lesula (Cercopithecus lomamiensis) is seen in this undated photograph from an article published September 12, 2012 in the science journal PLOS One. The monkey was first seen in 2007 by researchers John and Terese Hart of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale Research Project. The finding of C. lomamiensis represents only the second new species of African monkey to be discovered in the past 28 years, according to the research article. (Photo by Hart J. A., Detwiler K. M., Gilbert C. C./Reuters)

A woman jumps over a puddle of rainwater in north London on August 2, 2023. Met Office has issued a yellow severe weather weather for heavy downpours, strong winds and thunderstorms throughout today in London, and in many other parts of England and Wales. (Photo by Dinendra Haria/London News Pictures)

Huang Mei-ya in a scene from Lunar Halo by Cloud Gate at Sadler's Wells in London in the last decade of November 2023. (Photo by Tristram Kenton/the Guardian)

Dancers are warming up backstage during the Tango Dancing Tournament at the XIII International Tango Festival in Medellin, Colombia, on June 18, 2019. The Tango Festival takes place between the 16th and 24th of June. (Photo by Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP Photo)

Extras in the arena of the “Fete des Vignerons” (winegrowers' festival in French), during the last rehearsal in Vevey, Switzerland, 17 July 2019. Organized by the brotherhood of winegrowers, the event will celebrate winemaking from 18 July to 11 August. The arena has a capacity of 20,000 spectators and hosts a giant central LED floor of approximately 800 square meters. (Photo by Laurent Gilliéron/EPA/EFE)

People and sea-gulls bathe in the sea as the sun goes up with red colors in Stralsund close to the baltic sea island of Rügen, on early November 23, 2016. (Photo by Stefan Sauer/AFP Photo/DPA)