Nature – first prize, stories. Pandemic Pigeons – A Love Story. The photographer’s daughter, Merel, cowers after Dollie flies past and perches on the balcony before entering the house in Vlaardingen in the Netherlands on 6 April 2020. “She’s still frightened when Dollie suddenly lands on the balcony railing. I hide my smile behind the camera, as I try to comfort her by saying they won’t hurt you. “I thought he was going to attack me”, she replies. As the nesting pigeons keep coming back to our place, slowly my girls have started to appreciate them – perhaps not as much as I do, but it’s a start”. (Photo by Jasper Doest/World Press Photo 2021)

A Chinese man uses an old film camera to take a picture of relatives near the Forbidden City on March 27, 2014 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

A woman walks up the steps decorated ahead of the Chinese New Year festival in Beijing, China, Thursday, January 12, 2017. The Chinese Lunar New Year is the most important holiday for Chinese and hundreds of millions are expected to return to their hometown to spend the new year with their family and relatives. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

“A cuddle party or cuddle puddle is an event designed with the intention of allowing people to experience non-sexual group physical intimacy through cuddling. Cuddle parties are described by organizers as “workshop/social-events” that gives adults an opportunity to “give and receive welcomed affectionate touch in a no-expectation, friendly setting, according to your needs, desires, interests, and boundaries”. Cuddle parties are described as non-sexual events but kissing may occur at some parties”. – Wikipedia

Photo: People cuddle during an a “Cuddle Party” October 16, 2004 in New York City. Started by Reid Mihalko and Marcia Baczynski, cuddle parties are events for adults to get together and explore affectionate touch and communication without it becoming sexualized. At the parties, strangers spend time introducing themselves and setting boundaries before lying down to cuddle. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard stand by at St. Peter's Square before Pope Francis delivers his traditional Christmas Day Urbi et Orbi speech to the city and the world from the main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, December 25, 2021. (Photo by Yara Nardi/Reuters)

A member of security forces takes part in a training session arranged by a security company in Tajoura suburb of Tripoli, Libya on February 10, 2021. (Photo by Hazem Ahmed/Reuters)

Panda keepers hold cubs while posing for photos ahead of the new year at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, China's southwestern Sichuan province on December 29, 2022. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

Sally Rand dances on a beach in St. Petersburg, Florida, February 17, 1936. (Photo by AP Photo)