Visitors ride a swing attraction during the Hochheim Market in Hochheim, Germany on November 11, 2025. The traditional autumn fair has been held for more than 500 years. (Photo by Matias Basualdo/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)
Wide-angle category winner. Part of the Illusion by Marcus Blatchford (UK). Location: National Dive & Activity Centre, Chepstow, Wales. “This is the deepest inland dive centre in the UK. The dive plan was to explore the deep end, but this time I dived ‘unplugged’ (without my strobes). With the exception of this change to my camera technique, there were no planned shots I wanted to achieve – just a fun dive with ad-hoc photos along the way. Shortly after this photo was captured, in 6C water and two hours of decompression ahead of us, we turned and started the long ascent back to the surface”. (Photo by Marcus Blatchford/Underwater Photographer of the Year 2016)
Aurorae category runner-up: Lone Tree under a Scandinavian Aurora by Tom Archer (UK). The photographer decided to explore the area around the hotel on a very crisp -35C evening in Finnish Lapland. When he found this tree, he decided to wait for the misty conditions to change and could not believe his luck when the sky cleared and the aurora came out in the perfect spot. Archer spent about an hour photographing it before his camera started to lock up because of the harsh conditions, but by then he was happy to call it a night. (Photo by Tom Archer/2020 Astronomy Photographer of the Year)
“Diver in Magic Kingdom”. Green Lake (Grüner See) is located Tragöss Austria. In spring snowmelt raises the lake level about 10 meters. This phenomenon, which lasts only a few weeks covering the hiking trails, meadows, trees. The result is magical to watch diving landscapes. Photo location: Grüner See at Tragöss, Austria. (Photo and caption by Marc Henauer/National Geographic Photo Contest)
Umbrellas are placed over the statute of the Beatles, during a photocall, on Liverpool's waterfront, in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, March 22, 2017. The city of Liverpool is getting set to celebrate the half-centenary of “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band”, one of the most influential albums by local heroes The Beatles. (Photo by Peter Byrne/PA Wire via AP Photo)
A hungry tiger was almost left with a ROARing headache – after nearly colliding into a pane of glass as it dived underwater for a slab of meat. (Photo by Caters News)
Graduates jump as they pose for photographs in front of the Tiananmen Gate and the giant portrait of late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong, on the Tiananmen Square in Beijing, June 19, 2014. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)