Merit Prize Winner: “A Well Earned Rest in the Sahara”. This photo of Moussa Macher, our Tuareg guide, was taken at the summit of Tin-Merzouga, the largest dune (or erg) in the Tadrat region of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. Moussa rested while waiting for us to finish our 45-minute struggle to the top. It only took ten minutes of rolling, running, and jumping to get back down. The Tadrat is part of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park World Heritage area, famous for its red sand and engravings and rock paintings of cattle, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos that lived there when the climate was milder. Photo location: Summit of Tin-Merzouga, Tadrat, Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, Algeria. (Photo and caption by Evan Cole/National Geographic Photo Contest)

U.S. first lady Melania Trump steps out of her motorcade vehicle as she departs Washington for a tour of several African countries from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., October 1, 2018. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

A fan of Colombia cheers prior to a qualifying soccer match between for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Colombia and Chile in Barranquilla, Colombia, Friday, September 10, 2021. (Photo by Fernando Vergara/AP Photo)

Gemma Sadler models a fabulous Georgian costume, including a wig made from flowers and foliage created by Florist of the Year Helen James, during the staging day for the 2021 Harrogate Autumn Flower Show at Newby Hall, near Ripon, United Kingdom on Thursday, September 16, 2021. (Photo by Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images)

May Matthews (left) and Romy Clark from Bonhams Edinburgh carry a carved wooden model of an Atlantic Salmon by Rogers Brookes (estimate £1,500-2,000) during a photo call for the upcoming Home and Interiors sale, and Sporting and Wildlife sale, at Bonhams, Edinburgh, on September 16, 2020. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)

A local wears a plastic water bottle with a cutout to cover her face, as she walks on a footbridge in Hong Kong on January 31, 2020, as a preventative measure following a virus outbreak which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The World Health Organization, which initially downplayed the severity of a disease that has now killed 170 nationwide, warned all governments to be “on alert” as it weighed whether to declare a global health emergency. (Photo by Anthony Wallace/AFP Photo)

Women walk on a sidewalk in northern Tehran, Iran, Thursday, January 9, 2020. (Photo by Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)

American actress Paris Jackson pulls faces at photographers during the “Melbourne Cup” race day festivities in Melbourne, Australia on November 7, 2017. (Photo by Media-Mode/Splash News and Pictures)