Grand prize winner: environmental photographer of the year 2023; also 1st place in the humanity v nature category; and winner of the 2023 public award. Lopé national park, Gabon, 2021. An angry elephant tries to defend itself after it was hit by a train that crosses paths the animals use within Lopé national park. Park officials decided the elephant was too severely injured to be saved. After it was killed, the park director distributed the meat to local people. As the forest loses its carrying capacity to sustain its megafauna, this kind of human-wildlife conflict is increasing. (Photo by Jasper Doest/Environmental Photography Award)

Thousands of fireflies dance around Aurora Ghizzi Panizza, age 4, in the grounds of the 15th-century Castello di Torrechiara in Parma, Italy on July 16, 2022. (Photo by Alberto Ghizzi Panizza/Animal News Agency)

Stunning images taken by Sean Lenz, 19, and Kristoffer Abligaard, 20, show picturesque waterfalls transformed into vibrant rainbows of colour. The awe-inspiring images were created by clever use of long exposure photography and glow sticks floating through water. Photo: Picturesque waterfalls transformed into rainbows of colour. (Photo by Sean Lenz/Kristoffer Abildgaard)

A man dressed in leaves and animals of the forest, the Redeemer on his shoulder, holding the Olympic torch and wearing Olympic rings glasses walks along Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 31 July 2016. The 2016 Olympic Games start on 05 August. (Photo by Barbara Walton/EPA)

A squid swims underwater off the shore of the coastal city of Qalamun, north of the Lebanese capital Beirut, on September 24, 2019. (Photo by Ibrahim Chalhoub/AFP Photo)

Belarusian beauty designers attend an annual national contest in Minsk, Belarus on November 7, 2019. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

A counter-protester gestures during a Black Lives Matter protest following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, in London, Britain, June 13, 2020. (Photo by Simon Dawson/Reuters)

Esther Abad free diving in Cenote Chukum, in the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico on June 13, 2022. (Photo by Wojciech Dopierala/Mercury Press)