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)

Undated image released Monday February 17, 2020, by Irish Coast Guard showing the abandoned cargo ship MV Alta, that has washed up on the coast of County Cork, near Ballycotton, southern Ireland. The MV Alta is believed to have had 10 crew members aboard who were rescued by the US Coast Guard. Since September 2018, the ship has been drifting with no crew aboard, and it was last seen off the coast of West Africa before being washed up in southern Ireland during Storm Dennis. (Photo by Irish Coast Guard via AP Photo)

In this April 14, 2014 file photo, Hamamatou Harouna, 10, who lost the use of her legs to polio, crawls to the restroom on the grounds of the Catholic Church where she and hundreds of others found refuge after fleeing violence in her village, in Carnot, Central African Republic. Health authorities on Tuesday, August 25, 2020 are expected to declare the African continent free of the wild poliovirus after decades of effort, though cases of vaccine-derived polio are still sparking outbreaks of the paralyzing disease in more than a dozen countries. (Photo by Jerome Delay/AP Photo/File)

A cow carrying a bell and autumn flowers headgear walks by in front of spectators at the traditional cattle show in Schwellbrunn, Switzerland, 26 September 2022. The traditional show in the Appenzell region is held annually in autumn, when local farmers return from the alp with their groomed and cleaned cows to present them on a show ground. “The most beautiful and best performing cows are awarded prizes”, the Appenzellerland tourism office adds on their website. (Photo by Gian Ehrenzeller/EPA/EFE)

American media personality Lauren Sanchez and American businessman, media proprietor and investor Jeff Bezos at the Boom at The Standard Met Gala After Party held at The Boom Boom Room, The Standard Hotel on May 6, 2024 in New York. (Photo by Yvonne Tnt/BFA.com/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Manchester City's Norwegian striker #09 Erling Haaland reacts during the English FA Cup Quarter Final football match between Manchester City and Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on March 16, 2024. (Photo by Lee Smith/Action Images via Reuters)

In this February 28, 2015 photo, teammates struggle to lift a bull off the trapped leg of a charro, during the bull riding event at a charreada in Mexico City. National Charros Association President Manuel Basurto Rojas said: “We in charreria are taking things into our own hands. We have codes, we have rules, for how to treat the animals. On the other hand, there is a lot of danger involved for the men doing these tricks”. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

This aerial photograph shows a stork with two chicks on a nest installed on a high voltage line mast in Bouee, western France, on June 3, 2025. (Photo by Loïc Venance/AFP Photo)