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)

Cyclists desperately try to keep their heavily-laden bicycles upright as they arrive at a market with baskets full of pineapples on August 23, 2018. The men travel up to 12 and a half miles with two baskets tied to the sides of their bikes, carrying between 50 and 100 pineapples to sell. Each of the bicycles is so heavily laden with fruit it is impossible for the men to actually ride their bikes, instead having to walk alongside them. When they arrive at the market place in Madhupur, Bangladesh, buyers will pay up to 30 Taka for a pineapple – the equivalent of around 28 pence. (Photo by Abdul Momin/Solent News & Photo Agency UK)

Volunteers care for burned sheeps in a field hospital established by HAYTAP (The Federation of the Animals Rights in Turkey) for animals after a wildfire at the Manavgat district of Antalya, Turkey, 09 August 2021. It is not known how many wild animals living in the forest died in the fires, but about 33,000 farm animals perished. About 30 veterinarians and hundreds of volunteers work around the clock at the field hospital. Sheep, covered in mosquito nets to protect their wounds from flies, lay there in the shade trying to recover, and various animals such as cats, dogs, owls, and cows have been treated or are still being treated there. (Photo by Erdem Sahin/EPA/EFE)

Whenever we don’t have enough magic in our real life, we try to create it using our imagination. The cute characters created by Belgian illustrator Marie Breuer allow us to see the mystical world that resides within her mind. It is dark and adorable, enchanting and solemn. The thing that separates her drawings from the rest is the vivid colors and the bizarre huge, anime-like heads of her characters. The pictures that we liked the most were the ones where her characters wear different living animals like cloaks, with the mood of the characters being closely linked to the animal that they are wearing. (Photo by Marie Breuer)

Yogis and street performers have been simulating levitation with nifty contraptions forever. They appear to be held aloft via nothing but their preternatural mental prowess. But are really enjoying the benefits of basic physics just like the rest of us when we use a chair. However, just because it’s perfectly explainable doesn’t mean it isn’t nifty. I’m especially impressed by this 2-person version and am still trying to work out how exactly the chair they’re using is shaped at the base.

There are not many sculptures in the world that were purposely made to be grotesque, especially on such a large scale. Thus, a Hungarian artist Ervin Loránth Hervé has apparently decided that there isn’t enough horror in this world and created the Feltépve – a sculpture of a stone giant ripping apart the earth in order to break free. However, when we look from another perspective this sculpture might depict a grouchy giant trying to cover himself with a blanket of earth so that everyone would leave him alone. The latter interpretation of this sculpture was probably not intended by the sculptor; however, the way the arms of the giant are positioned makes it look as if it was truly the case.

“Over three years I photographed fans outside different concerts. I was fascinated by the different tribes of people that attended them, and how people emulated celebrity to form their identity. As I photographed the project I began to see how the concerts became events for people to come together with surrogate “families”, a chance to relive their youth or try and be part of a scene that happened before they were born” – James Mollison.

Photo: Madonna fans. (Photo by James Mollison)