Highly commended birds : Crested guan by Tim Hunt (UK). ‘This photo shows a crested guan in the cloud forests of Costa Rica as it pauses while foraging on a lone branch. Due to the clouds that are so typical for this habitat, I could often only photograph the bird’s silhouette against a grey sky. But then, for a short moment only, the sun broke through the clouds, and I overexposed the image by over two stops in order to blow out the background and allow this beautifully marked bird to stand out’. (Photo by Tim Hunt/GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015)

From house breaking in Johannesburg to hippos on the loose in Tbilisi to rioters attacking a policewoman in Burundi, Reuters photographers tell the story behind some of the most iconic pictures of the year. Here: Protesters drag a female police officer accused of shooting a protester in the Buterere neighbourhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, May 12, 2015. Goran Tomasevic: Protesters started throwing stones at a group of police, who then started to run away. The policewoman in the photo, Medikintos Inabeza, 33, got left behind and then some protesters started to push her, saying that she had shot a female protestor in the stomach with an AK47 rifle. I didn't see anything of that. There were 5 or 10 protesters pushing the policewoman at first, then others came and joined in. Up to 20 or 30 protesters were surrounding her at one point. The protesters kicked and beat her very badly; I also saw a couple of knives. I thought they were going to kill her... (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

“Hey! I'm Thomas Shahan, an artist and macrophotographer from Oklahoma. In my spare time over the past few years, I've been shooting portraiture of local arthropods. Why would I devote countless hours to tramping through forests, fields and the like searching for insects and spiders? Well, despite some common beliefs, arthropods (members of the phylum Arthropoda – insects, spiders, crustaceans...) represent an endlessly varied, wildly beautiful and fascinating bunch of animals with surprisingly personable faces and behavior. Often, all it takes is simply inspecting their lives on a closer level to turn repulsion to reverence”. – Thomas Shahan

Photo: Adult Male Jumping Spider at Sunset – Phidippus mystaceus. (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

A 2S5 Giatsint self- propelled gun fires during tactical exercises held by artillery detachments of the Russian Eastern Military District' s 5th Army at the Sergeyevsky training ground in Primorye Territory, Russia on March 21, 2017. Over 2500 servicemen practice combat skills received in 2017 winter training exercises. (Photo by Yuri Smityuk/TASS)

Palestinian queue to fill containers with water in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 14, 2023, as fighting between Israel and the Hamas movement continues for the eighth consecutive day and Israel has cut off water, fuel and food supplies from the enclave. Thousands of people, both Israeli and Palestinians have died since October 7, 2023, after Palestinian Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip, entered southern Israel in a surprise attack leading Israel to declare war on Hamas in Gaza on October 8. (Photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP Photo)

A general view of atmosphere at the annual VOLT Festival in Sopron, 208 kms west of Budapest, Hungary on August 16, 2016. (Photo by Rockstar Photographers)

Rani rides home with her father on the back of his bicycle on March 6, 2017 in Khulna division, Bangladesh. Rani, who is now 16, was under pressure to marry a boy when she was 14-years-old despite the reluctance of Rani and her father, Abdul. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

Women wearing flower and sprout-like hairpins walk past an advertisement board in Beijing, China, September 25, 2015. Wearing antenna styled hairpins in the shape of various flowers and plants at scenic spots has become a new trend in Beijing. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)