Tony North; First place, Breathing Spaces; Overall Winner; Blue Tajinaste, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. “Echium thyrsiflorum is endemic to the mountains of La Palma island – from high up, there was a magnificent view of both the caldera below, and the stars above. The Unesco La Palma biosphere reserve encompasses the entire island, with the Caldera de Taburiente containing mountains with a highest peak of 2,426 metres – the Roque de los Muchachos”. (Photo by Tony North/IGPOTY)

A giraffe appears almost to be doing the splits as it bends to drink at a watering hole on a reserve in Mkuze, South Africa in September 2023. (Photo by Peter Batty/Solent News)

Children clean the interior of a granary in preparation for grain storage in Odek village, north of Uganda capital Kampala February 14, 2015. Odek is the birthplace of Joseph Kony, founder and leader of the rebel group Lord's Resistance Army. The LRA rose up against the government in northern Uganda under the leadership of Kony in the late 1980s and has been accused of abducting children to serve as fighters and s*x slaves. (Photo by James Akena/Reuters)

Three female friends dancing in nightclub. (Photo by Cultura Creative (RF)/Alamy Stock Photo )

Ethnic Uyghur tourists guides wait to perform in a show for Chinese tourists on June 29, 2017 in the old town of Kashgar, in the far western Xinjiang province, China. Kashgar has long been considered the cultural heart of Xinjiang for the province's nearly 10 million Muslim Uyghurs. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

A Turkana tribeswoman reacts after an accidental fire of a shelter in Turkana settlement in Ilemi Triangle, Kenya, July 15, 2019. The Ilemi Triangle, a disputed sliver of land along the border with Ethiopia and South Sudan, is the northernmost tip of Turkana, Kenya's poorest county. A series of deadly clashes between the Turkana community and other ethnic groups that they said had crossed from South Sudan have put people on edge, to the point of posting lookouts. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

Indians pause to pray after lighting candles as they and other Christians gather to celebrate Christmas at the Sacred Heart Cathedral on Christmas Day, December 25, 2011 in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak /Getty Images)

A wedding couple poses for a photographer during a wedding photo shoot March 9, 2011 in Hanoi, Vietnam. Its is traditional for middle and upper class Vietnamese couples do a wedding fashion shoot posing for wedding portraits a few weeks before the wedding so that a wedding photo book is produced. (Photo by Paula Bronstein /Getty Images)