A red deer stag takes a mud bath in Wollaton Park near Nottingham, England on May 23, 2020. Gareth Williams, who took the photograph, said it was a “once in a lifetime shot”. (Photo by Gareth Williams/Kennedy News)

Wide-angle category winner. Part of the Illusion by Marcus Blatchford (UK). Location: National Dive & Activity Centre, Chepstow, Wales. “This is the deepest inland dive centre in the UK. The dive plan was to explore the deep end, but this time I dived ‘unplugged’ (without my strobes). With the exception of this change to my camera technique, there were no planned shots I wanted to achieve – just a fun dive with ad-hoc photos along the way. Shortly after this photo was captured, in 6C water and two hours of decompression ahead of us, we turned and started the long ascent back to the surface”. (Photo by Marcus Blatchford/Underwater Photographer of the Year 2016)

Nature, singles winner: Frogs with their legs severed struggle to the surface, surrounded by frogspawn, after being thrown back into the water in Covasna, Romania. (Photo by Bence Mate/World Press Photo 2019)

Pallas' s cat kittens with theit mother in an enclosure at the Novosibirsk Zoo, Novosibirsk, Russia on July 11, 2018. Pallas' s cat, also known as manul, is a small wild cat native to montane steppes of the Central Asia and listed as an endangered species. (Photo by Kirill Kukhmar/TASS)

Cameroonian model Venance Chiepodeu also known as Miss Cameroon arrives at Spring Studios for the LaQuan Smith's Dinner during fashion week in New York City on September 16, 2020. (Photo by Gabriele Holtermann/Sipa USA)

A baby sloth uses his mother as a hammock while she feasts on papayas in Heredia province in Costa Rica in April 2023. (Photo by William Steele/Solent News)

Muslims greet each other at Sultanahmet Square after performing Eid al-Adha prayer at Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey on July 20, 2021. (Photo by Mehmet Murat Onel/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Winner – Animal Portraits: The pose by Mogens Trolle, Denmark. A young male proboscis monkey cocks his head slightly and closes his eyes. Unexpected pale blue eyelids now complement his immaculately groomed auburn hair. He poses for a few seconds as if in meditation. He is a wild visitor to the feeding station at Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary in Sabah, Borneo – “the most laid-back character”, says Trolle, “quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen on another monkey” – connects us, he hopes, with a fellow primate. (Photo by Mogens Trolle/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020)