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)

Alexis kneels with his baby at a protest in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in Dakar, Senegal on June 9, 2020. (Photo by John Wessels/AFP Photo)

Ketula Melo from the Imperatriz Leopoldinense samba school performs during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, April 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Women wearing historical costumes walk past a tank before a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade, which marks the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Saint Petersburg, Russia on April 28, 2022. (Photo by Anton Vaganov/Reuters)

Sneha Mindani, 14, one of the survivors of the April 2019 Easter Sunday bomb attack, wipes her tears as her father delivers a speech during a protest to demand justice for this attack, on the third anniversary of the event, near the Presidential Secretariat, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 17, 2022. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Policemen stand guard during a protest in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, July 11, 2022. (Photo by Rafiq Maqbool/AP Photo)

LGBT activists take part in a “Rave Pride” demanding state support for the local LGBTQ outside Ukrainian President's office in Kyiv, Ukraine on July 30, 2021. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

The “voodoo” wrestler known as Panthère utters incantations above the alter of his shrine in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on July 27, 2023. In the capital of DR Congo, dozens of men and women – including former wrestlers – practice “voodoo wrestling”, using traditional fetishes and animals. Fights are organised in some of the city's poorest and most densely populated districts. (Photo by Alexis Huguet/AFP Photo)