A boy reaches for a ball on a creek clogged with plastic waste on April 15, 2023 in Caloocan, Metro Manila, Philippines. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

Becca D'Agostine, Andy Fuhrmann and Dafid Fine came up with a unique way to document their road trip by taking selfies on a couch at each location. Here they are seen at Mount Baker, Wash. (Photo by Caters News)

Aurorae category runner-up: Lone Tree under a Scandinavian Aurora by Tom Archer (UK). The photographer decided to explore the area around the hotel on a very crisp -35C evening in Finnish Lapland. When he found this tree, he decided to wait for the misty conditions to change and could not believe his luck when the sky cleared and the aurora came out in the perfect spot. Archer spent about an hour photographing it before his camera started to lock up because of the harsh conditions, but by then he was happy to call it a night. (Photo by Tom Archer/2020 Astronomy Photographer of the Year)

The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) lights up the sky near the village of Pallas (Muonio region) of Lapland, Finland September 8, 2017. (Photo by Alexander Kuznetsov/Reuters/All About Lapland)

Teeming with images of spectacular underwater scenes from around the world, Call of the Blue is the culmination of a five-year project by the photographer and ocean conservationist Philip Hamilton. This groundbreaking book includes contributions from acclaimed scientists and ocean “guardians”, who reveal what drove them to answer the call of the blue. (Photo by Philip Hamilton/The Guardian)

Pope Francis meets Spider-Man, who presents him with his mask, at the end of his weekly general audience with a limited number of faithful in the San Damaso Courtyard at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 23, 2021. The masked man works with sick children in hospitals. (Photo by Andrew Medichini/AP Photo)

Journalists report during a media tour near the volcano on the island of La Palma in the Canaries, Spain, Wednesday, September 22, 2021. A volcano on a small Spanish island in the Atlantic Ocean erupted on Sunday, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people. Experts say the volcanic eruption and its aftermath on a Spanish island could last for up to 84 days. The Canary Island Volcanology Institute said Wednesday it based its calculation on the length of previous eruptions on the archipelago. (Photo by Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo)

People walk past burning tires during a protest against Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, February 5, 2024. (Photo by Odelyn Joseph/AP Photo)