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)

Tracy Sarita celebrates the sunrise during the Burning Man 2015 “Carnival of Mirrors” arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, September 3, 2015. Approximately 70,000 people from all over the world are gathering at the sold-out festival to spend a week in the remote desert to experience art, music and the unique community that develops. (Photo by Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

Astrid Perez (L) and Ramon Camacho lay on the Playa during the Burning Man 2015 “Carnival of Mirrors” arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, September 6, 2015. Sunday marks the last day of the sold-out festival that gathered approximately 70,000 people from all over the world. (Photo by Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

Member of the Imperio da Tijuca Samba School during the 2019 Carnival Series A parade in the Marques do Sapucaí Sambadrome in the city of Rio de Janeiro this Sunday, March 3, 2019. (Photo by William Volcov/Brazil Photo Press)

A member of the Pena de Pavao de Krishna traditional carnival group, which celebrates Indian deities, performs in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on February 23, 2020. The group added more accelerated northern rhythms to its repertoire in a way to raise awareness of the importance of the Amazon rainforest and the worrying rates that it is burning at. (Photo by Douglas Magno/AFP Photo)

A local helps a reveler with his costume made from beer and soda cans during the “Bloco da Latinha” street party Carnival parade in Madre de Deus, Brazil, Sunday, February 11, 2024. (Photo by Eraldo Peres/AP Photo)

Revellers are sprayed by a water cannon during a street party called “Bloco Das Barbas” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on February 18, 2023. Hundreds of street parties traditionally take place every year in the city before and during Rio de Janeiro's carnival. (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP Photo)

Escorts of city prince Stefan I on their way to the key transfer for carnival in Maastricht, Netherlands on February 18, 2023. City prince Stefan I symbolically gains power over the city for three days. (Photo by Hollandse Hoogte/Rex Features/Shutterstock)