Shortlisted: Pooyan Shadpoor, Houcheraghi. While walking along the shore of Larak, Iran – an island in the Persian Gulf – Shadpoor came across this luminous scene. The “magical lights of (the) plankton ... enchanted me so that I snapped the shot”, he writes. (Photo by Pooyan Shadpoor/2016 EPOTY)

These snaps show a series of crafty critters camouflaged out of view. Many adventurous animals love to stand out from a crowd, but there are times when they need to blend in a bit more too. Photo: Tall story – can you spot the giraffe? (Photo by Caters News)

Located in Siberia, Laka Baikal is the largest freshwater lake on the planet that contains approximately 20 percent of the Earth’s freshwater. Apart from being the oldest lake in the world at over 25 million years old, Lake Baikal is also home to over two thousand varieties of flora and fauna, of which almost 1,600 are endemic to the lake. The water of Lake Baikal is renowned for being some of the clearest in the world. When the lake freezes during the winter, an amazing phenomena takes place: large shards of transparent ice form on the surface of the lake, giving the amazing appearance of turquoise ice.

Once upon a time a girl named Laura lived in Columbus, Ohio. She had a nice family, and got good grades, but it was always rainy and cold in Columbus, which was neither nice nor good, so she wore lots of sweaters and turned the heat up when her dad wasn’t looking.

A tourist takes photos of an Aurora Borealis display (Northern Lights) over the Bals-Fiord north of the Arctic Circle, near the village of Mestervik late September 30, 2014. (Photo by Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

Contestants walk on stage during the “mini-miss” beauty contest in Bobigny, Paris suburb, September 22, 2012. The competition is open for girls aged 7 to 12. (Photo by Benoit Tessier/Reuters)