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)

A resident reacts as a health worker collects a swab sample to test for the Covid-19 coronavirus in Colombo on July 27, 2021. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

A restaurant worker wearing a mask cleans the windows as the restaurant reopens amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Monday, July 6, 2020. Bars, restaurants and beauty salons were allowed to re-open Monday after over three months of quarantine, and are required to observe preventative measures and reduced operating hours only during the day. (Photo by Andre Penner/AP Photo)

Jaida Zuniga #5 returns a volley against Northview during a girls volleyball match on grass as part of the newly formed Grass Valley League at Northview High School in West Covina on Thursday, March 4, 2021. South Hills defeated Northview (21-25), 25-13, 25-9, 25-12. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Mount Sinabung volcano erupts, as seen from Tiga Pancur village, Karo Regency in Indonesia's North Sumatra province, in this October 8, 2014 file photo. (Photo by Y. T. Haryono/Reuters)

The competition, which is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine, is now in its sixth year and has received over 2,500 entries. Photo: Centre of the Heart Nebula by Ivan Eder (Hungary). Situated 7500 light years away in the “W”-shaped constellation of Cassiopeia, the Heart Nebula is a vast region of glowing gas, energized by a cluster of young stars at its centre. The image depicts the central region, where dust clouds are being eroded and moulded into rugged shapes by the searing cosmic radiation. (Photo by Ivan Eder)

In this photo taken on Sunday, March 15, 2015, a Nenets woman rides steers a sled during a reindeer race at the Reindeer Herder's Day in the city of Nadym, in Yamal-Nenets Region, 2500 kilometers (about 1553 miles) northeast of Moscow, Russia. For the indigenous nomadic Nenets people, the Reindeer Herder's Day offers a chance to show their prowess in wrestling, high jumps and other traditional local sports, but, above all, reindeer races. (Photo by Dmitry Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A young woman holds her smartphone at Red Square with the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower, right, and St. Basil Cathedral, center, in the background in Moscow, Russia, Monday, July 25, 2016. (Photo by Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo)