Nature – first prize, stories. Pandemic Pigeons – A Love Story. The photographer’s daughter, Merel, cowers after Dollie flies past and perches on the balcony before entering the house in Vlaardingen in the Netherlands on 6 April 2020. “She’s still frightened when Dollie suddenly lands on the balcony railing. I hide my smile behind the camera, as I try to comfort her by saying they won’t hurt you. “I thought he was going to attack me”, she replies. As the nesting pigeons keep coming back to our place, slowly my girls have started to appreciate them – perhaps not as much as I do, but it’s a start”. (Photo by Jasper Doest/World Press Photo 2021)

Carey Williams leaps into the icy waters of the Snake River for the 2022 Polar Plunge at the Hells Gate Marina on Saturday, January 1, 2022, in Clarkston, Wash. (Photo by August Frank/Lewiston Tribune via AP Photo)

Raccoon Fritzi eats at the home of veterinarian Mathilde Laininger in Berlin, Germany, January 27, 2022. She cares for four raccoons that can no longer be released into the wild. Raccoon Fritzi has an Instagram account with ten thousand followers. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

The original first mechatronic E.T. character from Steven Spielberg's 1982 film “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial” on display at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills, California on December 12, 2022, ahead of the “Julien's Auctions and TCM Present: Icons & Idols: Hollywood”. The auction will take place in-person and online on December 17 and 18. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP Photo)

A child holds a gun at the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., April 15, 2023. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

As if pulled from a Disney film, a fox is mesmerised by a butterfly hovering in front of its nose in a field in Taplow, Berkshire, South East England in the second decade of July 2023. (Photo by Ann Aveyard/Animal News Agency)

From left, Cierra Fraser, 28, Los Angeles, a nanny, and Joslin Farley, 28, Los Angeles, a barista, poses in the outfits they wore to see the movie “Barbie” at TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California, on July 22, 2023. “I just knew that it was in good hands. I knew we were not gonna get a stereotypical barbie movie. I knew it was gonna be exactly what the people needed”, said Farley. (Photo by Jenna Schoenefeld for The Washington Post)

Figurative lanterns for Lunar New Year hang over a road to mark the upcoming Year of the Ox in Singapore on January 19, 2021. (Photo by Roslan Rahman/AFP Photo)