Tony North; First place, Breathing Spaces; Overall Winner; Blue Tajinaste, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. “Echium thyrsiflorum is endemic to the mountains of La Palma island – from high up, there was a magnificent view of both the caldera below, and the stars above. The Unesco La Palma biosphere reserve encompasses the entire island, with the Caldera de Taburiente containing mountains with a highest peak of 2,426 metres – the Roque de los Muchachos”. (Photo by Tony North/IGPOTY)

Visitors watch ice-cold artworks, depicting Marilyn Monroe, at an ice and snow sculpture exhibition made by 35 international artists, who worked 4 months at minus eight degrees Celsius in Oberhausen, Germany, on the 1st of Advent, Sunday, December 1, 2024. (Photo by Martin Meissner/AP Photo)

A photographer takes pictures as the sun rises over the city of Kronberg near Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, November 4, 2024. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

The sun bear (Ursus malayanus), also known as the honey bear, is a bear found primarily in the tropical rainforest (the dense lowland forests) in Southeast Asia; North-East India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Southern China, Peninsular Malaysia, and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.

Model Natasha Poly poses on the red carpet as she arrives for the screening of the film “Carol” in competition at the 68th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, May 17, 2015. (Photo by Eric Gaillard/Reuters)

In his book “Side Effects”, aerial photographer Kacper Kowalski took to the skies to paint a portrait of the complex relationship between humans and nature. From the sky, he captured where nature and civilization collide into aesthetic, abstract colors and shapes. Photo: A view over fields of grain in Spring chamomile, cornflower and other weeds growing amongst the grain sprouts. (Photo by Kacper Kowalski/Panos Pictures)

A leg of a “diablito” frog (Oophaga sylvatica) is photographed in a laboratory at a laboratory in the zoo of Cali, Colombia, on July 19, 2019. Colombia is the second country with the largest number of amphibians in the world after Brazil. More than 40% of amphibian species worldwide are in danger of extinction. (Photo by Luis Robayo/AFP Photo)

Women, wearing traditional “ao dai” dress, pose for a photo next to peach blossom flowers ahead of Vietnamese “Tet” (the lunar new year festival) in a field in Hanoi January 22, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/Kham)