Visitors pose for a picture next to a mallard duck on the cobblestones of St Peter's Square with St Peter's Basilica in the background at The Vatican, on May 5, 2025. (Photo by Alberto Pizzoli/AFP Photo)
A bee searches for nectar on a flower in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on Friday, September 19, 2025. (Photo by Boris Roessler/dpa/picture alliance/Getty Images)
An owl curiously peeks out from a tree hollow. The pictures of the spotted owlet were taken by Anuj Jain in Chandigarh, India in the second decade of November 2025. (Photo by Anuj Jain/Solent News & Photo Agency)
A woman walks at the Boulevard of the River the eve of the International Women's Day, in Cali, Colombia, 07 March 2019. (Photo by Ernesto Guzman Jr./EPA/EFE)
A fan wipes her lip after she was hit on the mouth by a foul ball hit by Kansas City Royals' Brandon Moss during the third inning of the Royals' baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Friday, September 22, 2017, in Chicago. (Photo by David Banks/AP Photo)
French-Argentine actress Berenice Bejo poses during a photocall for “Final Cut (Coupez !)” at the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 18, 2022. (Photo by Loic Venance/AFP Photo)
Half-naked girls against speed driving in Nizhny, Novgorod Region, Russia on September 5, 2016. Russian drivers are getting quite an eyeful in a bid to make them slow down thanks to topless women flashing speed limit signs at an accident blackspot. A trial of the road safety campaign demonstrated that it helped lower the speed of traffic near a pedestrian crossing in Severny village. (Photo by YouTube)
Aurorae category runner-up: Lone Tree under a Scandinavian Aurora by Tom Archer (UK). The photographer decided to explore the area around the hotel on a very crisp -35C evening in Finnish Lapland. When he found this tree, he decided to wait for the misty conditions to change and could not believe his luck when the sky cleared and the aurora came out in the perfect spot. Archer spent about an hour photographing it before his camera started to lock up because of the harsh conditions, but by then he was happy to call it a night. (Photo by Tom Archer/2020 Astronomy Photographer of the Year)