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)

A Chicago Police Officer runs toward gunfire as looters break into downtown stores in the early hours of the morning on August 10, 2020. (Photo by RMV/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A healthcare worker dressed as Santa Claus distributes gifts to children at the Ayeyarwady Covid Centre in Mandalay, Myanmar, on December 25, 2020, Christmas Day, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, caused by the novel coronavirus. (Photo by Ye Aung Thu/AFP Photo)

People stand next to a ship, containing tonnes of hazardous mercury-mixed oil, as it was allowed to anchor at Gadani ship-breaking yard in Gadani, Pakistan, 28 May 2021. Authorities have launched an investigation into the anchoring of a ship at the Gadani shipbreaking yard despite Interpol's warning that the ship contains dangerous chemicals. (Photo by Rehan Khan/EPA/EFE)

Filipinos riding on makeshift carts cross over an overflowing dam during a downpour in Las Pinas city, south of Manila, Philippines, 05 September 2017. According to the latest forecast from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) state weather bureau, typhoon signals were raised over Northern Luzon brought by a tropical storm (local name: Tropical Storm Kiko) and warned fisherfolks and small seacrafts not to venture onto the sea due to big waves. (Photo by Francis R. Malasig/EPA/EFE)

Carnival revelers perform during the Academicos do Baixo Augustaa carnival “bloco” parade in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday, February 24, 2019. (Photo by Andre Penner/AP Photo)

In this November 12, 2015, file photo, Mt. Everest is seen from the way to Kalapatthar in Nepal. An American climber has died near the summit of Mount Everest and an Indian climber is missing after heading down from the mountain following a successful ascent, expedition organizers said Sunday. (Photo by Tashi Sherpa/AP Photo)

Eight year-old Maya Mohammad Ali Merhi walks using prosthetic legs made by her father from tin cans in a camp for displaced people, in the northern Syrian province of Idlib on June 20, 2018. Maya and her father were both born without lower limbs. Unable to afford real prosthetic limbs, her father made her a pair out of tin cans filled with cotton and scrap pieces of cloth. Maya's family had to leave their home in the Aleppo province to flee battles. (Photo by Aaref Watad/AFP Photo)