Shooting star by Tony Wu, US/Japan. Winner, underwater. The electrifying reproductive dance of a giant sea star. As the surrounding water filled with sperm and eggs from spawning sea stars, Wu faced several challenges. Stuck in a small, enclosed bay with only a macro lens for photographing small subjects, he backed up to squeeze the undulating sea star into his field of view. The dancing posture of spawning sea stars rising and swaying may help release eggs and sperm, or may help sweep the eggs and sperm into the currents where they fertilise together in the water. Kinko Bay, Japan. (Photo by Tony Wu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

Japanese macaques, also known as snow monkeys, play as they soak in a hot spring in Jigokudani valley in Nagano Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo Saturday, March 6, 2021. (Photo by Kiichiro Sato/AP Photo)

Finding just the right spot above the clouds at Camp 1 on Ama Dablam, Danuru Sherpa uses his iPhone to catch up with friends and family. Even at 18,500 feet (5,654 meters), climbers here can check their email and other dispatches from the world below. (Photo by Aaron Huey/National Geographic)

Revellers celebrate "Ash Monday" by participating in a colourful "flour war", a traditional festivity marking the end of the carnival season and the start of the 40-day Lent period until the Orthodox Easter,in the port town of Galaxidi, some 215 km (134 miles) north west of Athens, March 18, 2013. The revellers "fight" by throwing coloured flour, charcoal dust and powder painting until they essentially run out of supplies. (Photo by Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

Monster girl Crazy Sa-ya, an iconic Harajuku girl and a staff member of the cafe, wearing a face mask poses for a photograph at Kawaii Monster Cafe, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Tokyo, Japan on January 31, 2021. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

Girls hold hands as they arrive their New Year parties in Newcastle, England on December 31, 2019. (Photo by Craig Connor/North News and Pictures)

Two guards perform an execution in China, one holding the gun, the other holding a mask over the victim's face. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images). Circa 1925