Honorable Mention: “The Storm”. During I was taking photo with my nephew, the storm came and I caught this beautiful moment. Photo location: Kocaeli, Turkey. (Photo and caption by Aytül Akbaş/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A park worker holds a monitor lizard at Lumpini park in Bangkok, Thailand, September 20, 2016. More than 400 of the Monitor lizards in the park will be caught by Thai authorities to relocate the reptile to a wildlife breeding center in the effort to control the creature population in the public park after the monitor lizard disturbing and causing several minor accident of people who jogging and cycling at the Lumpini Park. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

China has recently relaxed its one child policy that was used to control a burgeoning population. A couple has their wedding photo taken in an old quarter of Beijing on May 24, 2016. (Photo by Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)

Belgian-Dutch racing driver Maz Verstappen was racing for Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka at Suzuka International Circuit on October 9, 2022 when a spider on the camera lens threatened to get in the way of the action. (Photo by DPPI)

General view of festival goers at the main stage on Day 3 of Download festival at Donnington Park on June 12, 2022 in Donnington, England. (Photo by Chris Bethell/The Guardian)

A girl looks with comic disgust at a guy who falls asleep with a bottle of beer at a party; her friend laughs. (Photo by Edward Corbett/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Small transportation boats, known as bumboats, leave trails of light as they travel across Marina Bay past the skyline of Singapore in this photo taken in 2004. Singapore holds a Jubilee weekend from 7 to 10 August to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its independence. Fifty years ago, hundreds of small boats lined the Singapore river in the city centre. Today, most small boats are gone, except a handful of neon-lit tourist ferries. Maritime trade is still the backbone of the city-state but after decades of rapid growth Singapore, which at less than half the size of London is among the world’s most densely populated nations, is also a popular tourist destination and a thriving global financial hub. (Photo by Edgar Su/Reuters)

Participants struggle to reach the prizes during a greased-pole climbing competition held as a part of the independence day celebrations in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, August 17, 2014. Indonesia is celebrating its 69th independence from the Dutch colonial rule. (Photo by Dita Alangkara/AP Photo)