Pangolins in Crisis: Brent Stirton, South Africa; 1st place, Natural world and wildlife. “Pangolins are the world’s most illegally trafficked mammals, with an estimated one million trafficked to Asia in the last 10 years. Their scales are used in traditional Chinese and Vietnamese medicine, and their meat is sold as a high-priced delicacy. As a result, pangolins are listed as critically endangered and anyone who trades or consumes them is breaking the law. This body of work exposes the trade, while exploring aspects of illegality and celebrating the people who are trying to save these animals”. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Sony World Photography Awards 2020)

In this photo taken on Tuesday, September 6, 2016 Omar Hassan poses in front of his creation “Breaking Through Milano” in his studio in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Antonio Calanni/AP Photo)

This photo taken on November 6, 2023 shows people posing for photos next to the statue of “Hachiko” in front of Shibuya station in central Tokyo, ahead of the 100th anniversary of the legendary dog's birth this month. A century since its birth, the tale of the loyal companion who had waited at the Shibuya train station for its master to come home – not knowing he had already died – continues to inspire the public, who have made the statue a singular landmark at a glitzy hub of Tokyo's street culture. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP Photo)

Members of the Texas Dancin' Divas take part in the Juneteenth Parade in Galveston, Texas, U.S., June 19, 2021. The United States marked Juneteenth for the first time as a federal holiday commemorating the end of the legal enslavement of Black Americans. (Photo by Adrees Latif/Reuters)

Super Mario finds himself in his original pixelated form in these playful Matt McManis Skittles illustrations. Depicting the overalls-wearing Italian video game character and Pac-Man, these delectable candy designs culminate as a merging of the gamer, the glutton and the creative.

Demonstrators made barricades during clashes with police following a protest condemning the arrest of rap artist Pablo Hasél in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, February 18, 2021. The imprisonment of a rap artist for his music praising terrorist violence and insulting the Spanish monarchy has set off a powder keg of pent-up rage this week in Spain. (Photo by Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo)

Salespeople roll out a reproduction of the famous work “Girl with a Pearl Earring” at the artist village on June 11, 2014 in Shenzhen, China. The Dafen Artist Village in Guangdong province, China, is home to thousands of artists who reproduce some of the world's most iconic paintings as well as create their own works. The village, on the outskirts of Shenzhen, is becoming a major center for original Chinese art. (Photo by Palani Mohan/Getty images)

A veterinarian from the zoo of Besancon feeds “Soa”, a female crowned sifaka, in Besancon, eastern France, on February 18, 2019. The crowned sifaka is a critically endangered species from Madagascar. There were only 6 females over 20 individuals living in 7 zoos worldwide end of 2018. (Photo by Sébastien Bozon/AFP Photo)