A devotee of the Chinese Jui Tui Shrine has his face pierced with metal rods during a street procession during the annual Vegetarian Festival in the southern Thai town of Phuket on October 19, 2015. During the festival, which begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts nine days, religious devotees slash themselves with swords, pierce their cheeks with sharp objects and commit other painful acts to purify themselves, taking on the sins of the community. (Photo by Nicolas Asfouri/AFP Photo)

Revellers celebrate New Year's Day in central Moscow, Russia, January 1, 2016. (Photo by Tatyana Makeyeva/Reuters)

“Chewbacca Mom” Candace Payne attends the 2016 CMT Music awards at the Bridgestone Arena on June 8, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

A girl carries fire wood collected from flood waters in the flood affected Morigaon district of Assam state, India, 25 July 2016. Over half a million people of 15 districts in Assam state have been affected by the current wave of floods. According to the media reports more than 70 relief camps have been set up in the affected districts to provide shelter to the flood affected people. (Photo by EPA/Stringer)

Participants dance during the West Indian Day Parade in the Brooklyn borough of New York September 5, 2016. The Labor Day Carnival (or West Indian Carnival) is an annual celebration held on American Labor Day (the first Monday in September) in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in New York City. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Reuters)

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)

U.S. Air Force wounded warrior, Capt. Sarah Evans, jumps rope in a gym in San Antonio, Texas. Evans was diagnosed with cancer while deployed to Afghanistan and was medically evacuated back to the United States where her leg was amputated. (Photo by Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen/U.S. Air Force)

A Uyghur boy sits atop a horse as he has his picture taken outside the Id Kah Mosque before the Eid holiday on July 28, 2014 in old Kashgar, Xinjiang Province, China. Nearly 100 people have been killed in unrest in the restive Xinjiang Province in the last week in what authorities say is terrorism but advocacy groups claim is a result of a government crackdown to silence opposition to its policies. China's Muslim Uyghur ethnic group faces cultural and religious restrictions by the Chinese government. Beijing says it is investing heavily in the Xinjiang region but Uyghurs are increasingly dissatisfied with the influx of Han Chinese and uneven economic development. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)