Merit Prize Winner: “A Well Earned Rest in the Sahara”. This photo of Moussa Macher, our Tuareg guide, was taken at the summit of Tin-Merzouga, the largest dune (or erg) in the Tadrat region of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. Moussa rested while waiting for us to finish our 45-minute struggle to the top. It only took ten minutes of rolling, running, and jumping to get back down. The Tadrat is part of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park World Heritage area, famous for its red sand and engravings and rock paintings of cattle, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos that lived there when the climate was milder. Photo location: Summit of Tin-Merzouga, Tadrat, Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, Algeria. (Photo and caption by Evan Cole/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“I’d come to the Altai Mountains on an Adventure Sherpas tour. Our group of 12 was made up mostly of Minnesotans who’d left warm weather and falling leaves for frosty Mongolia. We’d come to sleep in cozy ger tents, the traditional yurt abode of the Mongolian steppe; sip mare’s milk tea; climb mountain glaciers; ride horses to an ancient battle site, and attend the annual Eagle Hunting Festival in Ölgiy...”. – Kathryn Kysar via The Star Tribune. Here: hunter Berek and his eagle outside his home. (Photo by Brad Ruoho/The Star Tribune)

A picture made available on 13 May 2016 shows A Tiwa girl performing her traditional dance as they celebrated the Wanchuwa festival in Karbi Anglong District of Assam state, India, 11 May 2016. Wanchuwa is one of the most important festivals of the Tiwa tribal community living in the hills as it is related with agriculture which is the mainstay of their economy. Tiwas pray for a bountiful harvest during this festival and to protect their crops from pest and other natural calamities. Tiwa is a major tribe of Assam state who practice Jhum or shifting cultivation for their living in the hills. (Photo by EPA/Stringer)

People cool off as they dance in a swimming pool in an event at a local restaurant during a heatwave on July 2, 2023 in Beijing, China. China's capital city and northern parts of the country have experienced unseasonably high temperatures in the last days, sometimes reaching more than 40 degrees celsius, causing local governments to issue heat warnings. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Pupils Antonio Marin-Kalisz, 10 (left) and Zofia Krolikwska, 11 (right) from St Mary's Primary School in Leith, UK with local celebrity chef Tony Singh at the unveiling of Edinburgh Community Food's new educational tuk-tuk on Wednesday, October 2, 2024. The tuk-tuk will serve as a mobile educational initiative to teach communities about nutrition by making healthy cooking fun and accessible, and taking it into the heart of the community. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)

A folk artist performs a stunning fire-pot performance on October 18, 2024 in Guangzhou,Guangdong Province of China.Huohu (fire pot) is a traditional folk performance art.Performers put well-burned charcoal into iron meshes on both sides and shake the meshes up and down so that the charcoal will flare up and blazing sparks will burst out of the meshes and light up the sky just like fireworks. (Photo by John Ricky/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Three children receive “best Christmas present ever” bionic arms in Bristol, England in the second decade of December 2024. Colette Baker, Finley Jarvis and Zoey Pidgeon-Hampton with their new Open Bionics arms. (Photo by Tom Wren/SWNS)

Belgian Wendy Adriaens, the founder of De Passiehoeve, an animal rescue farm where animals support people with autism, depression, anxiety, or drug problems, offers a hug to Blondie, a 6-year-old female ostrich at Passiehoeve farm, in Kalmthout, Belgium on March 8, 2024. (Photo by Yves Herman/Reuters)