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)

A man transports a car on a horse cart to a repair shop along a street in Amritsar on May 6, 2021. (Photo by Narinder Nanu/AFP Photo)

Finland's Heta Tuuri competes in the women's high jump qualification during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on August 25, 2023. (Photo by Ben Stansall/AFP Photo)

A person shields themself from snowfall as they walk to a taxi in Midtown Manhattan, New York City on January 6, 2024. Forecasters warned on January 5 that a deluge of snow and wintery conditions could bring travel chaos to the US northeast this weekend, with some 25 million people subject to a storm warning. (Photo by Adam Gray/AFP Photo)

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire caught on a passenger train, ahead of the general election in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on January 5, 2024. (Photo by Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

A climate change activist plays a violin in Times Square as Manhattan is shrouded in haze and smoke which drifted south from wildfires in Canada, in New York City, New York, U.S., June 7, 2023. (Photo by Maye-E Wong/Reuters)

A woman takes a dip in icy water during celebrations of the Orthodox Christian feast of Epiphany in Pereslavl-Zalessky, Yaroslavl region, Russia on January 18, 2022. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Lucha Libre wrestlers perform during the Lucha VaVoom spectacle “Cinco de Mayan” at The Mayan theater in Los Angeles, California, USA, late 04 May 2023 (issued 05 May 2023). The Lucha VaVoom presents Lucha Libre wrestling spectacles and mixes them with burlesque show elements. (Photo by Caroline Brehman/EPA/EFE)