A street performer walks past an image of a Russian serviceman reading “The Motherland we defend” at a street exhibition of military photos in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. A campaign to replenish Russian troops in Ukraine with more soldiers appears to be underway again, with makeshift recruitment centers popping up in cities and towns, and state institutions posting ads promising cash bonuses and benefits to entice men to sign contracts enabling them to be sent into the battlefield. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)

Dancers perform during the annual Tartan Day Parade along Sixth Avenue on April 15, 2023 in New York City. Celebrating its 25th Anniversary, the New York City Tartan Day Parade featured many Scottish clans, Pipers, Dancers and Scottish dogs. (Photo by Andrew Schwartz/SIPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A Nymph or female devotee of the Vale do Amanhecer religious community, prays at their temple complex in Vale do Amanhecer (Sunrise Valley), a community on the outskirts of Planaltina, 50 km from the Brazilian capital, Brasilia, on April 29, 2023. This eclectic community holds its most important ritual of the year on Labour Day to honour the mediums who communicate with good and bad spirits. The group combines a range of religious practices, including Christian and Hindu, with symbols borrowed from the Incas and Mayans, as well as a belief in extraterrestrial life and intergalactic travel. The religion claims hundred temples throughout Brazil, Portugal and other countries. (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP Photo)

People walk past the sculpture by artist Danger Dave titled “Damien Hirst looking for sharks” at the Swell Sculpture Festival at Currumbin Beach on the Gold Coast, Australia, 17 September 2021. The Swell Sculpture Festival is the largest outdoor art exhibition in Queensland and features 65 large scale contemporary sculptures set along Currumbin Beach. (Photo by Darren England/EPA/EFE)

The drag troupe Dabber Dolls, arriving in Glasgow Central station on September 21, 2022 for their first tour of Mecca Bingo halls, are joined by a Scottish fan. (Photo by Robert Perry/The Guardian)

A lightning strikes St Peter's dome at the Vatican on February 11, 2013. Pope Benedict XVI announced today he will resign as leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics on February 28 because his age prevented him from carrying out his duties – an unprecedented move in the modern history of the Catholic Church. (Photo by Filippo Monteforte/AFP Photo)

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)

Takeoka Chisaka, Hiroshima, Japan. “One morning in August 1945, I was walking home from the night shift at a factory in Hiroshima. As I reached my door, there was a huge explosion. When I came to, my head was bleeding and I had been blasted 30m away. The atomic bomb had detonated. When I found my mother, her eyes were badly burned. A doctor said they had to come out, but he didn’t have the proper tools so used a knife instead. It was hellish. I became a peace-worker after the war. In the 1960s, at a meeting at the UN, I met one of the people who created the atomic bomb. He apologised”. (Photo and caption by Sasha Maslov)