Winner. “I took this picture of a woman in traditional clothing in Cartagena, Colombia”. PAUL GOLDSTEIN, JUDGE: “The blaze of colour from every angle, the boldness of the picture, taken from behind, which gives it so much more allure and frankly a superb get up. Did I mention the colours? Oh, and that looks suspiciously like a Nokia”. (Photo by Stanislav Shmelev/The Guardian)

A Belarussian tourist crosses the river as he takes part in “Search and rescue operations – 2016”, a three-day competition, near the village of Priselki, Belarus, November 25, 2016. Photo taken November 25, 2016. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

This photo was caught on camera by amateur photographer Kutub Uddin, 27, and was taken in his back garden in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. The red-eyed tree frogs have been Mr Uddin's pets for four months and he often lets them out to roam around his garden. Photo: “Ohh no :( Raining”. (Photo by Kutub Uddin)

A competitor jumps from the Old Bridge during Red Bull Cliff Diving Competition in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina on August 15, 2015. (Photo by Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)

Miss Netherlands, Ona Moody walks onstage during The 71st Miss Universe Competition National Costume Show at New Orleans Morial Convention Center on January 11, 2023 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Josh Brasted/Getty Images)

People and Nature category winner: Why did the sloth cross the road? by Andrew Whitworth (Osa Conservation and University of Glasgow), taken in Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. “I was driving out from the Osa Peninsula, located on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica on a dark, stormy day. This female three-toed sloth (Bradypus variegatus) had luckily just about made it across the road, and the drivers of the Toyota on this occasion had spotted her in good time”. (Photo by Andrew Whitworth/2019 British Ecological Society Photography Competition)

An iguana in Bali helped Julij Kopilović, age eight, from Slovenia, earn second runner-up in Amazing Animals. (Photo by Julij Kopilović/National Geographic)