Nature, Third Prize, Stories—Locust Invasion in East Africa: Herny Lenayasa, a Samburu man and chief of the Archers Post settlement, tries to scare away a massive swarm of locusts ravaging an area next to Archers Post, Samburu County, Kenya, on April 24, 2020. Locust swarms devastated large areas of land, just as the coronavirus outbreak had begun to disrupt livelihoods. #

Environment, Second Prize, Stories—One Way to Fight Climate Change: Make Your Own Glaciers: The youth group that built this ice stupa in the village of Gya installed a café in its base. They used the proceeds to take the village elders on a pilgrimage. Photo taken on March 19, 2019. As Himalayan snows dwindle and glaciers recede, communities in the Ladakh region of northern India are building huge ice cones that provide water into the summer. Ladakh is a cold desert, with winter temperatures reaching –30 degrees Celsius, and an average rainfall of about 100 millimeters. Most villages face acute water shortages, particularly during the crucial planting season in April and May. #

Spot News, First Prize, Singles—Emancipation Memorial Debate: Anais, 26, who wants to remove the Emancipation statue in Lincoln Park in Washington, D.C., argues with a man who wants to keep it, on June 25, 2020. The Emancipation Memorial shows Lincoln holding the Emancipation Proclamation in one hand, with his other hand over the head of a Black man in a loincloth, kneeling at his feet. Critics argue that the statue is paternalistic, demeaning in its depiction of Black Americans, and that it doesn’t do justice to the role that Black people played in their own liberation. Those against removal say it is a positive depiction of people being freed from the shackles of slavery, and that removing such monuments can amount to an erasing of history. The drive to remove the statue came amid a wave of calls to take down monuments of Confederate generals nationwide. #

Environment, First Prize, Singles—California Sea Lion Plays With Mask: A curious California sea lion swims toward a face mask at the Breakwater dive site in Monterey, California. #

Contemporary Issues, Second Prize, Stories—Islamic State’s Yazidi Survivors: In this August 30, 2019, photo, Layla Taloo visits the Ninewa Palace Hotel, where she was once brought by her Islamic State militant captor in Mosul, Iraq. She was abducted by the extremists along with her husband and children—but once her husband was taken away, Taloo was sold to an Iraqi doctor, who three days later gifted her to a friend. Despite the rules mandating sales through courts, she was thrown into a world of informal slave markets run out of homes. In August 2014, the group known as Islamic State launched an attack on the heartland of the Yazidi community in northern Iraq. IS saw Yazidis as heretics and therefore a valid target for extermination in their vision of a new caliphate ruled by Sharia law. From 2014 until U.S. and Iraqi forces began liberating the region in 2017, a slavery economy operated in IS-held territory. In May 2020, the Associated Press reported that although some 3,500 slaves had been freed, most ransomed by their families, some 2,900 Yazidis remained unaccounted for. #

Sports, Third Prize, Singles—Tour of Poland Cycling Crash: The Dutch cyclist Dylan Groenewegen (left), crashes meters before the finish line, after colliding with fellow countryman Fabio Jakobsen during the first stage of the Tour of Poland, in Katowice, Poland, on August 5. #

Contemporary Issues, First Prize, Stories—Sakhawood: Twins Semyon and Stepan perform in the roles of dulgancha, mythical swamp creatures, in "The Old Beyberikeen With Five Cows," in Sakha, Russia, on August 9, 2019. This was the twins' first part in a film. The people of Sakha, a republic in the far northeast of the Russian Federation, live in a remote area with extreme weather conditions—temperatures can drop as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius in winter. Art has become a way of showcasing and preserving Sakha culture, traditions, and stories. Cinema has flourished there since the 1990s. About seven to 10 feature films are shot a year, by a local movie industry lightheartedly dubbed "Sakhawood." Genres range from romantic comedies and crime movies to fairy tales and local legends. #

Nature, First Prize, Singles—Rescue of Giraffes From Flooding Island: A Rothschild’s giraffe is transported to safety in a custom-built barge from the flooded Longicharo Island in Lake Baringo, western Kenya, on December 3, 2020. #

Contemporary Issues, First Prize, Singles—Yemen: Hunger, Another War Wound: Fatima and her son prepare a fishing net on a boat in Khor Omeira bay, Yemen, on February 12. Fatima has nine children. To provide for them, she makes a living off fishing. Although her village was devastated by armed conflict in Yemen, Fatima returned to resume her livelihood, buying a boat with money she earned from selling fish. The conflict—between Houthi Shia Muslim rebels and a Sunni Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia—dates from 2014, and has led to what UNICEF has termed the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Some 20.1 million people (almost two-thirds of the population) required food assistance at the beginning of 2020, with approximately 80 percent of the population relying on humanitarian aid. #

Nature, Third Prize, Singles—New Life: The eggs of a Wiley’s glass frog, Nymphargus wileyi, hang on the tip of a leaf in a tropical Andean cloud forest, near the Yanayacu Biological Station in Napo, Ecuador, on July 25, 2020. Nymphargus wileyi is known only from examples discovered around the Yanayacu Biological Station, and so is listed as "data deficient" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The species inhabits primarily cloud forests. Individuals can be found on leaves at night. Females deposit eggs in a gelatinous mass on the dorsal surface of leaves hanging above streams, near the tip. The embryos will develop for a few days, until they are ready to drop into the water to continue their metamorphosis. #

Sports, First Prize, Stories—Those Who Stay Will Be Champions: Flint Jaguars team star Taevion Rushing jumps from one locker to another in the team locker room before the last regular-season game of his high-school-basketball career, on February 24, 2020. He aims to go on to play basketball at a junior college. The Flint Jaguars basketball team in Flint, Michigan, embodies efforts to nurture stability, encourage mutual support and strengthen community spirit in a city struggling to survive. Flint, the birthplace of General Motors, is striving against outmigration caused by a precipitous decline in its motor industry, a health crisis brought about by authorities switching water-supply sources without proper safeguards, and the systemic neglect of high-poverty, predominantly Black neighborhoods. Basketball is an integral part of Flint culture, and the city once produced dozens of big names at collegiate and professional levels. #

Contemporary Issues, Second Prize, Singles—Doctor Peyo and Mister Hassen: Marion, age 24, who has metastatic cancer, embraces her son Ethan in the presence of Peyo, a horse used in animal-assisted therapy, in the Séléne Palliative Care Unit at the Centre Hospitalier de Calais, in Calais, France, on November 30, 2020. Animal-assisted therapy, also known as pet therapy, is used in many clinical environments, especially in psychological therapy and palliative care. Animals appear to be able to reduce anxiety and stress, and also to have physical effects, such as lowering blood pressure, improving heart rate, and helping in pain management. In hospices, the aim is to use the natural bond between humans and animals to provide comfort, peace, and companionship to terminally ill patients. Horses seem particularly suited for palliative care, as they are especially in tune with their surroundings. Peyo works with his trainer, Hassen Bouchakou, at Les Sabots du Coeur, an organization devoted to animal-assisted therapy, and to scientific research into the subject. #

Sports, First Prize, Singles—Log Pile Bouldering: Georg Filser-Mayerhofer of Germany climbs a log pile while doing some bouldering training in Kochel am See, Bavaria, Germany, on September 15, 2020. Rock-climbing gyms and sports facilities in Munich were closed as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, so athletes became creative in their training methods. #

Portraits, First Prize, Stories—The "Ameriguns": Schriever, Louisiana - Torrell Jasper poses with his firearms in the backyard of his house in Schriever, Louisiana, on April 14, 2019. A former U.S. Marine, he learned to shoot from his father as a child. According to the Small Arms Survey—an independent global research project based in Geneva, Switzerland—half of all the firearms owned by private citizens in the world, for nonmilitary purposes, are in the United States. The survey states that the number of firearms exceeds the country’s population: 393 million guns to 328 million people. #

Nature, Second Prize, Singles—Path of the Panther: A female Florida panther creeps through a fence between Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and an adjacent cattle ranch, in Naples, Florida, on April 6, 2020. Her kitten trails behind her. The Florida panther is a subspecies of Puma concolor (also known as a mountain lion, cougar, or puma) and, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, represents the only known breeding population of puma in the eastern United States. Listed as an endangered species in 1967, Florida panthers are gradually making a comeback, growing from fewer than 20 panthers in the 1970s, to more than 200 today. #

Portraits, First Prize, Singles—The Transition: Ignat: Ignat, a transgender man, sits with his girlfriend, Maria, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on April 23, 2020. Ignat was bullied throughout his school years, and confronted by the school psychologist following rumors that he spoke about himself using the masculine gender. Ignat opened up to the psychologist about his gender identity—the first stranger to whom he had told everything—but asked to keep it a secret. The whole school found out, and the insults and humiliations became permanent. Many LGBTQ+ people in Russia keep low profiles because of stigmatization against nontraditional sexuality. An amendment to the Russian constitution, made in July of 2020, stipulates that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, with no other options possible. Although an attempt was made to make a further amendment preventing transgender people from changing their status on legal documents, it was not passed. #

Nature, First Prize, Stories—Pandemic Pigeons, A Love Story: A pair of feral pigeons befriended the photographer’s family, who were isolated in their apartment in Vlaardingen, Netherlands, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ollie and Dollie, as the family named them, were regulars in the house, their daily visits a reminder that humans are not alone on this planet, even while living isolated in urban areas. Here, Ollie perches on a dirty plate as the photographer fills the dishwasher, while Dollie looks on from outside, on April 17, 2020. #

Spot News, First Prize, Stories—Port Explosion in Beirut: Firefighters work to put out the fires that engulfed warehouses in Beirut, Lebanon, on August 4, 2020, after a massive explosion in the port. At around 6 p.m. on August 4, a massive explosion, caused by more than 2,750 tons of high-density ammonium nitrate, shook Beirut. The explosive compound was being stored in a warehouse in the port. Some 100,000 people lived within a kilometer of the warehouse. The explosion, which measured 3.3 on the Richter scale, damaged or destroyed about 6,000 buildings, killed at least 190 people, injured a further 6,000, and displaced as many as 300,000. The ammonium nitrate came from a ship that had been impounded in 2012 for failing to pay docking fees and other charges, and was apparently abandoned by its owner. Customs officials wrote to the Lebanese courts at least six times between 2014 and 2017, asking how to dispose of the explosive. In the meantime, it was stored in the warehouse in an inappropriate climate. It is not clear what detonated the explosion, but contamination by other substances, either while in transport or in storage, appear the most likely cause. Many citizens saw the incident as symptomatic of the ongoing problems the country is facing, namely governmental failure, mishandling, and corruption. #

Environment, Third Prize, Stories—Inside the Spanish Pork Industry: The Pig Factory of Europe: The gestation area of a pig farm in Aragon, Spain, seen on December 24, 2019. A European Council directive allows the placement of sows in individual crates where they remain immobilized during the first four weeks of pregnancy. Gestation crates are generally arranged so as to accommodate hundreds of sows next to one another. Spain is one of the four largest global exporters of pork. The European Union as a whole consumes about 20 million tons of pork annually, and exports about 13 percent of its total production, mostly to East Asia. An EU-funded campaign, "Let’s Talk About Pork," has been launched in Spain, France, and Portugal, its objective a drive to counter fake claims surrounding meat production and pork consumption in Europe, and to demonstrate that the sector meets the highest standards of sustainability, biosecurity, and food safety in the world. Animal-rights groups, on the other hand, argue that such practices as routine tail-docking and narrow gestation crates for sows constitute animal abuse, and that animal pain and suffering is widespread. Animal-rights investigators say that the industry makes access to farms difficult, and that they are compelled to gain access to such facilities covertly, often at night, in order to document what happens inside. These photographs were taken on a number of such incursions, on different dates, at various facilities across Spain. #

Portraits, Third Prize, Stories—Niewybuch: Mateusz practices swimming with a weapon, at a summer military camp in Mrzeżyno, Poland, on August 7, 2020. Military summer camps for youth have existed in Poland since the 1920s. The young participants are put through boot camps, challenged physically and mentally, and given instruction—often on former army training grounds—in skills such as tactics, survival, self-defense, and topography. They are also taught to shoot, using air rifles and sometimes replica weaponry such as machine guns and grenade launchers. The camps are promoted as opportunities for adventure and recreation, and as character-building and encouraging teamwork. Organizers maintain that participating in games with replica weapons prevents children from seeking out real ones. On the other hand, there is criticism that suggests the popularity of the camps stems from the rise of nationalism in Poland, particularly since Law and Justice (PiS), a right-wing populist party, came into power. #

Spot News, Third Prize, Singles—Forest Fire: A child sits inside a car near a forest fire in Oliveira de Frades, Portugal, on September 7, 2020. A wildfire began in Oliveira de Frades, about 100 kilometers from Porto in eastern Portugal, on September 7, and quickly spread. At least 300 firefighters, 100 land vehicles, and 10 firefighting planes battled the blaze in a landscape dominated by eucalyptus trees. The uncontrolled spread of eucalyptus trees—which supply raw material for an economically important pulp industry, but which are extremely flammable—is a major factor in the rapid spread of wildfires. Portugal has a wildfire season that lasts from June to September. #

General News, Second Prize, Singles—The Human Cost of COVID-19: The body of a suspected coronavirus victim, wrapped in yellow infectious-waste plastic, lies in a hospital in Indonesia, on April 18. Nurses wound plastic around the body and sprayed it with disinfectant, in accordance with Indonesian government protocols at the time. These protocols required COVID-19 victims to be wrapped in plastic and buried quickly to prevent the virus spreading. This meant grieving relatives were unable to follow Muslim funeral practices, which include personally washing the dead and wrapping the corpse in a seamless cloth. #

Contemporary Issues, Second Prize, Stories—Islamic State’s Yazidi Survivors: Yazidi youth, dressed in traditional clothes, take part in a program to reacquaint them with their religion and culture at Khanke Camp, near Dohuk, Iraq, on September 14, 2019. #

Environment, Second Prize, Singles—Temple and Half-Mountain: A Buddhist temple occupies one half of a mountain, while the other has been carved away by heavy machinery mining for jade, in Hpakant, Kachin State, Myanmar, on July 15. Hpakant is the site of the world’s biggest jade mine, and is the largest supplier of jadeite, the more valuable of the two forms of jade. Demand from China, where jade is a popular status symbol, fuels the industry. Destruction of the environment by mining operations includes indiscriminate vegetation loss, degradation of farmland, and river sedimentation, and is mainly a result of inappropriate mining practices. At Hpakant sites, issues include illegally high heaps of mining waste, immense abandoned mining pits, and companies failing to stabilize deep excavations. Landslides are frequent; a mudslide after heavy rainfall in July 2020 killed at least 100 people. #

Spot News, Second Prize, Singles—Waiting for Release at a Temporary Detention Center in Belarus: Olga Sieviaryniec waits for her husband, Paval, outside a detention center in Minsk, Belarus, on July 22, 2020. Paval Sieviaryniec had been held on remand since June 7, and his family had learned he was about to be released. Olga waited outside the prison for two hours, but Paval was not freed. Paval is a Christian Democrat politician and a well-known political activist. He is one of the founders of Youth Front, a youth movement that supports civil society based on Christian-democratic principles and the free market, and the education of young people to revive Belarusian national culture and language. He was arrested while collecting signatures in support of candidates to stand against President Alexander Lukashenko in his bid for a sixth consecutive term in office. #

Spot News, Third Prize, Stories—Minneapolis Unrest: The George Floyd Aftermath: Police fire tear gas and less-lethal rounds at protesters during a demonstration at the intersection of East Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota, on May 29, 2020. Protests continued following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day. #

Spot News, Third Prize, Stories—Minneapolis Unrest: The George Floyd Aftermath: Protesters raise their fists in defiance outside a burning fast-food restaurant near the Minneapolis Police Department 3rd Precinct, on May 29, 2020, in Minneapolis. #