/ 2025 / Fine Art / People

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Laurie Swope, United States

Cold water immersion enthusiast Kari Pike enters the water after breaking ice at a local pond in Massachusetts. She is a part of a growing community of cold water plungers in New England.There are physical benefits to cold water immersion which naturally elevate mood-such as the rush of endorphins- but there is also a great freedom in doing what you didn't think was possible.It is liberating to realize that it is okay to be cold. Allowing our very narrow expectation of what is comfortable to expand broadens our experience of being alive.