Guests dance the Met Gala Party for Jean Paul Gaultier x Shayne Oliver Group held at Sapphire in Manhattan on May 7, 2024. (Photo by Jeenah Moon for The Washington Post)

England players celebrate Sunday, July 27, 2025 after they defeated Spain to win the Euro 2025 tournament. The Lionesses won on penalties, retaining their European crown and avenging their loss to Spain in the 2023 World Cup final. (Photo by Harriet Lander/The FA/Getty Images)

Portuguese firefighters and Spanish military personnel work together to battle a forest fire in the parish of Bouses, Oimbra, Ourense, Galicia, Spain on August 18, 2025. (Photo by Pedro Pascual/Anadolu Agency)

Colombian rider Diana Carolina Penuela Martinez competes in the women's Elite Individual Time Trial cycling event during the UCI 2025 Road World Championships, in Kigali, on September 21, 2025. (Photo by Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP Photo)

Suat Demir, a 52-year-old parter, smokes a cigarette after finishing his work day in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, October 2, 2025. (Photo by Emrah Gurel/AP Photo)

American media personality and socialite Kim Kardashian attends the 2024 LACMA Art+Film Gala at Los Angeles County Museum of Art on November 02, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/WireImage)

Crowds watch surfers as the first big swell of the year arrives in Nazaré, Portugal on October 28, 2015. (Photo by Pedro Miranda/Demotix/Corbis)

Second Place Winner: “Thunderstorm at False Kiva”. I hiked out to these ruins at night hoping to photograph them with the Milky Way, but instead a thunderstorm rolled through, creating this dramatic image. – Max Seigal. National Geographic Traveler Director of Photography Dan Westergren, one of this year's judges, shares his thoughts on the second place winner: “This photo combines two different scenes into one: the small kiva in a cliff dwelling and the grand vista of Canyonlands National Park across the valley. I really like the two different color palettes – warm inside and purple outside. This two-for-one scene was caused by the lightning storm outside the dwelling, which lit up the landscape like it was a huge electronic flash. Looking at this picture I can imagine what a wonderful sight it must have been for the ancient people who lived here. It doesn't seem too amazing now in our modern world, but might have been mind-blowing for the prehistoric residents”. Location: Utah. (Photo and caption by Max Seigal/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)