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)

This Monday, September 15, 2014 photo shows glazed bricks displayed at the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad. The Islamic State militants seek to purge society of all influences that don't conform with their strict, puritanical version of Islam. That means destroying not only relics seen as pagan but also Muslim sites they see as contradicting their ideology, particularly Sunni Muslim shrines they see as idolatrous as well as mosques used by Shiites, a branch of Islam they consider heretical. (Photo by Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)

A woman dressed as an angel takes a break from greeting children at a public library in Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, on December 23, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Genya Savilov/AFP Photo)

A mural depicting a resting cat by Russian street artist Vladi is photographed by a man outside a hotel in Hong Kong on November 27, 2023. (Photo by Peter Parks/AFP Photo)

American singer Dove Cameron poses with the "Video for Good" award for “Breakfast” at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., September 12, 2023. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Jamie Lee Curtis on Wednesday, January 8, 2025 took a trip back to the eighties on The Tonight Show to recreate her iconic aerobics movie scene from the film Perfect, featuring host Jimmy Fallon as John Travolta’s character. (Photo by Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images)

Citizens are making memories under plum trees in full bloom at Gijang Plum Orchard in Gijang-gun, Busan on March 16, 2025. (Photo by Kim Dong-hwan)

Citizens who visited the Blue House guest house on April 20, 2025 are looking around the interior. The number of visitors has skyrocketed since the impeachment of former President Yoon Seok-yeol, as the possibility of the next government returning to the Blue House has been raised. (Photo by Koh Woon-ho)