Indians in traditional attire pose for the media as they practice the Garba, a traditional dance of Gujarat state, ahead of Navratri festival in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, October 9, 2023. The Hindu festival of Navratri, or nine nights, will begin on October 15. (Photo by Ajit Solanki/AP Photo)

A 69-meter-tall giant Buddha statue stands at the Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen temple on the outskirts of Bangkok on October 12, 2021. (Photo by Jack Taylor/AFP Photo)

Military Personnel sing and dance during celebrations for Independence Day in Dakar on April 4, 2022. Senegal Celebrates its sixty second Independence Day after gaining independence from France in 1960. (Photo by John Wessels/AFP Photo)

Military vehicles surround a wreckage of a trolleybus, in Volgograd, Russia, Monday, December 30, 2013. A bomb blast tore through a trolleybus in the city of Volgograd on Monday morning, killing at least 10 people a day after a suicide bombing that killed at least 17 at the city's main railway station. Volgograd is about 650 kilometers (400 miles) northeast of Sochi, where the Olympics are to be held. (Photo by Denis Tyrin/AP Photo)

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)

A woman participates in an insect-eating competition at a scenic spot in Lijiang, Yunnan province, China June 25, 2017. Insects have been a part of Yunnan cuisine for centuries, long before their potential as sustainable sources of protein caught the eye of the Western world. Bee larvae, grasshoppers and cicadas are just some items found on menus in the region. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A hogweed bonking beetle and yellow dung fly in a stalk standoff (the fly gave in), in Burley-in-Wharfedale, Yorkshire, England. (Photo by Rebecca Cole/Alamy Stock Photo)

A Garba (folk dance) participant gets her back painted with an awareness message on vaccination against the Covid-19 coronavirus during the ongoing Navratri festival in Ahmedabad in western India on October 8, 2021. (Photo by Sam Panthaky/AFP Photo)