A Jennie fan waits in the crowd for Jennie's perform at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, U.S., April 13, 2025. (Photo by Daniel Cole/Reuters)

A young Ukrainian woman wears an ear of grain braid during a traditional Ukrainian celebration of Kupalo Night, in Warsaw, Poland, on Saturday, June 22, 2024. Ukrainians in Warsaw jumped over a bonfire and floated braids to honor the vital powers of water and fire on the Vistula River bank Saturday night, as they celebrated their solstice tradition of Ivan Kupalo Night away from war-torn home. (Photo by Czarek Sokolowski/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)

People walk through wind and rain during a nor'easter storm in Times Square in New York City on April 3, 2024. (Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

A fan watches the group A World Cup match between Mexico and Brazil via a live broadcast at the FIFA Fan Fest in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Tuesday, June 17, 2014. Forget the French manicure. It’s Brazil during World Cup, and women here want to flaunt their love of the national team with wacky nail designs. (Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills/AP Photo)

A person looks at Theresa Chromati's “steadfast, step into me (allow silence to create the sounds you desire most)”, which is part of Frieze Sculpture, in Regent's Park, in London, Britain on September 18, 2024. (Photo by Mina Kim/Reuters)

2017 Paraguay-Bolivia-Argentina Dakar rally, 39th Dakar Edition, Seventh stage from Oruro to Uyuni, Bolivia on January 9, 2017. Juan Salvatierra of Bolivia rides his KTM. (Photo by Ricardo Moraes/Reuters)

A masquerade dances to drums along the streets during the kankurang Festival in Janjanbureh on January 27, 2024. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005, Kankurang, a combination of the Mandingo words “kango” and “Kurango”, literally translated as “voice” and “force”, ensures the transmission and teaching of the values and practices that form the basis of Mandingo cultural identity, a West African people whose historical home was the Mali empire. (Photo by Muhamadou Bittaye/AFP Photo)