Vehicles are burning as thousands of people take to the streets during the May Day demonstrations on May 1, 2018 in Paris, France. This month celebrates the 50th anniversary of May 68 when France seen millions of students and striking workers, come onto the streets in demonstrations that changed the country. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

Members of kibbutz Nirim celebrate Shavuot, a Jewish holiday marking both the giving of the Torah and the wheat harvest, at the kibbutz near the border of the besieged Gaza Strip on June 1, 2025, for the first time since the October 2023 attacks by Palestinian militants. (Photo by Menahem Kahana/AFP Photo)

Roxy, a Red Labradoodle, Jaku, a Black and Tan Lurcher, Kobe, a White German Shepherd, Rocky, a Black and Tan German Shepherd, and Busy, an English Springer Spaniel Cross, queue outside an Aldi store in Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK on Monday, December 1, 2025. (Phoot by Lucy Ray/PA Media Assignments)

A woman reacts as she attends Fet Gede, the traditional Haitian Day of the Dead celebration at the Port-au-Prince cemetery, in Haiti, on November 1, 2025. Fet Gede is the annual celebration when practitioners of vodou parade and believe to be possessed by the spirits of the dead. (Photo by Clarens Siffroy/AFP Photo)

A protester attends a rally against the government and to show support for the hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly October 7 attack, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel on September 1, 2024. (Photo by Florion Goga/Reuters)

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 view of the construction site of the Chateau de Guedelon near Treigny in the Burgundy region of France, September 13, 2016. Blacksmiths, stonemasons and quarry men are hard at work in a Burgundy forest building a 13th-century-style castle using the most basic tools and materials, replicating the methods used hundreds of years ago to better understand them. (Photo by Jacky Naegelen/Reuters)

A rescue team flies on a Colombian Air Force helicopter during an earthquake emergency drill with Air Force troops from Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and the United States at the Palenquero Air Force base in Puerto Salgar, Cundinamarca department, Colombia, on September 2, 2021. Air Force crews from 15 countries take part in the “Angel de los Andes” exercises, where they simulated several rescue operations in different scenarios. (Photo by Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP Photo)