First Prize 17-Day Chinese Cultural Journey, from Beijing to Hong Kong, for two. (Trip courtesy of National Geographic Expeditions and American Airlines.) Devotion is the pose struck by these two novitiate monks at the Dhitsripaya Monastery in Mandalay, Myanmar. But when first approached by Dacho Buranabunpot, the boys were markedly less serene. "They were running around and playing—doing just about everything but praying," says Buranabunpot, who had been taking sunrise photos from Sagaing Hill, across the Irrawaddy River, when he spotted these spirited novices and asked them to pose for him carrying alms bowls. "My favorite places for taking pictures are Chiang Rai and Sukhothai, in Thailand, and Myanmar," explains Buranabunpot, who lives in Bangkok. "The people here are lovely, very photogenic, and happy." A third-prize winner in Traveler's 12th-Annual Photo Contest (and a merit winner in our tenth), Buranabunpot began taking pictures at age nine and dreams of shooting vast animal migrations across the Serengeti Plain in Tanzania and Kenya. "I love photographing action," he says. (Canon EOS-1V, Canon IS28-135mm lens, Fujichrome Velvia film.) © 2002, 2003 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.