Serenity, shadows and snow - Our December contest-winning images do winter proud

posted Sunday, January 24, 2016 at 9:22 AM EDT

Our prize-winning images for December from our Photo of the Day contest reflect the grace and serenity of winter, and are a perfect compliment to your coffee on a Sunday morning!

The three prize-winning photographers this month are all old-school IR regulars, and have all won multiple prizes before, so are no strangers to our awards podium. We certainly love when new photographers join us and make it to the podium, but the biggest strength of our contest through the years and a reason the quality remains so high is the dedication and skill of our regulars.

Debra Dorothy, Mitch Spence and Steven Shpall have been three of our best through the years, and we're grateful to them and honored to feature their artistic vision and skill this month. If an image strikes your fancy or moves you please let them know in the comments section below this article!

[Editor's note: The judges are not aware of photographer names when judging the monthly award-winners, they are printed and posted, so there is no favoritism, only the artistic merit of each photograph is considered.]

First prize • Shadow Play by Debra S. Dorothy • Canon 5D Mark II

Second prize • Florida Panther by Mitch Spence • Nikon D80

Third prize • Above Mount Ranier by Steven Shpall • Nikon D800

Our runner-up photographs from this month could easily have won awards as well. I wish we could give out 5 prizes instead of three, as these images from Jim Cumming and Claudia are deserving of recognition. Thanks to both of you for the wonderful submissions!

First runner-up • Air Snowy by Jim Cumming • Canon 7D

Second runner-up • Iceland Ice Cave by Claudia • Canon 5D Mark II

Thanks so much to everyone who enters our Photo of the Day contest. The top three images every month receive gift certificates from Adorama of $300, $200 and $100, respectively. [Note: international readers are welcome to enter, but regulations mean that only US and Canada residents are eligible to win the monthly prizes.]

For anyone wanting to know more about our competition please visit this news story which describes our contest and also offers some useful tips to help you succeed, and this story which warns you of the best ways to NOT succeed. To see camera and exposure information for this month's winners or to see winners from previous months please visit our POTD winner's gallery.

By the way, we've just started a new series of articles called "Reader Stories" where we turn the tables and let you, our readers, do the talking! We're interested in seeing more of the shots you're the most happy with, and in hearing just how you got them, or just hearing about your passions, interests and the gear you love! Intrigued? Click here!