The Nikon D500 that captured the Osprey that caught the $300 prize (our November monthly winners!)

posted Saturday, December 17, 2016 at 8:46 AM EDT

We've just named the Nikon D500 as the "Best Enthusiast DSLR" of 2016, not to mention one of the top three "Best Overall" cameras of the year, so it's certainly no surprise to us that it's already being used by one of the successful longtime regulars in our Photo of the Day contest, Abeselom Zerit! With an exceptionally well-timed and captivating photograph of an Osprey catching his daily meal, Abeselom has indeed captured the $300 prize for the month of November.

No stranger to our awards podium, Abeselom has won prizes on several other occassions in our contest including capturing the $200 second prize award just this past July with a beautiful photograph of an Expectant Mandrill captured with a Nikon D810. Congratulations once again, Abeselom, and thanks so much for being one of our longtime contributors!

First Prize • $300 gift certificate from Adorama

First Prize • Osprey Catch by Abeselom Zerit • Nikon D500

(Terrific shot, Abeselom!)

• • •

Frank Somma is yet another longtime contributor to our contest, and takes the second prize with an alluring juxtaposition of an egret set against palm fronds. This is a nice departure from the norm, an excellent shot and we're honored to display it for you here!

Second Prize • $200 gift certificate from Adorama

Second Prize • Egret and Palms by Frank Somma • Nikon D3

(Well done, Frank!)

• • •

And yet another of our regulars with many previous accolades in our contest is Gisli Kristinsson, once again bringing us a cativating aurora from enchanting Iceland. This paritcular image, aptly titled "In The Hands", certainly has a charm to it that sets it apart from the more common aurora images we see.

Third Prize • $100 gift certificate from Adorama

Third Prize • In The Hands by Gisli Kristinsson • Canon 5D Mark II

(Thanks for another wonderful image, Gisli!)

• • •

It's rare that all five photographers honored in one month in our competition are longtime "regulars", but this is indeed what happened this month as Mitch Spence and Ed Young are both featured here as well. We're grateful to you both for these wonderful submissions, and even moreso for being such an integral part of our contest for so long!

Additional Honors

First runner-up • Bending Oaks by Mitch Spence • Nikon D300

(A wonderful image, Mitch. Many thanks!)

Second runner-up • Storm As Sea by Ed Young • Nikon D810

("Wow" is a good word for this shot. Thanks, Ed!)

• November Winner's Gallery •

[Editor's note: When voting for the monthly winners, the voting panel is only shown the printed images and is not aware of the name of the photographers nor camera models.]

For the gear nuts among us, it was a majorly successful month for Nikon shooters, taking 4 of the top 5 slots! This is the first time in more than a year for a manufacturer to almost complete a clean sweep, as Canon last pulled this off with 4 of the top 5 in September of 2015. Those two companies have indeed dominated the competition in our contest for many years now, and if you'd like to read more about that phenomenon please see the article "Revenge of the DSLR's" for a deeper dive into this ongoing DSLR domnation!

And for those of you 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 that warns you of the best ways to NOT succeed. To see the camera and exposure information for this month's winners, please click any image above, and to see winners from previous months, please visit our POTD winner's gallery.

[And if you're ready to enter now, just click here!]

On a related note, 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 happiest with, and in hearing just how you got them, or just hearing about your passions, interests and the gear you love! Intrigued? Please click here!