The owl that brought home the prize: Our June Photo of the Day winners unveiled!

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posted Monday, August 10, 2015 at 4:54 PM EST

Some months are harder than others for the esteemed judges in the halls of IR, and the job of voting for our June finalists was one of the tougher ones in years. All five entries that placed in our top 5 are deserving photographs, each with a unique flavor and feel, and each could easily have taken the top slot.

But in a competition with real prizes there can be no ties, so we were forced to make the call once again in deciding who would bring home the proverbial bacon. In this case we awarded our top spot to Moe Ali and a beautiful owl bringing home a dinner of his own. We simply found this moment too good to pass up for taking top honors this month. (Well done, Moe!)

[Click any image below for a larger view and more details. And please keep the wonderful submissions coming our way!]

 
First prize • Big Lunch by Moe Ali • Canon 7D MK II

Moving to second place we find yet another gorgeous aurora from our Icelandic comrade Gisli Kristinsson. Those of you who faithfully follow our contest (and we're grateful to you!) will remember that Gisli took top honors just a few months ago with a stunning aurora photo, but we felt this one was too good to pass up as well. It's a striking image that we're proud to display, and thanks to Gisli for another great shot!

 
Second prize • Aurora Eruption by Gisli Kristinsson • Canon 5D MK II

And now for third place and our final prize-winning submission we feature an exceptionally intriguing image called "Horns" by another regular, John Merrell. The composition is alluring, and the image a clever portrayal of an otherwise ordinary setting. A terrific and captivating image, and a big thanks to John for submitting it!

 
Third prize • Horns by John Merrell • Canon 7D

And lastly we present two worthy runner-up images that, as stated earlier, could have easily taken prize-winning slots on any given month. From a gorgeous hummingbird image by Pete Pieslor to a tranquil view of a timeless lighthouse by renown submitter Mike DiRenzo, these two images surely belong on the podium with our prize winners. Thanks to both of you, and please keep them coming our way!

 
First runner-up • Balancing Act by Pete Pieslor • Canon 5D MK II

 
 
Second runner-up • Hatteras at Sunset by Mike DiRenzo • Canon 5D MK II

We can't conclude this news piece without a special nod to Canon! As we reported to you last year in this news piece, Canon and Nikon tend to battle it out month in and month out in our competition, providing far more winner and runner-up images than the other manufacturers at this point in time. But there has never been a clean sweep from just one company in a given month... until now. Yes, a great photograph is mostly about the photographer, but most of our readers are camera fanatics who really appreciate the gear, so we felt the clean sweep deserved a mention. Congratulations to Canon for a banner month in our contest!

Thanks so much to everyone who enters our Photo of the Day contest. The top three prize winning images all receive gift certificates from Adorama of $300, $200 and $100, respectively. [International readers are welcome to enter, but only US and Canada residents are eligible to win prizes due to regulations.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. To see camera and exposure information on this month's winners or to visit previous months please visit our POTD winner's gallery.

Ready to submit a photo of your own? Just click here! And to compliment these photographers on their submissions or to offer your own analysis, please use the comments section below.

• Thanks to Adorama for sponsoring our contest! •

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News stories from previous monthly winners:

 
Wild Dolphin by Karen Celella

May 2015 POTD Winners

April 2015 POTD Winners

March 2015 POTD Winners

February 2015 POTD Winners

January 2015 POTD Winners

December 2014 POTD Winners

November 2014 POTD Winners

October 2014 POTD Winners

September 2014 POTD Winners

August 2014 POTD Winners

 

 
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