Thanks so much to those who send their congrats
I surfed through all the entered images on several occasions leading up to the closing day and
man there were some beauties in there for sure

. Marks shot grabbed my eye even then, it is a remarkable looking shot, one of the very best ever of its type IMO. In the end any number of entries could be worthy of a final 5 finish, so I certainly feel extremely honoured that one of mine was somehow able to capture the eye's of the judging panel
Yes Phil, I seem to do better when there is more than one set of eyes making the call

...hey, law of averages is more in my favour then I guess

Having said that, a slight variation of this NGC 253
did receive a highly commended from his highness this year too
Thanks again
Mike