How about beginner of the month competition?
That is an interesting idea.
OtOH... I do not think there are any technical reasons why a "beginner" cannot become Member of the Month, lol. I was nominated for MotM in the first half of May, 2009 after joining the forum in February of the same year. I might have joined late in the month, and that wasn't a leap year, so I (somehow ) managed to get nominated less than three months after joining. And... I won it, lol (it doesn't show in my user title because that was before they started permanently listing every instance of winning one of the three monthly contests).