Contact: Jeff Goins, Director of Marketing, Adventures in Missions, 800-881-2461 ext 297, jeffgoins@adventures.org

GAINESVILLE, GA, Aug. 6 /Christian Newswire/ -- After receiving over 3,500 photo entries, Adventures In Missions (AIM) announced the winners of their first ever Missions Photo Contest. AIM, a nonprofit organization based in Gainesville, GA, launched the contest in a quest to gather photographs of ministry in action from around the globe to cast a vision for what God is doing in the mission field.

Katie Rowland took the top prize of $3,000 with her photo of missionaries launching a Cambodian child up from the ocean in play. Contestants were asked to submit photos that captured "a soul, a moment, a place and a ministry." Thirty finalists were selected and then judged on a portfolio of their work. Megan Hale's portfolio took second place, followed by Jacob Maentz in third, Natalie Montgomery in fourth, and Ryan Stewart in fifth. The winning photographs and all portfolios can be viewed at http://updates.adventures.org/?filename=photo-contest-winners.

The ultimate goal is to publish a book of the winning photographs to share the stories and images of reaching out to people in need. Following the success of this year's contest, AIM also hopes to make it an annual contest--capturing photos from the best and the brightest in the mission field.

Adventures In Missions is an interdenominational organization that facilitates short-term mission trips throughout the world and within the United States. They organize trips for individuals, teenager through adult; and for groups, such as youth groups, college groups, and adult groups. The focus of each short-term mission trip is to raise up a generation of radically committed disciples of Jesus through experiential learning.