ATLANTA, Dec. 20, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- SouthernLINC Wireless, a Southern Company (NYSE: SO), has named the winners of the Beautiful South Photo Contest, an online, amateur photography competition which was open to legal residents of Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi. Contest submissions were judged on southern theme, beauty of the South and overall appeal.

Marian Smith, of Fairhope, Ala., earned the $2,000 grand prize for her photo of a delicate magnolia blossom. The sharpness and clarity of the image, which was shot using a Nikon D90 camera with a macro lens, appealed to the judging panel.

While her photo's subject was quintessentially southern, the location where Smith discovered it was, perhaps, a bit unexpected. While attending a sports photography workshop at Hank Aaron Stadium in Mobile, Ala., Smith decided to turn her attention away from shooting the BayBears baseball team – a decision which paid off handsomely.

"After taking pictures of the players, I started taking pictures of things all over the stadium," said Smith.  "There are a couple of big magnolia trees at the entrance to the stadium, and that is where I took the picture."

A fiery and colorful sunset reflecting on Lake Jackson merited Frank Atchison, of Summerdale, Ala., first place and $500. "This picture was taken about three years ago over Memorial Day weekend," said Atchison. "My wife, four kids and I went camping at Florala State Park, and my daughter said, 'Wow, Daddy, that sure is a pretty sunset,' so we took about four or five shots."

For honorable mention recipient, Shelly Atkinson, of Sylacauga, Ala., a red footbridge over a pond edged with moss-covered trees in Montgomery, Ala., caught her attention because her husband loves Spanish moss.

After some advance location scouting at the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge near Decatur, Ala., Keith Bozeman, of Hartselle, Ala., woke up early, checked the weather and dew point, and then waited for the morning sun to come beaming through the trees to capture his honorable-mention-winning shot.  

Leigh Ann Simpson, of Birmingham, Ala., also landed an honorable mention with her sepia-toned photo of a worn, wooden swing under a tree in a Roswell, Ga., yard – an image that epitomizes the lazy, hazy days of summer in South.

The three honorable mention recipients, Atkinson, Bozeman and Simpson, were awarded $100 each.

"SouthernLINC Wireless appreciates that so many talented, amateur photographers – each with his or her unique point of view – took the time to enter the Beautiful South Photo Contest and share that vision," said Julie Pigott, vice president of marketing and customer support for SouthernLINC Wireless. "We hope these winning images will inspire our customers to take advantage of our Unlimited Picture Messaging service to capture and share spontaneous, yet important, moments with friends and family."

Beautiful South Photo Contest entrants could submit up to five original, scenic images that illustrated their perspective of the beautiful South. As part of the prize package, all five winning photos are featured as wallpapers for SouthernLINC Wireless phones and can be downloaded free at http://bit.ly/BeautifulSouthWallpaper. To download the images, you must be a SouthernLINC Wireless subscriber with a wallpaper-capable phone and a subscription to MyLINC® Web browser.

The Beautiful South Photo Contest is part of a campaign to promote the company's Unlimited Picture Messaging service, which launched earlier this year. For $8 per line per month, Unlimited Picture Messaging gives SouthernLINC Wireless customers the ability to exchange multimedia files with wireless users on most other networks using their phones. To learn more about Unlimited Picture Messaging, go to http://bit.ly/PictureMessaging or www.southernlinc.com.

About SouthernLINC Wireless

SouthernLINC Wireless, a Southern Company (NYSE: SO), is an Atlanta-based regional wireless carrier with network coverage in the major metro and rural areas of Alabama, Georgia, southeast Mississippi and northwest Florida. SouthernLINC Wireless bundles multiple communication options, including Push To Talk two-way radio, cellular service, wireless Internet access, wireless data, and text and picture messaging, into one hand-held device. For more information, please call 1-800-818-LINC (5462) or visit www.southernlinc.com.

About Southern Company

With 4.4 million customers and more than 42,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company is the premier energy company serving the Southeast. A leading U.S. producer of electricity, Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are below the national average. Southern Company is consistently listed among the top U.S. electric service providers in customer satisfaction by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Visit our website at www.southerncompany.com.

SOURCE SouthernLINC Wireless