Winners of the Red Bull Illume Photo Contest 2019

Alan Taylor
November 25, 2019
15 Photos
In Focus

The winning images have been announced in the fifth edition of the Red Bull Illume Image Quest photo competition. The contest invited photographers to submit images of the world of action-and-adventure sports in one of 11 categories, including Energy, Playground, and RAW. This year the competition received 59,551 entries from photographers around the world. Red Bull was kind enough to share some of the winning photos and finalists below.

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This image, by the photographer Ben Thouard, of Ace Buchan surfing in Teahupo'o, Tahiti, was both the overall winner and the Energy category winner. Thouard: "This photo was shot during a free-surf session right before a World Championship Tour surfing event in Teahupo'o. This is Ace Buchan kicking out from the barrel through the wave, a technique to escape a close-out wave. Luckily I was right below, breathless, with my water housing, waiting for this moment." #

© Ben Thouard / Red Bull Illume

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Robin O'Neill was a finalist in the Energy category for this photo of Chris Rubens backcountry skiing in Pemberton, British Columbia. #

© Robin O'Neill / Red Bull Illume

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Finalist: Innovation by Sony. The photographer Enric Gener's image of the diver Vero Vidal swimming beneath the keel of a boat in Menorca, Spain #

© Enric Gener / Red Bull Illume

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Finalist: Playground. The motocross rider Tom Parsons rides on a unique land formation in Swing Arm City, in Utah. #

© Chris Tedesco / Red Bull Illume

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Winner: Wings category: The photographer Philip Platzer captured the athlete Marco Fürst on a hot-air-balloon swing above Fromberg, Austria. #

© Philip Platzer / Red Bull Illume

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Finalist: Energy. Riders Billy Meaclem and Sam Minnell take a spill in Canterbury, New Zealand. #

© Jay French / Red Bull Illume

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Winner: Lifestyle. The photographer Alexander Wick took this shot of climbers Philipp Bankosegger, Chris Rudolph, and Luke Lalor napping by Salathé Wall on El Capitan in California's Yosemite National Park. #

© Alexander Wick / Red Bull Illume

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Finalist: Energy. The wakeskater Cole Kraiss makes a jump in Camarines Sur, Philippines. #

© Mahallia Budds / Red Bull Illume

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Winner: Emerging. Jean-Baptiste Liautard, of France, won with this mirrored shot of Jeremy Berthier on his trail in Bourgoin-Jallieu, France. #

© Jean-Baptiste Liautard / Red Bull Illume

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Winner: Mastepiece by EyeEm. Lorenz Holder won for this shot of Senad Grosic flying in the Dark Hedges in Northern Ireland. #

© Lorenz Holder / Red Bull Illume

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Finalist: RAW. The photographer Christian Gisi took this shot of climbers Caro North, Steph Davis, Thomas Senf, and Jürg Ruf on Mittellegi Ridge, in Eiger, Switzerland. #

© Christian Gisi / Red Bull Illume

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Winner: Innovation by Sony category. Laurence Crossman-Emms captured this image of Katy Winton BMXing through a puddle in Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales. #

© Laurence Crossman-Emms / Red Bull Illume

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Finalist: Playground. The diver Andrew Ryzebol swims between floating ice and a shipwreck in Tobermory, Ontario, Canada. #

© Geoff Coombs / Red Bull Illume

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The photographer Noah Wetzel won the RAW category for his shot of Chris Bule riding under the total solar eclipse in Teton Valley, Wyoming. #

© Noah Wetzel / Red Bull Illume

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Finalist: Lifestyle. The photographer Nicolas Pina captured the moment as surfers warm themselves on a snowy beach. #

© Nicolas Pina / Red Bull Illume

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