The 24-year-old professional photographer’s image of surfer Peter Mendia riding waves on Chile’s West Coast in golden sunlight was named Overall Winner of the Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2010, the world’s biggest action and adventure sports photography competition with 22,764 photos submitted to the contest by nearly 5000 photographers.
“I’m overjoyed; it’s hard to put into words being able to be nominated and to win this award in front of all your peers and people I respect; I’m truly blessed,” said Chris Burkard.
American windsurfer Robby Naish and Red Bull Cliff Diving World Champion Orlando Duque (COL) were among the guests, and Irish TV star Sile Seoige hosted the ceremony while Red Bull Illume Judge Eileen Ryan of USA Today presented Burkard with the Winner’s trophy.
Burkard was presented with €30,000 of Leica equipment including an S2 camera and lenses plus 20 SanDisk 64GB Extreme Pro flash memory cards and a Lowepro ProRunner x450 AW camera bag.
The ten category winners, who receive SanDisk flash memory cards and a Lowpro camera bag, are:
Experimental - Daniel Grund (GER)
New Creativity – Eric Berger (CAN)
SanDisk Sequence - Miguel Lopez-Virgen (MEX)
Energy - Stuart Gibson (AUS)
Illumination – Chris Burkhard (USA)
Playground – Tim Korbmacher (GER)
Culture – Vincent Perraud (FRA)
Spirit – Adam Kokot (POL)
Wings – Marcel Lämmerhirt (GER)
Close-up – Nathan Smith (AUS)
Nathan Smith was also named Athletes’ Choice winner.
The top 50 images will continue to be displayed on the lightboxes free to the public at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, until September 11, 2010, before embarking on a world tour.