Will Saunders overall winner of Red Bull Illume 2021, Thomas Monsorno wins Innovation category

One of the world's most prestigious contests for adventure and action sports photography, the Red Bull Illume 2021, was won on Saturday night by US photographer Will Saunders for his photo of Jake Talley falling from a route at Indian Creek, USA. Saunders' photograph was selected by a panel of 53 judges who had the immense task of looking at 41,447 photographs. In addition to the honour of winning this sort of Pulitzer photography, Saunders takes home a selection of prizes worth € 50,000.

During the awards ceremony at Aspen, USA, the winners of the 11 categories were also celebrated. These include the Innovation by EyeEm category won by Italian photographer Thomas Monsorno for his drone photo taken in February 2020 of Swiss alpinist Dani Arnold "climbing" across frozen Lake Baikal in Siberia.

Italian photographer Federico Ravassard was one of only 7 finalists in the Playground by WhiteWall category with his photo of Marzio Nardi climbing in a marble quarry in Carrara, taken while filming the documentary Carie. Philipp Klein Herrero won Photo Story category for his ingenious stop motion freeride skiing film created during the Coronavirus emergency.

Best of Instagram by Lenovo – Photo: Yhabril (Spain)
Best of Instagram by Lenovo – Moving Image: Bruno Diego Cavalcante (Brazil)
RAW by Leica: Bruno Long (Canada)
Photo Story: Philipp Klein Herrero (Spain)
Playground by WhiteWall: Markus Berger (Austria)
Lifestyle by COOPH: Carolin Unrath (Germany)
Masterpiece by SanDisk Professional: Will Saunders (United States)
Emerging by Black Diamond: Victoria Kohner-Flanagan (United States)
Creative by Skylum: Jan Kasl (Czech Republic)
Innovation by EyeEm: Thomas Monsorno (Italy)
Energy by Red Bull Photography: Rod Hill (New Zealand)

Link: www.redbullillume.com