$230,000 Red Bull Illume photo contest: entries close this month

Red Bull Illume 2021
'Wings' category winner (Image credit: Philip Platzer)

Entries for Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2021 – "the world’s greatest adventure and action sports imagery contest" with prizes worth over €200,000 (approximately $237,000 / £172,000 / AU$318,000) – close later this month. 

Open to both professional and amateur photographers and videographers, there are just three weeks left to enter the high-profile international competition, which closes on 31 July 2021. 

Launched in 2007, Red Bull Illume showcases the world's most creative and captivating imagery in the realms of adventure and action sports – and doesn't just celebrate the images themselves, but the cultures behind the people that capture them, thanks to a world-touring photo exhibition and limited edition photo book.

(Image credit: Denis Klero)

From the 2,000 images received for the inaugural event in 2007, entries ballooned to almost 60,000 for the most recent contest – which saw the introduction of a moving image category to showcase the skills of videographers. 

Among the prizes on offer are a Leica SL2, Leica Q2, Lenovo Yoga 9i laptop, SanDisk Professional workflow bundles and "a dream photoshoot" from Black Diamond. And of course, the biggest prize of all is the prestige and global visibility that comes from being a Red Bull Illume winner.

"For me, this contest changed my life and career, just being celebrated as a photographer was mind-blowing," says Chris Burkard, Overall Winner of the 2010 contest who will be serving as a judge this year.

(Image credit: Jean-Baptiste Liautard)

"As a judge, I'm looking for images that depict how the human experience blends with these wild natural environments we get to play in. I'm also hyped to see creativity pushed to its limits and can't wait to see what people bring to the table!"  

Other names Joining Burkard on the global judging panel are Sean Doherty from Surfing World Magazine (Australia), Sunday Times Magazine picture editor Russ O’Connell (UK), STERN photo editor Angelika Hala (Germany), Rocky Mountain Sports Content content director Andrea Estevam (Brazil) and Digital Camera World editor James Artaius (UK).

For more information and to enter, visit www.redbullillume.com – and you can also enter the 'Best of Instagram' category by sharing your photos and videos (up to one minute) on Instagram and tagging @redbullillume and #rbi21submission.

(Image credit: Lorenz Holder)

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