Krystle Wright wins Red Bull Illume 2023

Australian photographer Krystle Wright made history at the world’s largest adventure and action sports imagery contest by becoming the first female photographer in Red Bull Illume’s 17-year history to take home the grand prize. More than 50 renowned judges chose her incredible shot of climber Angela VanWiemeersch illuminated in a crack, deep within Long Canyon, Utah, United States as the outstanding image on show at the Winner Award Ceremony in Sölden, Austria. Wright said: “This is incredible. I wanted to earn my place in this industry and my work to get recognized. Red Bull Illume is the only platform that truly recognizes what we do.”

The ten category winners at the seventh edition of the contest featured climbers, kayakers, surfers, and bikers. The winning images were selected blind by an international 52-member jury who judged the shots without any information about the image, or the photographer. These are:

Overall - Krystle Wright (AUS)
Emerging with Canon - Gonzalo Robert Parraguez (CHL)
Energy - Ted Grambeau (AUS)
Masterpiece by Sölden – Lorenz Holder (GER)
Innovation by MBP - Krystle Wright (AUS)
Creative – Delphin Montessuit (FRA)
Lifestyle by COOPH – Ross Taylor (GBR)
Playground by Radiant Photo – Jb Liautard (FRA)
RAW – Léo Grosgurin (FRA)
Photos of Instagram – Yhabril (ESP)
Reels of Instagram – Gabriel Marwein (IND)

All the best images now form a unique exhibition in Sölden, being displayed on 2x2m outdoor lightboxes until Dec 21 at the parking deck at the Gaislachkogl valley station. The exhibition then travels to Germany for the Berlin Travel Festival (Dec 1-3), Salzburg’s Hangar-7 (Dec 13-Feb 4), before setting off to illuminate other parts of the world.