Snowboarding Takes Home Red Bull Illume + Serfas Brings One Category Home To Canada!

The Red Bull Illume is a photography contest open to anyone in the world who thinks they have an image worthy of standing up to the industry's best. Currated over several months down to short-lists of 50 and 250, the top guys in each category then gather in Hong Kong to talk shop, pat each other on the back and wait for the big winners to be announced.

This year's top honour went to German photographer Lorenz Holder for his incredible photo of Xaver Hoffman jibbing a giant satellite dish. Here's the full shot:

Taking home the "Illumination" category is none other than Vancouver-based Scott Serfas. As a Transworld staff photog and one of the most prolific shooters in the history of snowboarding Scott had the incredible opportunity to accompany Travis Rice and the Brainfarm/Art of Flight crew on their infamous Tordillo Range trip to Alaska two years ago and that's where he scored this mindblowing shot. Since the day it first saw the pages of TWS, I have been in absolute awe of this shot. Without a doubt it is my favourite snowboarding photo I have ever seen and I could not be happier to see Scott's image recognized in this way!

Here's the official press release, but don't forget to scroll down for some more top picks as well as links to the incredible top-50 gallery.

via Red Bull:
"The wait is finally over. The 2013 Red Bull Illume Overall Winner, Top 10 category winners and Top 50 finalists were unveiled at a spectacular ceremony held in Hong Kong on August 29th. German photographer Lorenz Holder was crowned Overall Winner for his remarkable shot of a snowboarder next to a giant satellite dish. As Overall Winner, Holder received a Leica S camera, a broncolor Move Outdoor kit and Sun-Sniper gear — a prize worth over €30,000 in total. He also won the Experimental category.

“The quality of the images in the Top 50 was amazing, so for me it is a great honour to be voted number one. It’s so unreal. It will take a few days for the news to sink in,” said Lorenz Holder, the Overall Winner of the 2013 Red Bull Illume.

“There are talented photographers and then there are gifted photographers,” said Jym Wilson, senior photo editor at USA Today and one of 50 Red Bull Illume judges. “I saw a lot of talent but also saw some truly gifted photographers. These are not just action photographers but people with great technical and artistic skills.”

Other category winners included Scott Serfas (Illumination), Daniel Vojtěch (New Creativity), Romina Amato (Energy), Chris Burkard (Spirit), Morgan Maassen (Lifestyle by Leica), Jeroen Nieuwhuis (Close Up), Zakary Noyle (Sequence) and Samo Vidic(Wings). All category winners walked away with a Leica X2, a broncolor Para 88 P Kit and an assortment of Sun-Sniper gear. The Athletes’ choice, as voted by Red Bull athletes, went to Morgan Maassen for his underwater shot of surfers chatting in-between sets of waves.

The Winner Award Ceremony was a true celebration of action and adventure sports photography with hundreds of leading photographers and editors attending. Highlights from the evening included performances by BMX flatland athletes Viki Gomez and Matthias Dandois and an illuminated dragon dance.

Afterwards the 50 images were unveiled on 2m x 2m life-size lightboxes along Hong Kong's famous Avenue of Stars, where they will remain for the next three weeks as a free public exhibtion. Appropriately for a city known for its awesome noctunal lights, the illuminated exhibition will open at night time only, from 8pm to 11pm from August 30th to September 15th. Red Bull Illume will then go to the US before traveling around the world's capitals and cultural hubs for the next two years as a unique night-time exhibition.

The Top 50 Red Bull Illume Winners:

Overall Winner: Lorenz Holder (GER), Playground
Athletes’ Choice: Morgan Maassen (USA), Lifestyle by Leica

Category winners are in bold below.

CLOSE UP
(AUS) Stuart Gibson
(IRE) George Karbus
(NED) Jeroen Nieuwhuis
(SUI) Claudio Casanova
(USA) Morgan Maassen

NEW CREATIVITY
(ARG) Juan Cruz Rabaglia
(CAN) Jussi Grznar
(CZE) Daniel Vojtěch
(EST) Jaanus Ree
(GER) Lorenz Holder

ENERGY
(CAN) Sterling Lorence
(FIN) Rami Hanafi
(SUI) Romina Amato
(SUI) David Carlier
(USA) Christian Pondella

LIFESTYLE BY LEICA
(CAN) Jussi Grznar
(ESP) Ismael Ibañez Ruiz
(USA) Morgan Maassen
(USA) Theodore Van Orman
(USA) Jimmy Wilson

ILLUMINATION
(CAN) Scott Serfas
(CAN) Jody MacDonald
(SUI) Nicolas Jutzi
(USA) Clark Fyans
(USA) Ryan Taylor

SPIRIT
(AUS) Stuart Gibson
(IRE) George Karbus
(POL) Rafal Meszka
(USA) Dave Lehl
(USA) Chris Burkard

PLAYGROUND
(AUS) Martin Lugger
(CAN) Paul Bride
(GER) Lorenz Holder
(ITA) Olaf Pignataro
(USA) Scott Dickerson

EXPERIMENTAL
(AUT) Rainer Eder
(CAN) Ray Demski
(GER) Florian Breitenberger
(GER) Lorenz Holder
(SWE) Elias Kunosson

SEQUENCE
(CAN) Scott Serfas
(FRA) Vince Perraud
(GBR) Dan Carr
(USA) Blotto Gray
(USA) Zakary Noyle

WINGS
(AUS) Krystle Wright
(GRE) Dimitrios Kontizas
(SLO) Samo Vidic
(USA) Lucas Gilman
(USA) Benjamin Ginsberg

Check out the 2013 Top 50 gallery right here."

And here are a few more of my favourites from the top 50, including this first incredible image by Whistler-based (and super sexy guy) Jussi Grznar!

Category Finalist 2013: New Creativity
Photographer: Jussi Grznar
Athlete: Anto Chamberland
Location: Montreal, QC, Canada

Category Finalist 2013: Lifestyle by Leica
Photographer: Morgan Maassen
Athlete: Jake Marshall, Taylor Clark, Frankie Harrer, Colt Ward, Thelen Whorrell, Nolan Rapoza, Dryden Brown
Location: Tavarua, Fiji

Category Finalist 2013: Sequence
Photographer: Zakary Noyle
Athlete: Gabriel Medina
Location: Oahu, HI, USA

Category Finalist 2013: Close Up
Photographer: Jeroen Nieuwhuis
Athlete: Erik Journée
Location: Denekamp, Netherlands