The world’s best action and adventure sports photographers were revealed recently at a spectacular unveiling in Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. A stunning landscape-style surf photo by Chris Burkard (USA) wowed the international jury and was selected as the overall winner of Red Bull Illume 2010.

© Chris Burkard

Photographer: Chris Burkard
Athlete: Peter Mendia
Location: Buchupero, Chile

“I am so blessed,” said Burkard on picking up the biggest prize in freesports photography. “I feel really, really lucky just to be here and be surrounded by people I look up to and my peers. There’s something to be said to win an award in front of people you respect. So for me this is huge, a really huge honour. I’m really grateful.”

Here are the other category winning images of the competition:

Category Winner 2010: Culture

© Vincent Perraud

Photographer: Vincent Perraud
Athletes: Alex Baret and friends
Location: Tallinn, Estonia

Category Winner 2010: Close Up

© Nathan Smith

Photographer: Nathan Smith
Athlete: Andrew Mooney
Location: Wamberal, New South Wales, Australia

Category Winner 2010: Energy

© Stuart Gibson

Photographer: Stuart Gibson
Athletes: Ryan Hipwood
Location: Shipstern Bluff, Tasmania, Australia

Category Winner 2010: Experimental

© Daniel Grund

Photographer: Daniel Grund
Athletes: Alex Maclean, Nicolas Ivanoff
Location: Monument Valley, UT, USA

Category Winner 2010: New Creativity

© Eric Berger

Photographer: Eric Berger
Athlete: Dan Treadway
Location: Whistler, BC, Canada

Category Winner 2010: Playground

© Tim Korbmacher

Photographer: Tim Korbmacher
Athlete: Stefan Lantschner
Location: Krefeld, Germany

Category Winner 2010: Sequence

© Miguel López Virgen

Photographer: Miguel Angel López Virgen
Athlete: Alfredo Salcido
Location: Guadalajara, Mexico

Category Winner 2010: Spirit

© Adam Kokot

Photographer: Adam Kokot
Athlete: Michal Krol
Location: Spisske Tomasovce, Slovakia

Category Winner 2010: Wings

© Marcel Lämmerhirt

Photographer: Marcel Lämmerhirt
Athlete: José Eber Pava Ordoñez
Location: Hamburg, Germany

Photos Courtesy: Red Bull Illume