The winners of the 36th Memorial Maria Luisa International Photo and Video Contest have been announced. Held annually in Asturias, Spain, the contest is held in memory of Maria Luisa Alvarez Álvarez, a Spanish mountaineer who died in a climbing accident in 1990.
Photo: Christoph Fischer/Maria Luisa Memorial Photo Contest
This year’s edition drew over 18,000 photos and 182 films from 1,450 photographers across 78 countries. After weeks of anonymous judging by a panel of mountain and nature photographers, the jury selected winners across 14 categories, as well as special prizes for young image makers.
The overall Grand Prize went to Canadian photographer Christoph Fischer for his striking image Fearless. The photograph, captured in the deserts of Namibia during a sandstorm, shows two antelopes staring at the camera through the swirling dust. Judges praised the image for its “powerful synthesis of simplicity, emotion, composition, and respect for the natural environment.” The photo also won the Animal World category.
Photo: Sam Bie/Maria Luisa Memorial Photo Contest
Mountain winners
In the Mountain Landscape category, Filip Hrebenda captured a dramatic lightning storm in the Dolomites. Meanwhile, the Alpinism and Winter Mountain Sports award went to Tyler Lekki, whose photo shows Colin Haley soloing Cerro Torre. Sam Bie won the Climbing category with a photograph of a backlit soloist mounting a steep ridge.
Marc Marco Ripoll took the Adventure and Extreme Sports award with an aerial image of a paraglider soaring above the pyramids of Giza, while Azim Khan Ronnie won the Travel and People category for his photo of the religious festival Rakher Upobas in Bangladesh.
Photo: Filip Hrebenda/Maria Luisa Memorial Photo Contest
Wildlife photography also featured strongly in the contest. Andy Parkinson won the World of Birds category with a dramatic portrait of a black vulture, and Jose Luis Gigirey won the Vegetal World category with a backlit photograph of fungi glowing in evening rain. Elsewhere, Pietro Formis took the prize for the Submerged World category with his photo of a juvenile African pompano off the Philippine coast, and Imre Potyo claimed the Biodiversity and Geodiversity category.
The Natural Landscapes category went to Maxime Daviron for her shot of bioluminescence amongst the waves, while Noah Wetzel won Creative Photography with his image of a Western outlaw chase scene against the backdrop of an eclipse.
Photo: Lubin Godin/Maria Luisa Memorial Photo Contest
Friendly rivals
Bidyut Kalita, who captured a close-up moment of a potter wasp flying with a caterpillar it had caught, won the Macro Photography prize. The Young Photographers Award, open to those under 19, went to 14-year-old Lubin Godin for his silhouette of an alpine ibex.
Beyond photography, the competition also recognizes filmmaking. The Photo Ruano Grand Prize for video went to Ben Sturgulewski for Champions of the Golden Valley, a film celebrating Afghan ski culture by focusing on a competition between two friendly rivals. It has already won awards in several mountain festivals, including Banff.
All of the winning and highly commended photos can be found here.
