Wiki Loves Monuments is an international photo contest for monuments, organized by Wikimedia this September. Wikimedia is the movement behind Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – a global collaboration authored by volunteers.
Cultural heritage is an important part of the knowledge Wikipedia collects and disseminates. Everybody can contribute images as well as write articles. An image is worth a thousand words, in every language at once and local enthusiasts can (re)discover the cultural, historical, or scientific significance of their neighbourhood.
In 2016, more than 40 countries all over the world, a national contest will be organized with their national monuments, partners, rules, events and winners. Every national contest will be able to nominate some of their winning pictures for the international contest. These nominated pictures will be judged by the international jury, which will then award extra prizes to the best images from all participating countries.
The contest is inspired by the successful 2010 pilot in the Netherlands, which resulted in 12,500 freely licensed images of monuments that can now be used in Wikipedia and by anybody for any purpose. The 2011 contest in 18 countries resulted in more than 165,000 images submitted by over 5,000 participants.
Any support is welcome: from uploading a single image, spreading the word about the contest, to becoming a partner or sponsor. This September, cultural heritage will be in the spotlight on Wikipedia – from Chile to India, Russia and the Netherlands.
To take part in Wiki Loves Monuments contest, a submission should:
- Be self taken
All entries must be original photographs uploaded by their authors. Photos uploaded by anyone else than author (even with permission) are not accepted.
- Be self uploaded during the contest period (September 2017)
You are also welcome to submit photos you may have taken in the past. What matters is that photos must be uploaded during the contest period (1st September — 30th September); avoid reuploading already existing images from Commons database.
- Be under a free license
- Contain an ASI identified monument (Both National importance & State protected)
Lists of eligible sites are published by Archaeological Survey of India.
- Be nominated through a national contest; Have at least 2 MP.
Photos under 2 MP can be accepted in local contests, but should such photo be nominated for the international part the author will have to upload higher resolution or the photo will be disqualified.