Your photos have the potential to make history and win some exciting awards. The competition at the national level offers awards for top entries, and the best photos move on to the international contest, where winners will be awarded for their creativity and contribution to open knowledge.

How to participate:

• Pick a registered monument in your country.
• Take your best monument shot!
• Upload your photo(s) to Wikimedia Commons and to the Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 category.

Photo submissions for participating countries within the September cycle have ended. For participating countries within the October cycle, it ends by October 31. The international jury process will begin soonest, consisting of skilled and experienced members to evaluate the entries and choose the most outstanding. We are excited to see the magnificent narratives your images will convey. Let’s make this year’s Wiki Loves Monuments an unforgettable celebration of heritage, creativity and collaboration.

The Spotlight is on October:
Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 is in Full Swing!

The global celebration of our shared heritage is well underway, and the energy is electric! While the September wave saw fantastic participation, the flame burns even brighter now. Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 continues powerfully through the month of October, and the stage is set for another incredible month of submissions.

The enthusiasm is already palpable. In a thrilling start to the month, amazing submissions from participating countries have begun to paint the digital walls of Wikimedia Commons, with photos uploaded in the wee hours of October 1st! This is just a glimpse of the wave of creativity about to flood in, and we can’t wait to see more.

Your Photo Can Make History (and Win Prizes!)

This is your chance to contribute to a living, visual archive of human history. Your photos don’t just compete; they become part of a global legacy of open knowledge.

• National Glory: Compete for exciting awards at the country level.
• International Acclaim: The most stunning images will advance to the international contest, where a skilled jury will honor the best for their creativity and contribution.

How to Join the October Ride

There’s still plenty of time to be part of the action! With 31 days left in the October cycle, here’s how you can contribute:

1. Find a Monument: Check the list for your country to find a registered monument.
2. Capture Its Essence: Take your best, most creative shot!
3. Share with the World: Upload your photo(s) to Wikimedia Commons and tag them for the Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 category.

A Quick Note on Timelines: While submissions for the September cycle have concluded, the door is wide open for all countries participating in October until the 31st. The international jury is preparing to review the collection of images from both months soon after.

The stories are waiting to be told, the monuments are waiting to be seen in a new light, and the global community is ready to be inspired. Let’s come together to make Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 an unforgettable celebration of heritage, creativity, and collaboration.

Let the uploading continue!

In 2024 nearly 240,000 images have been contributed by more than 4,500 photographers in 56 national contests. From this vast collection of pictures documenting monuments and world heritage around the globe the winners were chosen by the juries on national and international level. A warm thank-you from the international coordination team to all who made this competition possible and contributed!

Special prize for Previously Undocumented Monuments

The goal of Wiki Loves Monuments is the documentation of heritage sites. While many places have been covered thanks to all the contributors since the first contest in 2011, there are still monuments that are missing images. To reward photographers who dedicate their work to such sites special prizes are awarded in this category.

Special prize for Places of Worship

Among the oldest, the most impressive and most revered monuments that have been erected over the centuries, many places of worship can be found all over the world. With this special prize we would like to highlight some of the images of such places that have been contributed in 2024.

In 2024 nearly 240,000 images have been contributed by more than 4,500 photographers in 56 national contests. Up to ten pictures from each of these competitions were nominated to the international finale. For a complete overview of all nominees, winners and runners-up, please take a look at the Winners page on Wikimedia Commons!

A big thank-you from the international coordination team to the international jury, the national juries and national organizers, all the photographers that submitted their amazing photos that can now be used on Wikipedia and its sister projects, and everyone that helped make this competition possible!

The international competition runs between 1 September until 31 October 2024, and is organized in the countries listed on this page.
The competition only has few rules for images to be eligible to win prizes. The pictures need to be:
* Self taken and self uploaded;
* Uploaded in September or October of the year of the contest;
* Freely licensed;
* Contain an identified monument;
* Nominated through a national contest.

There is also a practical requirement that the participant must have an activated email address on Wikimedia Commons. No email address may result in your submissions being disqualified.

The international team wishes all national organizers and the participants a wonderful competition, and is looking forward to seeing many wonderful submissions!

During the latest edition of Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM), the Wiki World Heritage User Group (WWH) had the pleasure of collaborating with the WLM international organizing team to offer a special prize for the best photo featuring a UNESCO World Heritage-listed monument. This partnership underscores the importance of documenting these invaluable monuments, which belong to all of humanity, as well as the significance of collaboration within the Wiki movement.

The synergy between WWH and WLM exemplifies the power of working together to achieve shared goals. By combining our efforts, we can enhance the documentation and appreciation of world heritage monuments around the globe.

WWH special prize in WLM 2023

Click for full image: Exterior of the Antwerp City Hall by T meltzer, CC BY-SA 4.0

For this inaugural collaboration, after submitting several photos to the international jury and the WWH community, we are thrilled to announce that the winning photo for this special prize is of the magnificent City Hall of Antwerp, Belgium. This stunning image captures the grandeur and historical significance of the City Hall, an iconic landmark recognized by UNESCO for its outstanding universal value.

The City Hall of Antwerp, a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture, stands as a testament to the city’s rich history and cultural heritage. Completed in 1565, this architectural gem has been a central figure in Antwerp’s political and social life for centuries. It is listed as one of the Belfries of Belgium and France, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, highlighting its importance and the need to preserve it for future generations.

The Belfries of Belgium and France are a group of 56 historical buildings designated by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. These civic belfries, which house bells for ringing as part of a building, symbolize the emergence of civic independence from feudal and religious influences in the former County of Flanders and neighboring areas.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the organizing team of WLM and offer our congratulations to the winner. This collaboration has been a wonderful journey, and we look forward to many more initiatives that celebrate and preserve our shared heritage.

In 2023 almost 220.000 images have been contributed by more than 4.700 photographers in 46 national contests. From this vast collection of pictures documenting monuments and world heritage around the globe the winners were chosen by the juries on national and international level. A warm thank-you from the international coordination team to all who took part als photographers, organizers and in the juries, and everyone that helped make this competition possible! For a complete overview of all nominees, winners and runners-up, please check out the Winners page on Wikimedia Commons!

Special prize for Previously Undocumented Monuments

The goal of Wiki Loves Monuments is the documentation of heritage sites. Many places have already been covered thanks to all the contributors since the first contest in 2011, but there are still monuments that are missing images. To reward photographers who dedicate their work to such sites special prizes are awarded in this category.

In 2023 almost 220.000 images have been contributed by more than 4.700 photographers in 46 national contests. Up to ten pictures from each of these competitions could be nominated to the international finale. For a complete overview of all nominees, winners and runners-up, please check out the Winners page on Wikimedia Commons!

A warm thank-you from the international coordination team to the international jury, the national juries and national organizers, all the photographers that submitted their amazing photos that can now be used on Wikipedia and its sister projects, and everyone that helped make this competition possible!

In this 2023 edition, WLM received national #Top10s submissions from 43 countries which passed through the examining lenses of the Wiki Loves Monuments International Jury, thereby presenting displays of beautiful submissions which made the review and selection process an exciting and challenging task. In these submissions, one notices the retrace into the ancient antiquities and ruins, followed by a tentative but firm visit to the classical age and finally bringing us back into the present, resulting in varieties of the 21st-century monumental masterpiece which has been willingly deposited into the Wikimedia Commons repository for free and easy accessibility. Indeed, these submissions have truly illustrated the power and beauty of monumental photography.

As we prepare to unveil the winning images of the WLM 2023, we want to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude to all the photographers and Wiki Loves Monuments shutterbugs who participated in the 2023 edition of the Wiki Loves Monuments competition. Your passion, dedication, and talent have been truly inspiring, and we are honored to have had the opportunity to showcase your incredible work.

We also want to thank our sponsors, supporters, partnering organizations and the entire Wiki Loves Monuments photography community for their unwavering enthusiasm and support throughout the competition. Your collective efforts have played a crucial role in making WLM 2023 a resounding success.

The winners of WLM 2023 will not only receive recognition and accolades for their exceptional achievements but will also serve as ambassadors for the art of photography, inspiring countless others to pursue their creative vision and passion for monumental photography.

Stay tuned for the official announcement of the WLM 2023 winning images, as we prepare to celebrate the outstanding submissions that have risen to the top 25s of the Wiki Loves Monuments 2023. Join us in honoring their remarkable talent and the transformative power of photography via WLM-international social media channels – Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Mastodon and X (Twitter).

Image credit: Bruno Tamm Rabello – CC BY-SA 4.0 Brazil – WLM 2023

Review and Ranking Process

The Wiki Loves Monuments 2023 recorded a total of 218,896 submissions which required dedicated and steady efforts from the national jury teams to review and nominate up to 10 images for the international finale 2023.
The international jury process is done in three rounds and involves a system that is designed to guarantee a ranked outcome which avails images a fair chance of surfacing the best images. Using the Montage jury tool, the photos are reviewed in a sequential order of:

Round 1:

This round comprises the jurors being asked to rate all the images in a final pool with 1-5 stars. The images that receive the highest average scores will move on to the second round.  Also, in the determination of the winners, there are some criteria to be put into consideration which include: technical quality (sharpness, use of light, perspective etc.), originality, and its usefulness to Wikipedia – in no particular order.

Round 2:

This round, which only takes a few days, allows jurors to ‘veto’ an image and the goal is to ensure that no image will win the competition where a significant minority of the jury would have a major concern with. Any image that earned at least three vetoes will result in the removal of the image from consideration for the third round.  It is worth mentioning that this round gives room for formal objections which include instances where photos are not displaying a monument, digital manipulations that deceive the viewer, or a discrepancy between the photographer and the uploader.

Round 3:

It is in this round that images that made it to the cleaned list (typically between 40 and 50 images) will be considered for the third and final round. These images are entered in the jury tool with each jury member instructed to rank their 25 favorite images by preference: on a scale of 1-25 with number 1 getting 25 points, number two 24 points all the way to 1 point for number 25 and 0 points for each remaining image, culminating to final ranking which is then summed up to arrive at the final result. In an instance of ties, the image with the highest preference would be nominated (for example, the image with the most first places would win).

In conclusion, Jury Members are key to the successful implementation of any WLM contest. For a free and credible review process, they take into consideration the historical and cultural significance of the subject matter, ensuring that the winning photographs not only showcase artistic talent but also contribute to the preservation and celebration of rich cultural heritage while ensuring its usefulness to Wikipedia.
The final results of WLM 2023 are expected in February 2024 and will be communicated in a prize ceremony on the WLM-international social media channels – Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Mastodon and X (Twitter)

Image credit: Draparv – CC BY-SA 3.0 Romania – WLM 2012

In 2022, from over 150.000 entries, 337 pictures were selected by the juries of the 36 national competitions to compete for the title of the winning image of Wiki Loves Monuments international 2022. For a complete overview of all nominees, winners and runners-up, please check out the Winners page on Wikimedia Commons!

A warm thank-you from the international coordination team to the international jury, the national juries and national organizers, all the photographers that submitted amazing photos that can now be used on Wikipedia, and everyone that helped make this competition possible.