The first prize of the international finale of Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 is known! We have tried hard to find a prize that would be equally interesting to people from all countries.
Besides the eternal glory and the national prize that the finalist may have won, he or she will get a scholarship to visit and photograph the city of Hong Kong in August 2013! This trip will not be just a trip to see a great city on the brink between the Western and Eastern worlds, but will also be an opportunity to visit Wikimania, the annual meeting of Wikimedians from all over the world. For the follow up prize winners several photography related vouchers will be secured, ranging from 400 to 50 euro.
Besides that, a certificate of the accomplishment will be available for the top-15 photos. But that is not all! The top-13 photos will be printed in a 2013 calendar which will be distributed to all participating countries. Also a travelling exhibition is being organized with the 13 best photos. As you can see we will put the best photos to good use, and give some extra exposure for the winners. Stay tuned for more details on this in future blog posts!
All in all we hope that, together with the sometimes terrific prizes on a national level, this will be something that motivates people to submit a photo – not only to win something, but also to promote their national cultural heritage in this large photo competition. As an organizing team, we are looking forward to all the wonderful submissions we’re expecting. Do you want to participate? Click on one of the country names in the sidebar on the right, and find out more!
Y Paraguay? No estamos en la categoria de ciudades participantes.
Es una pena que nos excluyan…
Exitos
Desafortunadamente, en Paraguay no hay un grupo entusiasta de Wikimedia o un capítulo local como en otros países de América Latina para organizar el concurso. Ojalá pronto. Saludos.
Aunque no participen en el concurso, las fotos de monumentos de Paraguay pueden ser igualmente subidas a Wikimedia Commons y utilizadas en Wikipedia para ilustrar ese rico patrimonio.
Why Greece is left out of the contest?
I think “historically speaking” we have a vast amount of monuments that should be of great cultural interest.
For all the countries which participate we need an enthousiatic local team which has to do quite some work on for example getting a good list of monuments. For Greece sadly there was not such a team
Thanks for you interest and comment! Without going into details with one of the countries you asked for, there are always some possible reasons why a country cannot participate in Wiki Loves Monuments: First of all, it’s a community organized contest – if there are not enough active volunteers who are able to engage on a country level, it won’t happen. Second, in several countries there are structural or – worse – legal hurdles to organize such a contest: unstructured or non-existing monuments databases, non-cooperating authorities or even laws that forbid to publish images of cultural heritage. Even if there are enthusiastic volunteers who engage for the Cultural Heritage, this can make it impossible to participate for some countries.
I hope this enlightens your questions a bit.
I don´t see Portugal, here in the south europe, near Spain…
Do you forget it?
Why?
Hi Abel, thank you for your comment and your interest. Elke answered a similar comment before: there are several reasons why countries might not participate in Wiki Loves Monuments, amongst them the lack of interested volunteers, legal problems, etc. It is a great loss for Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 that Portugal is not participating, because we had the pleasure to work along our Portuguese friends last year, and really enjoyed it!
If you would like to ensure that Wiki Loves Monuments 2013 takes part in Portugal, you can get involved in Wikimedia Portugal, the Portuguese Wikimedia chapter which consists of people involved in Wikipedia and its sister projects.
Hope that helps and answers your question.
Olá, Abel. O ano passado o concurso ocorreu em Portugal, mas infelizmente por indisponibilidade dos organizadores do ano passado, não foi possível fazê-lo este ano. Esperemos que para o ano, o Wiki Loves Monuments volte a Portugal.
How to upload the photo?
Hi Faye,
You can upload the photo (starting tomorrow) through one of the national competitions. You can find your country if it participates through the link on the right hand side of the screen. That website should explain the upload procedure in detail.
Good luck in participating!
Am I allowed to post photos only from my country? or can i post photos of heritage sites of other countries also?
You can submit photos for all participating countries. As long as you are the author, there is no requirement for you to live there. Vacation photos of 10 years ago also count as valid.
For a competition that will end in Hong Kong, you have zero Asian countries participating. Asian are shutter bugs, and this almost looks racist.
Hi Gary, thanks for your constructive comment. Wiki Loves Monuments is being organized where there are volunteers to organize it. Organizing a photo competition requires a lot of on-the-ground work, and like all Wikimedia work, most of it is done by volunteers. Still we have been able to launch Wiki Loves Monuments in the Philippines and India and also in Russia and Israel. If you want to help organize Wiki Loves Monuments in your country next year, please give us a shout!
Just keep me in mind then, more than happy to help.
y Perú Somos una potencia en patrimonio cultural tenemos de todo, señores !! entonces no se deberia llamar mundial !!
Hola Andy,
Desgraciadamente no hubo un grupo de gente disponible para organizar la competición en Perú. Se requiere bastante preparación antes de lanzar el concurso en un país. De todos modos, si te animas, ¿tal vez podrías ayudar para preparar wiki loves monuments en Perú el año que viene? 🙂
Do you need to be a professional photographer to participate?
Or can a lay man also participate?
I know the odds are in the former’s favour,but I am tenth standard student and I am not that much involved in photography though I love clicking,and I really want to participate in this contest.
Your reply is very much needed.
Thank You!
And also I am asking this on behalf of my friends who also are dying to participate in this esteemed tournament.
Thank you!
You are welcome! Wikipedia and the whole Wikimedia movement is built on the power of volunteers and enthusiasts. We’ll be happy if you participate!
Everyone can participate, Mrittik. Moreover, I am sure that most participants won’t be professional photographers.
We are eagerly waiting for you and your friends photos.
日本は？
What about Japan? …is not on the list
Unfortunately, also for Japan we haven’t been able to find volunteers there to organize Wiki Loves Monuments Japan. If you’re interested to help organize the contest in 2013 in Japan, please leave a note on https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2013 .
Hi! I’m Erika from Indonesia. Why my country is not in the list? We have a lot of monuments here, including Borobudur, the biggest Bhuddist temple in the world, Comodo dragon island, Prambanan temple, the most beautiful and full of interesting story, Bali island, etc. Beside, we have many good photographers in Indonesia. I hope my country can participate in this contest.
Hi Erika, it mostly depends on the volunteers who are organizing it for their country. Wikipedia is completely volunteer-driven. If you’re interested to help organize the contest in 2013 in Indonesia, please leave a note on https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2013 .
thank you for including the Philippines and opening an opportunity for us Filipinos to join this contest. There are a lot of photography enthusiasts here that would love to join!
Only the Philippines are to praise for that – they did a wonderful job organizing and promoting Wiki Loves Monuments in your country.
Hello there,
How about Brazil? We have beautiful sites/monuments and I am positive that Brazilians would just LOVE to participate.
Cheers
Hello Nina, to participate we need an enthousiastic volunteer team in a country to organize the contest, talk with heritage organizations and authorities, create monuments lists in Wikipedia etc. For Brazil, it didn’t work out this year. If you are interested to help with the organization of WLM for your country in 2013, please have a look at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2013 and leave us your contact details. Thank you!