Introducing the International Jury

All 16 participating countries have already announced their national winners (you can look at the gallery of nominated photos), so now it’s time to introduce people who will select the winning photos — the international jury!

The international jury is composed of seven people representing different parts of the world and having different backgrounds. What they have in common is their passion for photography and enthusiasm to select the best photos of natural monuments. Meet our jurors:

  • Diego Delso is a Spanish electrical engineer, amateur photographer for 20 years and a Wikimedian since 2007. He has uploaded over 11,500 pictures to Wikimedia Commons. Almost half of those pictures have been recognized as Quality Images and around 150 pictures as Featured Pictures. He was a jury member of Wiki Loves Monuments in Spain (2012) and Thailand (2014) and part of the international jury in 2013.
  • Muhammad Mahdi is a photographer and an avid contributor to Wikimedia Commons. He was born in Tanzania near the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and is currently living in Bangalore, India. He has more than a hundred of featured pictures on both English Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, especially nature shorts. He was a jury member of Wiki Loves Monuments in 2012.
  • Julián Monge-Nájera is a Costa Rican ecologist, scientific editor, educator and photographer. For many years he has acted as scientific adviser for the BBC and the National Geographic Society. He is regional Editor of the United Nations’ Global Environmental Outlook (“GEO Report”) and author or co-author of 20 books published by several Costa Rican universities, Oxford University, the National Biodiversity Institute (INBio) and Tropical Nature Press.
  • Susanne Plank lives in Vienna and loves nature, photography and good looking photos of nature. She is 49 and she is active in Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects since 2011, both in writing articles and uploading photos. She is an active of Austrian photography community and was a member of pre-jury at various photo contests.
  • Esther Solé is an art historian and photographer from Lleida (Catalonia, Spain) and active contributor to Catalan Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. She previously served as a Wikipedian in Residence in Lleida’s Museu d’Art Jaume Morera and Barcelona’s Fundació Miró.
  • Oleg Zharii is a professional photographer from Ukraine. Apart of being professor of Mechanics in Kyiv National University, he is an experienced photographer and winner of numerous photo contests. He has authored a book on HDR and panoramic photography, several photo albums and had photo exhibitions in Kyiv, London (UK) and Nairobi (Kenya). He was a jury member of Wiki Loves Earth 2013 and Wiki Loves Monuments 2013 in Ukraine.
  • [[User:Wikimk]] is coming from Macedonia and is interested in photography since the age of 15. He is an active contributor to Macedonian Wikipedia since 2008 and its administrator from 2009. He is one of the founders of Wikimedia Macedonia and was a jury member of Wiki Loves Monuments in Macedonia.