In 2024, the Wiki Loves Earth international photo contest, for the fourth time, supports the initiative WikiForHumanRights, which partners with the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Its goal is to raise awareness of nature protection and human impacts on nature. When we protect the environment, we also protect our fundamental human rights — rights to water, life, food, housing, and other fundamental rights that rely on a clean, healthy environment.
As in the previous year, we accept photos from the countries where the main contest is going and worldwide!
Do you need funding for your successful organizing of Wiki Loves Earth in 2024?
Here we are with the new opportunity!
If you are willing to apply for the rapid grant from WMF, book your time and don’t hesitate to attend open office hours, where you will be guided through the process before submitting your application.
Dates for the open office:
Thursday, March 21st at 3p.m UTC
Wednesday, April 24 at 3p.m UTC
If you are interested, please let us know privately or in the comments below, and we will add you to the invitation.
Make a note that 1st April is the first priority deadline, so hurry up to join the first meeting!
Wiki Loves Earth is an annual international photographic competition. Participants take pictures of local natural heritage in their countries and upload them to Wikimedia Commons. For all participating countries, there are separate competitions organized by local teams.
When?
This year, WLE also will take place between the 1st of May and the 31st of July. We have a flexible approach regarding local dates, and local organizers decide when exactly to hold their contest within the international timeframe.
How can you join the contest this year as an organizer?
For that, you need the following:
Team of volunteers with clear roles and timelines;
Defining eligible natural sites (must be officially protected);
Preparing a landing page for the local contest;
Promotion for the contest in social networks;
Jury to evaluate the photos (select top-15 local winners for an international contest);
Awards for your winners.
Find out more about the process in our detailed guidelines for the local teams.
This year, we also continue to raise awareness about environmental problems so that we will launch our special nomination “Human Rights and Environment” for the 4th time.
And one more new special nomination, which can represent natural heritage in a wider way!
Stay tuned for the announcements soon!
Follow our channels for local organizers to receive the most important information:
We are ready to close the last milestone of the Wiki Loves Earth 2023!
Presenting you the final report of the previous year’s contest, where you can find a detailed sum-up of all the activities that were done, an analysis of the contest, and the main results.
For this year’s Wiki Loves Earth 2024 edition, we are looking for people who would like to join the volunteer team and contribute more to the contest.
Who are we looking for?
– A proactive Wikimedian or someone eager to get more involved in the processes of the photo competition (or has experience in this);
– Someone fluent in English (also, preferably in one of these languages: French, Spanish, or Arabic).
What do we need help with?
– Translations of instructions and announcements (from English to preferably French, Spanish, and Arabic);
– Reviewing images (mostly for the special nomination);
– Generating ideas for the content for social media channels and creating it (partly);
– Wiki expertise and technical support on Commons;
– Any other ongoing small requests.
The responsibilities shouldn’t take up a lot of time. The main involvement will be in February-March and later on demand.
It’s a voluntary responsibility, but you’ll receive WLE-branded souvenirs as a reward.
If you feel like you can be useful in some of those points, or you have a desire to join the project from the processes side, don’t hesitate and apply by the 9th of February: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSeYAxNvfTtLrL…/viewform.
The most awaited moment of the international annual photographic competition devoted to natural heritage has come. We are delighted and proud to present the top 20 best images of Wiki Loves Earth 2023!
This year, the contest was held for the 10th time, lasting from May 1st to August 31st. We had a record number of participating countries, which reached 50. Many countries that started WLE last or a few years ago continued organizing the contest in 2023. And 11 of them joined the contest for the first time this year.
Overall, we received more than 61,700 submissions from over 3,300 uploaders. 42 countries submitted their local winners and moved to the international level, and we have got 492 local winning images.
As usual, each country has chosen up to 15 local winners in two categories – not more than ten from each of the two categories:
Landscapes (including individual trees if it’s a nature monument);
Macro/close-up (animals, plants, fungi).
This year, we gathered the international jury team, which consists of 13 experienced photographers, experts, and Wikimedians from all around the world who worked on selecting top-20 international winners. You can read more about the jury team here. We are thankful to them for their time and effort in judging the best images of the contest worldwide!
And we are ready to announce the top 20 best images in two categories, which present an interesting world of animal & plant species and breathtaking landscapes!
1st place: The first place is taken by the beautiful image in the macro category, which shows an insect of the species Cicindela soluta in Bila Dibrova Zakaznyk in Kyiv, Ukraine.
2nd place: A small baya weaver (Ploceus philippinus), also called the engineer bird, is really common all around the world. The weaver is found to be making its nest on a tree in this interesting photo, captured at Kathmandu Valley in Nepal.
3rd place: An experienced and battle-hardened, but at the same time cute Roebuck stands in the cornfield in one of the Biosphere Reserves in Sweden.
Photo by Tjustorparn, CC BY-SA 4.0. Macro category – 3rd place
4th place: A tiny black-tailed skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) in the Gülper See nature reserve in Germany. As the author mentioned, the picture was taken in the morning after dawn, which is why the dragonfly is still covered with dew, which looks so magical.
5th place: Amegilla Cingulata cingulate is a native blue-banded bee found in the Philippines; they are a sub-species of the Australian blue-banded bees (Amegilla cingulata). This species is found in lowland area of Northern Negros Natural Park, Philippines. These native bees are one of the most colorful and beautiful bees.
Photo by Mark Kineth, CC BY-SA 4.0. Macro category – 5th place
6th place: The photo represents a common bee-eater (Merops apiaster) who, after having captured a golden Cetonia (Cetonia aurata), turns it over, making it fly so it can swallow the insect better. This moment was captured in Greto dello Scrivia, in the municipality of Novi Ligure, Italy.
7th place: This macro image shows a Banded demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) captured in the Gülper See nature reserve in Germany. The dew gives us the possibility to take a look at fantastic details.
9th place: This photo represents a beautiful scene of a colorful couple of birds: the European Bee-eater (male) provides food for the female in order to have her permission to mate later on. Location — Sado Estuary Nature Reserve, Portugal.
10th place: This scene is so powerful! A black kite adapting to the habitat and becoming an excellent fish hunter on a cold February winter morning in Taudaha Lake, Kirtipur, Kathmandu Valley in Nepal.
11th place: The category of landscape images opens a breathtaking view taken in Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park in Portugal. It captures a nest in the moonlight near powerful rocks and water.
Photo by Nuno Luís, CC BY-SA 4.0. Landscapes category – 1st place
12th place: This photo shows an interesting scene of silk sheets: сloaks of cobwebs are created following prolonged periods of drought followed by heavy rains, which cause water levels to rise suddenly. Location — Fucecchio marshes, Italy.
13th place: A magnificent natural phenomenon captured in this image: a cracked ground due to drought in front of Kiztepesi during sunset, taken in Nallihan, Ankara, Turkey.
Photo by Cuneyt Gumushaneli, CC BY-SA 4.0. Landscapes category – 3rd place
14th place: The moment of nature’s calmness and harmony of the Koksu River in autumn was depicted in Ugam-Chatkal National Park, Uzbekistan.
17th place: This magical winter view is the Gito Plateau, a plateau located at a height of 2000 meters. It was taken in Kaçkar Mountains National Park, Çamlıhemşin, Turkey.
Photo by Refik Demir, CC BY-SA 4.0. Landscapes category – 7th place
18th place: An unbelievable nature dichotomy, which shows how Calabria and Aspromonte are engulfed in flames. This phenomenon was taken in Aspromonte National Park, in the municipality of Roccaforte del Greco, Italy.
19th place: A charming picture of blooming daffodils captured on Mount Shcherban, Marmaroskyi Ridge in the Carpathians, Rakhivskyi city council, Ukraine.
20th place: Our top is closed by the bright landscape of Barley and Buckwheat fields of Lomangthang, Upper Mustang in Nepal.
Photo by Niroj Sedhai, CC BY-SA 4.0. Landscapes category – 10th place
Many congratulations to all the winners for their contribution and time dedicated to picturing the beauty of our planet and spreading awareness about natural heritage sites all around the world!
You can also see past Wiki Loves Earth winners from 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018.
In addition, WLE 2023 had a special nomination “Human Rights and Environment” aiming at raising awareness of nature protection and human impacts on nature.
This year, the participants worldwide could participate in this nomination, and we received 8,500+ images.
The team of 6 jurors helped us choose the best top-10 images, and the final results are already announced here.
If you want to know more about this year’s winners and the contest overall, wait for the full jury report, which will be available on Wikimedia Commons soon.
In 2023, the Wiki Loves Earth International photo contest supported the initiative Wiki4HumanRights in partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Its goal is to raise awareness of nature protection and human impacts on nature.
Within the special nomination “Human Rights and Environment”, we accepted images that capture the impact of human activity on the environment from the whole world.
As a result, we received over 8,500+ images in the nomination, the highest-ever number.
After a review by the organizing team and the round of jury evaluation, we have the top 10 best images for the special nomination. And we are ready to present them!
As in the previous year, we accept photos from the countries where the main contest is going and worldwide!
Check out our page:https://commons.wikimedia.org/…/Human_rights_and…
Thursday, March 21st at 3p.m UTC
Here is the link to the Commons page: 
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