The 11th edition of the Wiki Loves Earth 2023 photo contest is on its way!
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, a sister project of Wikipedia. For all participating countries there are separate competitions organized by local teams.
⏰When? This year WLE will take place between 1st May and 31st July. We have a flexible approach regarding local dates, and local organizers decide when exactly to hold their contest within the international timeframe.
🌍How you can join a contest this year as an organizer or participant?
If you are already a local organizer or want to organize a contest in your country, follow our process in the detailed guidelines for the local teams: https://bit.ly/3TcaTPu.
If you want to upload your photos and become a participant, check out all the details in our rules: http://bit.ly/3Z0JnG8. Also, subscribe on our other social media channels:
In the Picture of the Year competition on Wikimedia Commons, the second place was taken by a photo from last year’s international WLE.
☘️🐜A leaf beetle looking out from a leaf hole of the Alnus nepalensis tree. Adult leaf beetles make holes in host plant leaves while feeding. They camouflage themselves with these holes. Location: Chitwan National Park, Nepal. Attribution: Mildeep (CC-BY-SA 4.0)
Here you can check the full results👉https://commons.wikimedia.org/…/Commons…/2021/Results.
The most awaited moment of Wiki Loves Earth 2022, the largest international photo contest devoted to natural heritage has come! Finally, we are ready to reveal the international winners — 20 of the best nature photos from across 39 participating countries!
You can check out the complete list of winners in a blog post 👉 link in bio. ⠀ We happily congratulate the winners and thank each participant for their contribution to highlighting nature heritage and illustrating Wikipedia and local teams for their hard work to make this contest happen!
Share this post and express your excitement in the comments below🎉
Ukraine has always been an active leader in the contest, often near the top of the list of countries by the number of local participants and photos. But unfortunately, this year, due to the full-scale Russian invasion, Wiki Loves Earth was not held in Ukraine.
Instead, Wikimedia Ukraine organized a campaign to illustrate Wikipedia and Wikidata articles with photos of Ukrainian nature uploaded to Wiki Loves Earth over the previous nine contest editions. The campaign was held from 5th July till 5th August.
Recently, organizers published the results of the campaign:
🌳13 volunteers took part in the Ukrainian Nature Illustration Month. As part of the campaign, they illustrated 718 articles on Ukrainian Wikipedia; in particular, they created 114 new articles. They also improved 510 items on Wikidata.
Participants of the competition will receive prizes and official certificates of participation from the NGO “Wikimedia Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, enjoy Ukrainian landscapes from the previous year’s competition, and stay tuned for the international results of Wiki Loves Earth this year!💚
Maybe you are organizing a contest already for a few years in your country or even for the first time, and you have something interesting or useful to tell the world. Then, here is your unique chance!
The international team would love to share exciting stories from local organizers on international blogs & social media.
You can tell us about: – Your winners and their journey; – Your approach or features of organizing the contest; – Interview with a jury member, participant, or organizer; – Anything else you consider interesting;
Contact us at wle-team@wikimedia.org.ua if you have a story to tell and be proud to represent WLE in your country!💚
39 countries participated in the competition this year – that’s a record number for our project’s 9-year history! Most of them have already finished a contest in their countries. Now it’s time to select local winners.
Meanwhile, let’s check the results of the contest so far:
🌳Over 3,800 people participated in the contest; 🌳Wikimedia Commons received over 45,000 new photos of nature-protected areas; 🌳Over 4,600 images already illustrate respective articles on Wikipedia; 🌳Over 2,700 people joined the contest for the first time; 🌳Top countries with the most images: Germany, Wales, Brazil.
Thanks to everyone for participating, and stay tuned to explore the winners of local competitions! After local winners are submitted, the international jury will select global winners in November.
Since 2014, dozens of countries around the world have organized annual photo contests devoted to their natural heritage within the international Wiki Loves Earth contest. In 2013 we held WLE in Ukraine for the first time, and in 2014 it went international. Overall, WLE collected 767k free photos of protected areas, with around 180k being used in the wikiprojects.
In 2021, we introduced the Human rights and Environment special nomination supporting the initiative Wiki4HumanRights 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.
This contest edition united 34 countries and territories with 9 of them joining Wiki4HumanRights and receiving submissions for the new nomination. Last week our jurors had a final round evaluating the pictures, and we are delighted to present the top-5 of the Human rights and Environment special nomination on Earth Day!
These pictures taken in the Emas National Park make a powerful triptych referring to the immense challenges Brazil is facing regarding the conservation of its natural ecosystems. The country has experienced unprecedented wildfires in the last decade. The Emas National Park is a part of the Pantanal Biosphere Reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the states of Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil. It covers 1,320 square kilometers of cerrado savannah. Wildfire is a natural factor shaping tropical savannahs and has been present in the cerrado for thousands of years.
2nd place: photo by Robson de Oliveira, CC BY-SA 4.0
Another picture from Brazil depicts a wildfire in Serra do Gandarela National Park. It is situated within the Espinhaço Range and holds the largest intact remnant of Atlantic Forest in Minas Gerais. This is a transition region between the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes which contributes to species diversity.
“On November 22, beavers built a house under the walls of the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy in protest of the threat of deforestation in Polissia region, Ukraine. Beavers are convinced that cutting down forests in order to burn them at thermal power plants is an unacceptable blow to the nature of Polissya and the climate on the planet”, — tells the author of the picture about the “Don’t burn our houses!” action to protect the forests of Polissia, in particular Polissia Nature Reserve.
The author caught a mysterious view of Thousand trees location in Doirani Lake, Greece. Monica Iyer, one of the jurors, comments: “The image alone conveys a powerful representation of human interaction with nature, and of the threats posed by rising waters. The lake was in danger of drying out and now is flood-prone because of human manipulation of the water supply”.
5th place: photo by Miguel G. C. Domingos, CC BY-SA 4.0
The photo shows us a stunning view at sunset from the top of Serra de Montejunto, a protected landscape in the Montejunto-Estrela mountain range, Portugal. We can see some wind farms on neighboring small hills, and Serra da Arrábida in the distance. This mountain range, Serra da Arrábida, is a part of Arrábida Natural Park which comes into contact with the ocean
Benjamin Schachter. Human Rights Officer and the focal point for climate change and the environment at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Lukas Mezger. Attorney and climate activist from Germany. As a longtime Wikipedian, he currently serves as the chair of the Wikimedia Deutschland supervisory board.
Monica Iyer. Human rights attorney, advocate, and researcher with a particular interest and expertise in human rights and the environment.
Oleksiy Vasyliuk. Chairman of the Board of Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group. Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, he has been working to help the occupied national parks and rescue the environmentalists from the war zone. In peacetime, he is involved in various initiatives to help protected areas and designs new national parks.
Nine years of having the photo contest all around the world, almost 800,000 free photos of natural heritage sites, with around 180,000 being used in the wikiprojects — we are committed to continue and make these numbers and impact even bigger this year!
The 10th edition of the Wiki Loves Earth photo contest is just around the corner! In about a month we will start gathering incredible photos of nature monuments from all over the world.
For the first time Wiki Loves Earth was held in Ukraine in 2013, and in 2014 it went international. Now it is the second biggest Wikimedia photo contest which is aimed at raising public awareness about protected areas and expanding the database of free photos of natural heritage sites.
How does it work? Wiki Loves Earth is organized through local contests coordinated by volunteers. Last year we had 34 countries and territories participating and organizing local contests, and we hope to have even more of them in Wiki Loves Earth 2022! The list of participating countries will be constantly updated, you can check it and find more information on the Wikimedia Commons page. Local organizers select their winners on the local level and submit up to 15 winners to the international jury. All participants have a chance to win both international and local prizes.
Do you want to take part in Wiki Loves Earth 2022?
Please check Rules for your submission and upload them to Wikimedia Commons under a free license that enables their free worldwide use.
Do you want to organize Wiki Loves Earth 2022 in your country?
Check out our detailed guidelines about the process. Feel free to contact us at wle-team@wikimedia.org.ua, and we will support you on every step of organizing your local Wiki Loves Earth 2022.
More news and updates are coming, follow us on social media:
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to write to us at wle-team@wikimedia.org.ua.
P.S. This year is especially turbulent for our core organizing team, as its members are mostly from Ukraine, which is currently battling a full-scale military invasion by Russia. There was a delay in distributing international prizes, and we have not yet announced the winners in the 2021 special nomination “Human rights and environment”, but it is in the works. Please bear with us.
Wiki Loves Earth, the largest international photo contest devoted to nature heritage, is ready to reveal its winners — meet 15 best photos of protected sites and their representatives!
Since 2014, dozens of countries around the world have organized annual photo contests devoted to their natural heritage within the international Wiki Loves Earth contest. In 2021, we held the contest for the 8th year in a row. It lasted between May 1 — August 31, with different countries having different submission windows.
This contest edition united 34 countries and territories. Among those, United Arab Emirates and Wales joined the competition for the first time; many countries that started WLE last year continued organizing the contest in 2021.
As a result, Wikimedia Commons received over 64,000 freely licensed photos of natural monuments from over 4300 people. Local organizing teams ran evaluation of photos from their countries and eventually submitted up to 15 local winners from each country. The international jury team had a challenging task — to select up to 20 international winners out of 390 winning photos on the local level.
This year, the international winners represent two categories — landscapes (including individual trees if it’s a nature monument) and macro/close-up (animals, plants, fungi). Now, let’s meet top photos by category!
The first place of the landscape category gives us a glimpse into the amazing Atlantic oceanside in the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, Portugal. It’s one of 13 natural parks in Portugal and covers a big area of approximately 145 km2. The park includes the Serra de Sintra Mountain Range but extends all the way to the coast and Cabo da Roca, continental Europe’s westernmost point.
“The landscape and the trees of the southern agricultural park, still shrouded in the morning mist shortly after sunrise, seem to almost emerge from the waters”, — says the author. The second place features a landscape in the Parco Agricolo Sud Milano near Rosate, Italy.
Just look at this fascinating view on the lake Stymphalia in Greece. The author took it during a morning ride with an authentic boat from the old times. Lake Stymphalia is an important habitat for a significant number of species of concern, including eagles and other raptors, egrets, herons, bitterns, ibises, partridges and terns, as well as a stopping point for migratory birds.
The author caught a mysterious view on Zilkale, which is a medieval castle located in the Fırtına Valley “Storm Valley”) within the Pontic Mountains, and is one of the most important historical structures in the Çamlıhemşin district of Rize Province, Turkey. It is also located in the protected area Kaçkar Dağları Millî Parkı.
Mount Merapi is located on the border of Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It has an altitude of 2,930 meters above sea level; Mount Merapi has been erupting for over a year now. Incandescent lava discharge can be as frequent as dozens of times a day! The farthest sliding distance of incandescent lava reaches 2,200 meters.
Within Wiki Loves Earth, we also highlight representatives of protected sites, their flora and fauna. Meet the winners of the second category — macro/close-up photography!
The first place features Arianta arbustorum on the Taraxacum flower: macro shot taken in the Ropsha Forest, Leningrad Oblast, Russia. Anja Strelec, one of the international jury members, mentioned that it’s “one of the favourite photos, so clear colors and the motif, and the details”.
This colorful picture gives us amazing details of the Brown-throated sunbird in Mapawa Nature Park in the Philippines. The author says: “Brown-throated sunbirds are commonly seen upland feeding with nectar. Males have these wonderful colors which really catch your eye, especially in its colorful habitat surrounded by flowers”.
This Dipsas albifrons representative was caught in Serra do Mar State Park, Brazil. Dipsas species are slender, small to medium-sized snakes, often no longer than 60 cm. They are found from southern Mexico through Central America and South America.
This photo is a wonderful representation of Carrhotus xanthogramma species. It was taken in the Acquerino Cantagallo Natural Reserve in the province of Prato, Italy. These thermophilic spiders prefer sunny, warm environments and can mainly be encountered on bushes, on tree trunks and shrubbery.
A Leaf beetle (Aulacophora indica) peeking from the leaf hole of Alnus nepalensis tree was found in Chitwan National Park, Nepal. The author explains that adult leaf beetles make holes on host plant leaves while feeding. They camouflage themselves with their feeding holes.
The next winning photo depicts three female deer (Cervus nippon) in the Kremenets Mountains National Nature Park, Western Ukraine. The sika deer, also known as the spotted deer or the Japanese deer, is a species of deer native to much of East Asia and introduced to other parts of the world.
One more photo in our top from Chitwan National Park, Nepal: its representatives Baya Weavers (Ploceus philippinus) are best known for their elaborately woven nests. These pendulous nests are retort shaped, with a central nesting chamber and a long vertical tube that leads to a side entrance to the chamber. The nests are woven with long strips of paddy leaves, rough grasses and long strips torn from palm fronds.
The author is beating records by having three photos in our top of macro/close-up photography! A Feral Pigeon in flight during a rainy day was caught in Chitwan National Park, Nepal, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. At the foot of the Himalayas, Chitwan is one of the few remaining undisturbed vestiges of the ‘Terai’ region, which formerly extended over the foothills of India and Nepal. It has a particularly rich flora and fauna.
We can see amazing colors and details in this photo of a frog Rana temporaria in nature park Pfälzerwald (Palatinate Forest Nature Park), Germany. It lies in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany and borders on France. The nature park covers an area of 177,100 hectares and includes the former landscape conservation area of the German Wine Route, which runs from the eastern edge of the nature park to the Rhine plain.
The United Arab Emirates took part in WLE for the first time, and its photo got to the winners list, great result! Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus was caught in flight in Ras Al Kohr wildlife sanctuary, attracting migratory birds in large numbers. Located in Dubai, it is among the few urban protected areas of the world.
We congratulate all the winners for their great work and contribution to highlighting nature heritage and illustrating Wikipedia, as well as local teams for their hard work to make this contest happen. Stay tuned for more in 2022!
Note: in addition, WLE 2021 had a special nomination “Human rights and environment”, results of which will be announced separately. A more detailed jury report on the international winners will be published in early 2022 (UPD: the report is added in comments to this blog post).
Do you have any questions about Wiki Loves Earth? Maybe you want to organize WLE in your country next year?
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