Wiki Loves Earth 2015 is growing and spreading all over the world. We are really happy with such a big interest to the competition. WLE becoming a movement and treated not only as competition, but also as a prestigious way to tell about a country and beauty of its natural objects and zones. National committees of Wiki Loves Earth 2015 launch new channels for users to stay in touch with all updates. We advise you to follow all these pages/groups not to miss most interesting, trilling and significant photos of 2015. Enjoy! Continue reading “Wiki Loves Earth community”
Meet our international Wiki Loves Earth 2022 winners!
Wiki Loves Earth 2015 is coming soon!
On 1st May 2015 the Wikimedia community with the help of its Ukrainian and Polish Chapters and volunteers is starting an international photo contest with a natural heritage theme, Wiki Loves Earth 2015. This is the third year of the competition. In 2013, Ukraine was the only participant, last year there were 16 countries in the contest and now it encompasses Algeria, Andorra and Catalan areas, Austria, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Estonia, France, Germany, Macedonia, Nepal, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Uruguay, Ukraine and many more are willing to join in to share their natural monuments with the world!

Wiki Loves Earth is organized through numerous national contests, coordinated by local volunteers. The national juries then submit up to 10 pictures to the international stage of the contest. Last year with 16 participating countries, the international jury had to consider a total of 156 candidate pictures!
This photo contest is not only a great opportunity to show the charms of nature, but also a chance to draw public attention to environmental problems and Wikipedian activities. The focus is not only on sites of national importance, but also on the areas protected on the regional level and on the widest variety of natural sites possible: forests, parks, gardens, rocks, caves and whatever is protected within the participating countries. This means that most users will be able to find several natural heritage sites close to them.
The full report of the last year’s international jury, explaining its work, selection process and bringing the results together with comments of the jury, is available here.
We truly hope that you will participate in our joint efforts to make this year’s contest even brighter!
All photographs in this post are published by their authors. Click the photos for details.
Wiki Loves Earth 2014 winners announced
Wiki Loves Earth, a photo contest of natural monuments, became international for the first time in 2014 and was held in 16 countries. The contest is over now, and after the careful evaluation the international jury is happy to announce the winners
Wiki Loves Earth is a photo contest of natural monuments, where participants picture protected areas and upload their photos to Wikimedia Commons. The goal of the project is, on one hand, to capture under a free license as many natural monuments and protected areas as possible, and on the other hand, to contribute to environment protection by raising public awareness.
After years of successful Wiki Loves Monuments organisation there was an idea of a similar contest for natural monuments. The idea of Wiki Loves Earth was born in 2012, and it was implemented for the first time in Ukraine, where the contest was held from 15 April to 15 May 2013.
In 2014, Wiki Loves Earth was joined by 15 other countries from four different continents – Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Most of countries organised the contest from 1 May to 31 May 2014, while some countries extended the contest period till 30 June, and Serbia was the last to finish on 15 July. During the contest, over 70,000 pictures were submitted by more than 3,000 participants.
Similarly to Wiki Loves Monuments, Wiki Loves Earth was organised through numerous national contests, coordinated by local volunteers. The national juries then submitted up to 10 pictures to the international stage of the contest. With 16 participating countries, the international jury had to consider a total of 156 candidate pictures.
The international jury was composed of seven photographers, most of whom were experienced in nature photography: Diego Delso (Spain/Germany), Muhammad Mahdi (Tanzania/India), Julián Monge-Nájera (Costa Rica), Susanne Plank (Austria), Esther Solé (Spain), Oleg Zharii (Ukraine) and Wikimedian Wikimk (Macedonia). Their profiles can be found in the jury report. After several weeks of evaluation they have selected the following images:
The first prize goes to the view of Carpathian National Park from Hoverla, Ukraine by Dmytro Balkhovitin. This photo gives an exciting view from the highest point of Ukraine — Hoverla — towards Carpathian National Park, one of the largest in Ukraine. The jury was particularly impressed by the composition of the photo and its lighting with great crepuscular rays.
The second prize was attributed to the photo of God‘s Finger Rock in the Serra dos Órgãos National Park, Brazil. This image by Carlos Perez Couto depicts the best known rock formation in the park, which is also symbol of Brazilian mountaineering and of the entire state of Rio de Janeiro. Breathtaking landscapes are completed with excellent composition that even reminded to one juror of Chinese paintings.
An image of Estonia’s Mukri Nature Park by Janno Loide (Amadvr) was awarded the third place. This original almost monochromatic image represents an autumn fog over the marshes of Estonia. In addition, the jury appreciated the good representation of the red colour of the sky together with high level of detail.
The remaining photos receiving the awards are the following:
Winners were determined by the 7-person jury. Each participating country could nominate one member to the international jury, although only 5 countries used this right. Two further jury members were added by the international organising team to increase diversity of the jury.
156 nominations were submitted to the international organising team by the national juries of the 16 participating countries. Each country was allowed to submit up to 10 images, but some countries decided to submit less images. Andorra and Spain submitted their images in a double nomination. The jury selected and ranked the photos in several stages by means of a dedicated web tool.
The full report of the international jury, explaining the work of the jury, selection process and presenting the results together with comments of the jury, is available here.
Congratulations to the winners and thank you for everyone who worked on organisation of the contest this year!
Mykola Kozlenko,
Wikimedia Ukraine / WLE International team.
All photographs in this post are published by their authors under CC BY-SA 3.0. Click the photos for details.
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:
Awards ceremony in Ukraine!
Wiki Loves Earth Ukraine Awards Ceremony took place in Golden Gate (Kyiv) on July 12, 2014.
416 members took part in Ukrainian part of the contest in 2014 and they uploaded more than 12 thousand photographs of 1324 natural monuments.
The best photograph was a snapshot from Crimea.
At the ceremony the winners were awarded in the nominations for the greatest number of natural monuments photographed in each of the regions of Ukraine and the best photos from all regions, as well as participants who photographed the highest number of objects in general in the country, and authors of the ten best photos.
Finally, we announce TOP-10 the best photos. These ten photographs will represent Ukraine at the international stage of the competition.









Serbian beauty!
Already 247 beautiful photos were uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons during Wiki Loves Earth in Serbia!
© Luminosa, CC BY-SA 3.0
Algeria, Germany, Ghana, India and The Netherlands are Closing!
Today is the last competition day for Algeria, Germany, Ghana, India and the Netherlands! Last hours to contribute your photos to and to take part in competition in these countries’ contests!
Remember that Serbia will still have their site open until July 16 and Syria till August 1:)
The contest «Wiki Loves Earth» is closed at Andorra & Spain, Armenia & Nagorno-Karabakh, Austria, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Estonia, Macedonia, Nepal and Ukraine, and first results are coming.
Small Waterfall at Kyabobo National Park, Ghana
© Sean Moran, CC-BY-SA 3.0
Andorran TOP-10 best photos!
Gorgeous news from Andorra – we can enjoy beautiful pictures from this green country!
Andorran team carries on an intrigue and refuses to give any details such as places of these photos. So, we can show you only winners without prize-list!










Winners of Wiki Loves Earth in Brazil!
Thanks to professional jury and their quick work we already know the winners of Brazilian Wiki Loves Earth photo contest 2014!
Please, look and relax, because these photos are amazing!








Beauty of Germany
Germany is one of the participants who can receive your photos up to June 30.
You can take part in the contest with homemade photos with particular national parks, nature reserves, natural monuments, Nature Park, Biosphere Reserve and other objects from the list.
For your attention several beautiful places in Germany where you can take your photos and upload its to the Commons.
Hainich National Park (German: Nationalpark Hainich), founded on December 31, 1997, is the 13th national park inGermany and the only one in Thuringia. One of the main objectives of the park is the protection of native beech forest. In 2011, the park was added to the Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany World Heritage Site.
The goal of Hainich National Park is to restore a large section of central European forest to its primordial state.

The Bavarian Forest National Park (German: Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald) is a national park in the Eastern Bavarian Forest immediately on Germany‘s border with the Czech Republic. It was founded on 7 October 1970 as the firstnational park in Germany. Since its expansion on 1 August 1997 it has covered an area of 24,250 hectares. Together with the neighbouring Czech Bohemian Forest the Bavarian Forest forms the largest contiguous area of forest in Central Europe.
Especially protected are the spruce-dominated highland forests, mixed mountain forests of fir, beech and spruce trees and water meadow spruce woods in the valleys. Although a few remnants of ancient forest remain, the National Park area is still heavily influenced by the former forestry industry. Since nature is now left to take its course again, there is no human intervention when there are catastrophic events such as large scale bark beetle infestation. This resulted in the 1990s in the death of a portion of the high elevation forests and triggered controversial discussions amongst the residents of the National Park, which highlighted differing attitudes to the wilderness. As the result of a compromise, bark beetle is now fought in the expansion area.
Pfaueninsel (“Peacock Island”) is an island in the River Havel situated in Berlin-Wannsee, in southwestern Berlin, near the border with Potsdam and Brandenburg. The island is part of the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and BerlinUNESCO World Heritage Site and a popular destination for day-trippers. Pfaueninsel is also a nature reserve in accordance with the EU Habitats Directive and a Special Protection Area for wild birds.
he island has largely retained its intended character as an idyll of nature: in addition to several free-ranging peacocks, other native and exotic birds can be found in captivity, complemented by a rich variety of flora. The entire island is designated as a nature reserve and since 1990 has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the several other castles and parks in the Potsdam/Berlin area. It can only be reached by a small ferry, but is a popular tourist destination. It is administered by the Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten (SPG).

The Harz National Park is a nature reserve in the German federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It comprises large portions of the western Harz mountain range, extending from Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg at the southern edge to Bad Harzburg and Ilsenburg on the northern slopes. 95% of the area is covered with forests, mainly withspruce and beech woods, including several bogs, granite rocks and creeks. The park is part of the Natura 2000network of the European Union.
Rare animals of the Harz National Park include the Dipper, the Black Stork,Peregrine Falcon, the European Wildcat and especially the Eurasian Lynx. The last lynx in the Harz Mountains had been shot in 1818, but in 1999 a project for reintroducing was established. Since 2002 several wild lynxes gave birth. An attempt to return the Capercaillie (Auerhuhn) however did not succeed.

All information about Wiki Loves Earth in Deutschland you can find here.