Media/Press Release:Wiki Loves Monuments India 2016

Press Release Date: 29 August 2016

Title: World's largest photography competition returns for 2016 in India

Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM) is a global photo contest that ran in September 2016.Wiki Loves Monuments, the Guinness World Record holder for the largest photography competition, returns in 2016. The competition brings together photographers from around the world to take stunning pictures of our cultural heritage to be shared on Wikipedia. The competition begins on 1 September and the deadlines for submissions is 30 September. Everyone is invited to take part – all you need is a camera! The winner can choose from a €1,000 cash prize or a scholarship of up to €2,000 to Wikimania 2017 in Montreal. Since the competition started in 2010 nearly 1.5 million photographs have been uploaded.India has participated in 2012 and 2013 edition of Wiki loves monuments.

In November 2012, the Top Ten entries from India were announced at a Wikipedia Workshop for Women in Mumbai. These entries were sent to the international jury and an image of the Tomb of Safarjung in New Delhi by photographer Pranav Singh as the best image of 2012 globally. India stood first in terms of maximum number of participants in the entire contest. Over 2,200 photographers contributed nearly 16,000 photos. Participants from India represented 15 percent of the 15,000 total contributors from around the world. Contest ran throughout the month of September 2012.

More than 6,000 people from 33 countries took part in last year’s competition. The competition is growing this year with 40 countries across six continents running local contests. There are eight first time participants including Nigeria, Greece, and Bangladesh. If your country is not running a contest this year you can still take part if you have photographs from other countries.

Entrants need to own the copyright of their submissions and release them under an open licence. You can use Wiki Loves Monuments’ interactive map to explore heritage near you and find what still needs to be photographed. The overall winners will be announced in December. To learn more about how to participate visit the competition's website - www.wikilovesmonuments.in.

Blogpost: http://blog.wikimedia.in/2016/08/27/the-worlds-largest-democracy-meets-the-worlds-largest-encyclopedia/

Note to Press:

Wiki Loves Monuments is an international photo contest for monuments, organized by Wikimedia this September.

The 2012 edition of the competition has been recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest photography competition http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-photography-competition/

All winning pictures of 2015 can be included as long as author and license (|CC BY-SA) are mentioned: Wiki Loves Monuments 2015 winners.

Media contacts: Email us on: wlm at wikimedia.in or press at wikimedia.in

Brochure: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WLM_2016.pdf

Previous Winners
 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2013_in_India/Winners
 * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2012_winners#India

Previous coverage
 * BBC
 * The Hindu
 * DNA
 * DNA