Wiki Loves Monuments 2024
We are pleased to announce the next edition of the 'Wiki Loves Monuments’ competition. This is an open photo competition so we invite all photography enthusiasts to participate. The 10 best photos from this year’s Polish edition of 'Wiki Loves Monuments’ will go to the international final of the Wiki Loves Monuments competition, where they will compete with photos from dozens of countries.
The aim of the competition is to photograph Polish and World Heritage sites and preserve them for future generations. The idea is to collect documentation of Poland’s material heritage and make it available free of charge to anyone in the world.
The competition photographs will become part of Wikipedia’s multimedia resources and will be able to illustrate entries in its almost 300 language versions. The photos can also be used – completely free of charge – for educational or promotional purposes.
The competition takes place from 1 to 30 September.
Despite the fact that the competition is very popular every year, we should not forget that there are nearly 90 thousand immovable monuments in Poland, so the work of documenting our heritage is still endless, as is the accumulation of the sum of human knowledge. The competition is open to photos of the most famous sites in our country. However, we are even more curious to see photos of less obvious and well-known buildings, which need the eye of a good photographer to reveal their beauty to us. Wiki Loves Monuments is a unique opportunity to show the world the beauty of Poland’s cultural heritage through photography. The best photos will be submitted to an international jury and the winning photos will be seen by the whole world, like Marian Naworski’s 2019 photo of the Evangelical Church in Stawiszyn! Many monuments are still waiting to be discovered photographically, so get your camera and get to work.
The competition is part of the global initiative Wiki Loves Monuments.
The idea for the competition was born in the Netherlands in 2010. A year later, 5,500 photographers from 18 European countries (including Poland) took part in the competition for prizes, submitting more than 168,000 photos – thanks to which Wiki Loves Monuments 2011 entered the Guinness Book of Records in the category 'Largest Photo Contest’. The third edition of the competition, which took place from 1 to 30 September 2012, has already covered the whole world: 15,000 people from 35 countries have submitted more than 365,000 photos.
Unobvious Silesia
For the second year running, the competition will also award special prizes in the Unobvious Silesia category, organised in cooperation with the Wojciech Korfanty Institute in Katowice. In this category, three photos depicting the sights of the Silesian Voivodeship will be awarded.
The photos will be judged on their unconventional approach to the subject (e.g. photographing a well-known monument from an unknown angle) or revealing perspective (photographs of little-known monuments, e.g. those located in small towns or rural areas), or non-stereotypical representation of Silesia (e.g. historic parks or palaces).
Discover your Silesia! We are counting on your imagination in dealing with the topic.
Useful links
- Rules of the Polish competition Wiki Likes Monuments, edition 2024 (in Polish)
- Polish competition page on Wikipedia (in Polish)
- International page of the Wiki Loves Monuments competition
- Photos submitted in previous editions of the Polish competition
- How to take photos (in Polish)
- Submit photos via the monuments map
JURY 2024
Winners of the 2024 edition!
Category: Best Single Photograph
The winning works
Prizes for the best individual photographs go to:
Place I Gswito
- Jury’s justification:
For an evocative and consistent colour scheme, where, thanks to a fantastic play with snow and light, the foreground appears to be black and white. This gives the effect of a moment captured just before sunrise and an interesting layering. At the same time, the compositional arrangement, the solitary chapel and the surrounding trees, is well thought out, making the photograph not only visually interesting but also informative. It shows the monument as an integral part of the landscape. The photograph induces one to stop and reflect.
Place II Henryk Niestrój
- Jury’s justification:
A very atmospheric photo, at the same time perfectly showing the monument photographed. The object is framed in an interesting, slightly mysterious way, the colours play perfectly, giving it an ‘autumnal’ atmosphere. At the same time, the form and details of the object are clearly shown. The composition even invites the observer to ‘enter’ the bridge.
Place III Jacek Halicki
- Jury’s justification:
For conveying the drama of the flood and freezing in time the decisive moment for the monument. Will the bridge and the old town be completely flooded in a moment, what will happen to them, will they survive? The photograph is striking and evokes emotion. We are dealing here with testimonial photography of an almost reporter-like character, and its importance is underlined by the reflection that the element that is affecting us more and more often also affects monuments to a great extent.
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Honorable mentions
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Award for special involvement in the competition
The jury took into account the number and quality of the photos entered in the competition:
Place I Jacek Halicki (2356 uploaded images)
- Jury’s justification:
For the large number of diverse and good quality photos, both interesting shots and material that is suitable for documenting articles, of which as many as 743 photos are already used in Wikipedia.
Place II Zala (6260 uploaded images)
- Jury’s justification:
For an outstanding number of photos, including no small number of solid quality shots.
Place III Gswito (75 uploaded images)
- Jury’s justification:
For his style, a lot of visually good photos with views of castles and other objects from a drone
Category: Unobvious Silesia
In the category ‘Unobvious Silesia’ created in cooperation with the Wojciech Korfanty Institute of Polish Thought in Katowice, the prizes go to:
Place I Gswito
- Jury’s justification:
The photograph captivates with its phenomenal colours. The author has captured the object in golden hour. The composition allows both the monument and the modern city background to be admired.
Place II RafałRostecki97
- Jury’s justification:
Object captured from a frog’s perspective, interesting composition highlighted by the sunrise.
Place III Jerychoo
- Jury’s justification:
An eye-catching shot of decorative glass. The photo uniquely captures the passing of time.
We would like to congratulate the authors of the awarded and commended photographs.
We would also like to thank all the participants of the competition for their participation, because thanks to your extraordinary involvement, the quantity and quality of resources documenting Polish monuments is increasing.
COMPETITION PARTNERS
MEDIA PATRONAGE
Awarded photographs in 2023
Category: Best Single Photograph
The winning works
Honorable mentions
5th Award
Krakow, arch-presbyterial church
of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Cracow,
Author: Michalpe96
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Category: Unobvious Silesia
3rd Place
Bytom, Bytom water tower so called clock tower (opposite, Q117693534) and courtyard; view through window, noticeable imperfections and dirt on old glass,
Author: Adrian Tync
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Contact
Katarzyna Makowska
Open Science Manager
katarzyna.makowska@wikimedia.pl
For media
Contact
Jolanta Drzewakowska
Communication and PR Manager
jolanta.drzewakowska@wikimedia.pl