The world’s biggest photography competition, Wiki Loves Monuments, is inviting photographers in Ireland to capture images of national monuments to be used as freely licensed online educational material.
The Guinness World Records-certified competition is taking place in Ireland for the first time this year, from now until 30 September.
Initiated by Wikimedia, the movement behind the free online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, and run in Ireland by the Wikimedia Ireland Community, the competition aims to raise awareness of Ireland’s national monuments and create a crowdsourced bank of quality photos that will be free to use for education.
Both amateur and professional photographers are being invited to photograph the national monuments in their locality and upload their photos to the WIKI Loves Monuments Ireland website.
A five-person expert panel will judge the entries. Winners will be revealed on 31 October via email, on the website, on Facebook, Twitter, and the Wikimedia Ireland Community mailing list.
An awards ceremony will take place in mid-November.
Sabina Bonnici of Wikimedia Ireland linked the competition to National Heritage Week, which is taking place across Ireland this week. She said the aim of the week is to build awareness and education about our heritage, thereby encouraging its conservation and preservation.
“The Wiki Loves Monuments competition does exactly that, with the added bonus of creating a freely accessible database of national monument images,” said Bonnici.
“We are delighted to be able to raise awareness of the benefits of open knowledge and to increase participation in its creation and preservation.”
Round tower at Glendalough, Co Wicklow, image via Shutterstock
