Wiki Loves Monuments

Wiki Loves Monuments is an annual international photographic competition based upon the topic of built cultural heritage. It is one of the largest photographic competitions in the world, with the 2014 edition attracting the submission of over 300,000 photos from over 8,000 participants in 41 countries across the world.

Malta has been participating in Wiki Loves Monuments through Wikimedia Community Malta since 2016. Entries come from a list of monument in Malta, which is available on Wikipedia, based on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands (NICPMI).

Some general for statistic for entries from Malta indicate the number of participants and how many photos they submitted to Wikimedia Commons during each year.

Wiki Loves Monuments 2019 in Malta contest was open during September 2019.

How does it work?

2017 top photo: Gozo Citadel (George Formosa)

Participants submit photos of relevant monuments/buildings to Wikimedia Commons using a Creative Commons license throughout the competition. Local winners are then selected by a local panel of judges. The judges also nominates up to 10 photographs to contest the international award, where the overall winner is selected by an international jury.

Wiki Loves Monuments in Malta is produced in collaboration with Spazju Kreattiv and Heritage Malta.

Competition rules

Every submission must be:

Self taken and self uploaded;
Uploaded during the month of September of the same year;
Freely licensed;
Contain an identified monument;

What can be photographed

The subject matter of photos submitted to Wiki Loves Monuments must be related to monuments, understood to be any physical structure that was created to commemorate a person or event, or any physical structure of particular significance and relevance to a locality's cultural heritage. The below are examples of structures that are eligible for this competition (the list is not exhaustive):

Monuments & statues
Church-related/religious monuments (e.g. effigies, temples)
Cenotaphs & memorials
Fountains
Graves, tombstones & mausoleums
Historical landmarks
Buildings, palaces, bastions, castles etc.

For more information, please refer to the list of eligible monuments.

Important dates

1 September: Contest opens in Malta

30 September: Contest closes in Malta

October: Contest judging to select Malta top 10 to enter global contest

13 November: WLM Malta top 10 announced to the general public

15 November - 15 December: Exhibition of all Malta entries to this year's WLM with winners

2020

Judges: Angie Balzan, Sarah Borg, Davide Denti, Mario Mintoff, Russell Muscat, Enriquè Tabone; the judging is coordinated by Toni Sant.

* Top 10 entries from Malta for 2020 - announced in November 2020

Previous editions

2016

2016 top photo: St Thomas Tower (Joseph Psaila)

Judges: Charles Coleiro, Isabella Mallia, Mario Mintoff, Rebecca O'Neill, Raffaella Zammit; the judging was coordinated by Neville Borg.

* Top 10 entries from Malta for 2016

2017

Judges: Sabina Bonnici, Vanessa Ciantar, Charles Coleiro, Patrick Farrugia, Mario Mintoff, Richard Nevell; the judging was coordinated by Neville Borg.

* Top 10 entries from Malta for 2017