Putting our national monuments in the picture

The world’s biggest photography competition, Wiki Loves Monuments, is taking place in Ireland for the first time this year.

Officially launched this Tuesday by Wikimedia Ireland and Minister Simon Harris , the Wiki Loves Monuments photographic competition takes place from now up to September 30.

Organised by Wikimedia, the movement behind free encyclopaedia Wikipedia, the competition aims to raise awareness of Ireland’s national monuments and create a crowd-sourced bank of quality photos that will be free to use for education.

Amateur and professional photographers are being invited to photograph the national monuments in their locality and upload their photos to www.wikilovesmonuments.ie.

Entries will be judged by a four-person expert panel and the winners will be announced on Friday, October 31. The project is being supported by The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, National Heritage Week, The Heritage Council of Ireland, The Office of Public Works, Open Knowledge Ireland and Dimension Data.

Certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest photography contest, the annual contest started in the Netherlands in 2010. Since then it has grown significantly and in 2013, 369,589 photographs were submitted by 11,943 participants from over 50 countries. All images are uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia’s online repository that makes public domain and freely-licensed educational media content (images, sound and video clips) available to everyone.

Minister of State Simon Harris commented, “Promoting public engagement with our monuments is an important part of the work of OPW, so I am delighted to see Ireland participate in this competition for the first time. I look forward to enjoying the beautiful and inspiring images that I am sure will result.”

Sabina Bonici, Wikimedia Ireland commented, “We’re calling on amateur and professional photographers across Ireland to visit the national monuments in their locality, take their best shots and upload them. We are also encouraging people to organise ‘photowalks’ around their country, a fun way to locate and photograph their nearest national monuments.”