World’s largest online photography competition comes to Pakistan

According to a statement here, Wiki Loves Monuments Pakistan is part of the international Wiki Loves Monuments photography competition, certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest photography competition.

The competition welcomes contributors from Pakistan and around the world to upload photographs of recognized cultural heritage sites, including historical buildings and landmarks, to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of these sites.

Wiki Loves Monuments Pakistan aims to “highlight and promote the cultural and heritage sites (in Pakistan) with the goal to encourage people to capture pictures of these monuments and to put them under a free licence so that others may access them freely.”

The statement further reads: “It may be challenging at times for many people to edit Wikipedia articles, but it’s pretty simple, fun and easy to take a photograph and upload it so certainly Wiki Loves Monuments is an easier and nicer way to begin contributing to Wikipedia.” says Saqib Qayyum, the lead coordinator of Wiki Loves Monuments Pakistan and the representative of Wikipedia Pakistan.

All sites listed on the Wikipedia pages may be photographed until 30 September 2015. For those willing to take part in the competition, an image can only be uploaded between 1 and 30 September 2015, via its respective link on the list page on Wikipedia. Wikimedia will be awarding exclusive Wikipedia prizes for the best ten photographs of sites from Pakistan submitted to Wikipedia, from September 1–30, said the announcement

A panel of experts will choose the best ten pictures, which will then be submitted as Pakistani finalists in the international Wiki Loves Monuments competition. The top international prize is a free trip to the Wikimania 2016 conference in Italy, with additional prizes for runners-up. Worldwide, Wiki Loves Monuments attracted over 9,000 participants from 41 countries in 2014.

These participants uploaded over 320,000 photographs, including over 12,000 from Pakistan. The competition, which was originally organized in the Netherlands in 2010, will be held in over 31 countries this year. A website accompanying this competition has been launched: www.wikilovesmonuments.pk