User:Ktkvtsh/monument draft
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Join the Commons If you don't have a Wikimedia Commons account yet, create one - takes just a few moments! |
Find historical sites Find registered historical sites in the United States via our guide. |
Take photos Take photos to document the site, or search through photos you've previously taken. |
Describe them Note the site's name, any historic registries it's on, and date of photo. |
Upload to Commons Upload your photos through October under a free license. |
Wiki Loves Monuments is an international photographic competition that invites the global community to document and preserve historic sites around the world on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.
A 'monument' refers to a protected historic site that is recognized by a governmental body or other organization, such as a historical society. In the United States, this primarily consists of places listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. We also accept photos of historic sites that are recognized by tribal, state, and local governments, as well as historical societies and related organizations.
This year the United States is participating through the month of October. By sharing your photos under a free license that allows anyone to use them, you help document our history and share it with the rest of the world to enjoy through the internet, and get a shot at winning a prize! We will explain below how to participate, what you can win and what monument sites are eligible.
If going out to photograph, be sure to take necessary health precautions and follow the guidance of national, tribal, state, and local officials, starting with the CDC COVID-19 protection guide.
Participate
Find a registered historic site and upload a photo you have taken of it to the Wikimedia Commons:
U.S. Prizes
1st: $500
2nd: $350
3rd: $200
4th - 10th: $50 each
The top-ten photos will all receive a certificate and be submitted to the international competition.
Monetary prizes will be provided as a gift card of the winner's choice.
Why participate?
Help Wikipedia document historically significant buildings and historical sites.
A nice challenge to improve your photography skills.
Compete for prizes in both the national and international competitions.
Competition rules
Rules for participants
There are a few rules for participants, both at the national and the international levels. Every submission must:
- Be self-taken and self-uploaded to Wikimedia Commons;
- Be uploaded during the month of September or October 20231,2 (though the image does not need to be taken during that month - older images are accepted);
- Be freely licensed;3
- Contain an identified monument. If your country/area has heritage monuments with unique identifiers (IDs), this identifier must be provided on every participating photo.
All entries into the international contest must have participated in a national Wiki Loves Monuments contest, and have been selected by a national jury.
Participants whose images are selected for entry into the international contest must have provided and maintained a valid email address, preferably by activating email within their Wikimedia Commons preferences. At the discretion of the international organisers, other methods of providing an email contact (eg by prior notification to the national organisers) may be permitted. If no email address is known to the international organisers, or if emails bounce or are not promptly replied to, the contestant's photo(s) may be disqualified from the international competition, and will in any event not be eligible to win any international prize. In such a case, the national organisers will be consulted before a decision is taken. For the national contests, it is at the discretion of the national organisers as to whether the provision of an email address is mandatory.
Participants can submit multiple photographs to the national competitions. If the national jury so decides, multiple images by the same photographer may be eligible for entry into the international contest.
1. - Only with a good reason and agreement of the international team can a national contest be organised in a different period than 1 September to 31 October.
2. - The local time in the country/region counts. If a country/region spans multiple time zones, the contest starts when the first time zone enters 1 September, and ends when the last time zone leaves 31 October.
3. - This can be CC BY-SA or any other free license, including CC0 and release in the public domain.
Check out Cornell's guide for more details and an easy-to-read table.
Applicable templates:
- For public artwork installed before 1926, use {{PD-US}} or {{PD-US-expired}}.
- For public artwork installed between 1926 and 1977 inclusive, use {{PD-US-no notice}} or {{PD-US-not renewed}}.
More details...
The National Register of Historic Places has over 80,000 historical sites listed on it! Many states also have their own historical societies, as do many cities and towns throughout the country.
For a historic place to count for the contest, it must be recognized by an authoritative organization as a historical site. Explore your local community and see what's out there!
Contact us!
There are a few ways to get in touch:
- Post on our talk page
- Email us at wlmUnitedStates@gmail.com
- Reach out to us on Twitter or Facebook
This year's U.S. organizers include:
Judging
Through the month of November, the U.S. jury will go through and judge all photos to determine the top-10. See our judging page for more information.
Criteria
The following criteria are used (in no particular order):
- Composition
- Technical quality (sharpness, use of light, perspective etc.)
- Originality
- Usefulness of the image for Wikipedia
- Note: Photos of all historical sites are valued, but photos of more uncommon and less-photographed sites will do better in judging.
If there are any doubts about the implementation of the rules, the jury decides.
Jury
Our jury will process the images through three rounds during November. At the end of this process, the jury determines the top-10. Our jury will be composed of individuals across the U.S. with backgrounds in art, photography, history and historical preservation, and the Wikimedia Commons.
Photo in Winners 2020 button by T meltzer, CC BY-SA 4.0.