The Wikimedia Foundation is Holding a Photography Competition

The Wikimedia Foundation, the same organization that owns Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, is holding its own photo competition right now.

The same organization that has been a source of public use images for so many bloggers, content writers and even journalists is now holding its own photo competition through its Wikimedia Commons “free media repository”.

The international photography contest has been dubbed “Wiki Loves Folklore” by its organizer and it’s open to any participant anywhere in the world.

This event is thematically organized each year and though the prizes are fairly small in terms of cash value, it’s a potentially useful competition with easy entry requirements.

For the 2023 event, the subject is a continuation of Wikimedia’s several previous “Wiki Loves Folklore” competitions dating back to 2018.

For this event, the focus is on folk culture in different categories and different parts of the world. As Wikimedia itself explains, these could include,

“folk festivals, folk dances, folk music, folk activities, folk games, folk cuisine, folk wear, folklore, and tradition, including ballads, folktales, fairy tales, legends, traditional song and dance, folk plays, games, seasonal events, calendar customs, folk arts, folk religion, mythology etc.”

Wikimedia has posted even more specific suggestions and examples on its Category page to help interested photographers with their selections.

For winners of this year’s contest, all the prizes are broken down on the event homepage. Basically, though, their top spots involve winning $500 USD, $400 USD and $300 USD for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place prizes respectively.

It’s also worth noting (and slightly disappointing) that these prizes and all other cash rewards for lower winner categories are dispersed as gift cards or vouchers instead of actual money in some form.

Nonetheless, the contest is an easy submission for anyone interested and runs until the 31^st of March, giving photographers plenty of time to consider their selections. It started on February 1^st.

Wikimedia has a few basic ground rules for all submissions. These mainly revolve around photos they won’t accept, which include:

• Photos outside the scope of the competition categories or theme
• Photos that don’t come with EXIF information
• Photos with too much digital processing and modification
• Pornographic or “explicit” images (this presumably doesn’t include culturally significant nude and explicit photos)
• Images in violation of copyright
• Non-photographic artwork

Interested photographers can find out more via the event page if this perks their curiosity and competitive spirit.

Also, anyone interested can contact Wikimedia about further details by posting on the foundation’s discussion forum page or emailing the event organizers at support@wikilovesfolklore.org.

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