Dear Wikimedians,

Wikimedia Commons is happy to announce that the ninth edition of Picture of the Year competition is now open.

Wikimedia users are invited to vote for their favorite images featured on Commons during the year 2014 to produce a single Picture of the Year.

Hundreds of images that have been rated Featured Pictures by the international Wikimedia Commons community in the past year are all entered in this competition. These images include professional animal and plant shots, breathtaking panoramas and skylines, restorations of historical images, photographs portraying the world's best architecture, impressive human portraits, and so much more.

For your convenience, we have sorted the images into topical categories. Two rounds of voting will be held: In the first round, you may vote for as many images as you like. The top 30 overall and the most popular image in each category will continue to the final. In the final round, you may vote for three images (first vote is counted as 3 points, the second as 2 and the third as 1 point.) to become the Picture of the Year

Round 1 will end on 31 January 2015. To vote, visit https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Picture_of_the_Year/2014

Thanks Odisha1 on behalf of Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year committee