Dear all,

*The 9th edition of **the Wiki Loves Earth* *international photo contes*t is coming soon to draw attention to protected areas and expand the database of free photos of natural heritage sites! In this email, you will find details about the upcoming contest and a questionnaire to help us to make it better.

Your thoughts about WLE will contribute to shaping the way forward of this and the next contests, please fill out the *form to share your opinions/ideas*: https://forms.gle/UMnnDdfyMgWW1JZJ6. It takes around 5-10 minutes, the form includes a general section and sections for WLE organizers and jury, as well as for participants. Feel free to share it with your community, thank you!

In 2020, we had 34 participating countries organizing local contests, and we hope to work with all of you again, along with new teams on WLE 2021. As always, Wiki Loves Earth contest will take place *between May and Ju**ne*. Considering our positive experience of extending the contest until July the last year, we have a flexible approach regarding your local dates this year. You are free to decide when exactly to hold your contest within the international timeframe or close to these months, for example, in April or July (other months can be considered by the international organizing team, too, please contact us with your suggestion). We advise to do it for no less than two weeks and no more than two months.

*How to join Wiki Loves Earth 2021?* 1. Declare your participation by adding your country to the list at https://w.wiki/35Kr. 2. Check if you have a list of nature heritage objects. You can use the previous year's lists, and please update them as necessary. 3. Decide on dates of your contest. Please consider how much time you need to prepare and what is the best time in your country. Contact us if you have any questions! 4. Create/update your local landing page. If you don't have much experience organizing WLE or want to refresh your knowledge, you can learn more about organizing a contest in your country here — https://w.wiki/35Kh.

*Important:* — We remind you that there are limitations for offline public events due to the spread of COVID-19, please find our advice on how to handle the situation — https://w.wiki/35Ki. — If you need some funding for the contest promotion and prizes, we encourage you to apply for a rapid grant (up to 2 000 USD) from the Wikimedia Foundation. Here you can find more information about it — https://w.wiki/35Kk. The current application cycle takes place on March 1-15th, the next ones are held between the 1st and 15th days of each month . We strongly advise you to apply as soon as possible. If you need any help, please contact us, and we'll support you in every step of the grant application process.

If you need assistance from the international team to get WLE 2021 started in your country, please don't hesitate to write to us at wle-team@wikimedia.org.ua. If needed, we can also organize an online training on a specific topic or schedule a call to onboard a new team or answer your questions.

Best regards, Anastasiia Petrova Project Manager for International Wiki Loves Earth on behalf of the international organizing team