I received some worried messages off-list from people that worry that their country is not able to make the deadline. I am being told this has in part to do with the availability of the jury tool. 

We do however need to finalize the international finale in time for the payments to be made before the end of the year (due to funding reasons), and we also want a solid international process. While the number of images may be lower, the average quality is much higher and the decision is harder too. Somehow, we have to guarantee that the quality of the international finale is not contestable. 

That is why we /must/ have a deadline that cannot be broken, so that the international jury can start their work in time. Other countries have already put a lot of pressure on their national juries to meet the usual deadline, and I hope that all countries could make it. But if we decide to shift it, we have to decide it /now/ and then stick to it. Because somehow, we will have to strike a balance between allowing countries to 'do their thing' on one side, and to make the clockwork run internationally, on the other side. 

I'd appreciate some more input :)

Best,
Lodewijk

On Mon, Oct 19, 2015 at 8:30 PM, Lodewijk <lodewijk@effeietsanders.org> wrote:
Somehow, I was being foolish, and forgot to include the most important thing of the email, the deadline! 

The deadline is, as every year, 31 October, 23:59 UTC. Please pretty please, submit your photos way before that, as I will be annoying and obnoxious with you until you do, in the days before :)

Best,
Lodewijk

On Mon, Oct 19, 2015 at 8:04 PM, Lodewijk <lodewijk@effeietsanders.org> wrote:
Hi all,

This is an important announcement (and/or reminder) about the international jury process. Like every year, there is a jury with a mix of Photography, Heritage and Wikimedian backgrounds that will decide what image will win the international finale. I will announce the jury members on the WLM website once the last jury members are confirmed.

Each national competition gets to nominate up to 10 images - usually these are your top-10 images. Please send me a list of 10 URL's to the file description pages of the images that are nominated for the international finale with at least one member of your national jury in cc. They do not have to be in order.

We will keep that list secret until you announce them publicly. If you announced your winners publicly, please add your 10 nominees on this page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2015_winners We will however include all pictures that win internationally in our jury report (usually the top-25 is published), which will be published by the beginning of december. 

If you have any questions, please let me know. 
Thank you.

Lodewijk
(coordinator of the international jury process this year)