Hi all,

This year, Wiki Loves Monument is being organized in India jointly by West Bengal Wikimedians and Punjabi Wikimedians user groups.

Link of the event - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2018_in_India

The competition will be open for photographers from 1 September to 30 September, 2018. This year, we are focusing on Archaeological Survey of India and state protected monuments, the list of which can be found here.

Apart from the basic rules, the jury of the national competition will determine the winners of the national contest taking into the consideration the following criteria. In order of importance, the criteria are as follows:

* Effort put into researching the subject and taking the image - we welcome descriptive notes on the subject, how the the photo was taken, processed etc.
* Quality of description provided on the image (in any language) [judged primarily on the basis of what is provided by the image submitter rather than other contributors]
* Value of the image in terms of usage - ideally demonstrated by usage in any language Wikipedia with appropriate captions and well-referenced text surrounding the image that demonstrates that the article has been greatly enhanced by the image
* Value of the image based on uniqueness - is it filling a blank, is it from a location that is hard to reach, is it the only image of its kind etc.
* Technical quality (sharpness, use of light, perspective, composition, etc.)

Grounds for rejection of submitted images can include but are not limited to:
* suspected of copyright violation.
* if required jury members  may contact participants via talk pages or email - if they cannot be reached or responses to emails are not received within 48 hours - then the submission may be considered suspect and be rejected, participants may please ensure that they enable email, watch talk pages, and check their spam folders.
* lack of full EXIF information - where possible, contributors should include (or link to file versions with EXIF) other versions/from other angles in the other versions details.
* excessive processing, use of filters that are unrealistic.
* image does not document monument faithfully enough.
* watermarks, credit to author is ensured through the license and shall not be included in the image.
* resolution below 2 megapixel.

The first 10 national prize winners will get the following awards, -

* 1st place - INR 10,000 worth gift voucher + post card
* 2nd place - INR 7,000 worth gift voucher + post card
* 3rd place - INR 4,000 worth gift voucher + post card
* 4th-10th place - INR 2000 worth gift voucher each + post card

The first 10 national winning photographs will represent India and will be sent to international jury team for further review and they will select 10 best photographs from all participating countries.

For further queries, please keep an eye on this FAQ page. We are still updating...

So, please be ready to take part in one of the largest photo-competition covering heritage. The event is just 15 days away!!!

Thanks,