*DNA Blog : "Wiki Loves Monuments, do you? "* http://www.dnaindia.com/blogs/1886663/post-wiki-loves-monuments-do-you

Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM) is a photography competition aimed at creating a freely licensed repository of photographs of historical monuments and heritage sites around the globe. Held in September every year, it is the world's largest photographic competition according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

[Winning entry at WLM from 2012, Safdarjung's Tomb, Delhi, India, by *Pranav Singh*]

Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM) is a photography competition aimed at creating a freely licensed repository of photographs of historical monuments and heritage sites around the globe. Held in September every year, it is the world's largest photographic competition according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Fifty countries including oceanic Antarctica are participating this year in the contest, which is organised by Wikimedia Chapters in the respective countries and various Wikimedia groups.

Started in 2010 in the Netherlands, WLM has attained lasting popularity. In 2011, 18 European countries joined the Netherlands and created a collection of nearly 170,000 photographs, achieving the Guinness record. Thirty five countries participated in 2012 in the contest, which received more than 350,000 photos overtaking its own record from the previous year.

*Participate* To enter Wiki Loves Monuments, participants upload their entries to the Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons license. The Wikimedia Commons is a media repository that serves Wikipedia and its sister projects. Like Wikipedia, it is free and open to all. Learn more about participating in Wiki Loves Monuments.

*WLM in India*

India has more than 7,000 historical sites spread across its 28 states and seven union territories. In India, where WLM is in its second year, it is supported by the Wikimedia India Chapter, a non-profit organisation. Last year, WLM received more than 15,000 photos of Indian monuments, most of which were those of the Taj Mahal. Over 2,000 people participated from India, which made India rank the highest in the contest in terms of the number of participants. A few winning photos from India went on to be a part of the international WLM contest. Pranav Singh from Delhi won the first prize in the international contest. Narender Kumar, also from Delhi, ranked sixth.

*Awards*

The main for the international contest is a trip to Wikimania, the annual international conference of the Wikimedia movement. Every country awards a few prizes nationally as WLM is a federated contest. The highest prize in India is Rs 25,000. Read more about Indian prizes here, and the International ones here.

Indian website: http://wikilovesmonuments.in International website: http://wikilovesmonuments.org Contact details: wlm@wikimedia.in More links: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2013/Media

Contact* Rohini Lakshané*: rohini at wikimedia dot in

Regards Tinu Cherian press@wikimedia.in http://wiki.wikimedia.in/In_the_news

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