Dear Wikimedians,
Wikimedia Commons is happy to announce that the 2011 Picture of the Year competition is now open at last. We're interested in your opinion as to which images qualify to be the Picture of the Year for 2011 (not for 2012). Any user registered at Commons or a Wikimedia wiki SUL-related to Commons with more than 75 edits before 1 April 2012 (UTC) is welcome to vote. Check your eligibility nowhttp://toolserver.org/%7Epathoschild/accounteligibility/?user=&wiki=&event=24 ! If you meet the criteria, you are eligible to vote.
Nearly 600 images that have been rated Featured Pictures by the international Wikimedia Commons community in the past year are all entered in this competition. From professional animal and plant shots to breathtaking panoramas and skylines, restorations of historically relevant images, images portraying the world's best architecture, maps, emblems, diagrams created with the most modern technology, and impressive human portraits, Commons features pictures of all flavors.
For your convenience, we have sorted the images into topic categories. Two rounds of voting will be held: In the first round, you can vote for as many images as you like. The first round the top 32 images , by number of votes, from any category will go to the final round - the categories are irrelevant when it comes to counting the votes. If no picture of one topic category is not in the top 32s, that will be also promoted to the Final to guarantee a diverse final. In the final round, when a limited number of images are left, you must decide on the one image that you want to become the Picture of the Year.
To see the candidate images just go to: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Picture_of_the_Year/2011/Galleries
Wikimedia Commons is interested in hearing your opinions on our featured images of 2011. The deadline for first round voting is 2012-06-04 at 23:59 (UTC).
Thanks, Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year committee http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:POTY/2011