Photographers Can Preserve History and Win Money in the Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 Contest
Wikimedia Commons’ annual Wiki Loves Monuments is back and open for submissions until November 1, 2025. The yearly photo competition invites photographers to help document and preserve historic sites (and earn prize money).
The current edition focuses on monuments in the United States, primarily areas listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which is an official list of buildings, districts, sites, and structures that the federal government determines are worth preserving due to their cultural or historical significance. The register includes over 80,000 historical sites, such as Central Park, the Gateway Arch, Hoover Dam, and many more.
When photographers enter the contest, they share their images under a free license that will let anyone use them.
“You help document our history and share it with the rest of the world to enjoy through the internet,” says Wikimedia Commons. “And get a shot at winning a prize!”
There are 10 primary prizes up for grabs, including $500 for the first-place winner. Second place wins $350, third gets $200, and fourth through 10th-place photographers each get $50. There are also special prizes, including $200 for the photographer who captures the most sites that were previously not illustrated on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, $100 each for the photographers who capture the best photos of Native American sites, and $100 each for the two photographers who capture the best eligible images using a drone.
Wikimedia Commons says that entered photos will be judged on their composition, technical quality, originality, and usefulness for Wikipedia. While pictures of all historical sites are valuable, images of less-photographed sites may perform better in judging.
Entries are open now and complete contest details, rules, and prizes are available on Wikimedia Commons. Photos should be uploaded through this link and must be correctly labeled and tagged to be eligible to win. For inspiration on what types of photos have historically done well, check out the winners from 2023 and last year’s top three winners, which are featured in this article.
Image credits: Featured photos shared via CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Individual photographers are credited in the captions.
