Commons talk:Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 in the United States

WLM 2025 in the United States

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Wiki Loves Monuments - United States Competition A campaign to improve our coverage of U.S. historic and cultural sites throughout the month of October.

WLM USA 2025 Talk Page

Be kind and courteous. Remember to remain calm, respectful, and patient with each other. All of the Wikipedia talk page guidelines apply here.

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Updates for 2025

For this year's campaign in October:

• Our upload portal will be revamped and updated to inform users about freedom of panorama restrictions, to help prevent copyright issues. Users will be asked to select checkboxes about the "type" of subject they are uploading a photo of (building, marker, sculpture, landscape, artwork, etc.). If they select something that is potentially copyrightable (marker, scultpure, artwork, etc.), they will see a notice about U.S. freedom of panorama limitations and how to determine if they can upload. We will also categorize these monuments by type (e.g. "Sculptures from Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 in the United States"), to help with filtering through photos for review. Any other ideas for how to improve the portal are welcome. Will post an update here once the new portal is ready for feedback.
• For greater variety in our top-10 winners this year, I'd like to propose that a user may only place once, and that each historic site may only appear once. The latter would apply to a specific structure. For example, two different buildings within the same NRHP district could both place, but two photos of a particular bridge can not. Happy for feedback on this.

Thanks, ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 08:56, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

I agree that a specific user/photographer should only place once in the top ten each year, while a site has no limit in appearances in the top ten. Ktkvtsh (talk) 18:52, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

Noted! We can go ahead with limiting a photographer to being able to place once in the top-ten. No limit on how many times a particular site can appear in the top-ten.

I've preparing the updated upload portal; will share it here as soon as it's ready. ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 08:32, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

The revamped upload portal is live (still doing additional testing and tweaks before the upload period begins). The portal asks users to categorize their photo into one of:

• Building / Structure / Interior
  • Placed into Category:Buildings_from_Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2025_in_the_United_States
• Sculpture / Statue
  • User receives notice about copyright restrictions
  • Placed into Category:Sculptures_from_Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2025_in_the_United_States
• Historic Marker / Plaque
  • User receives notice about copyright restrictions
  • Placed into Category:Markers_from_Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2025_in_the_United_States
• Artwork / Mural
  • User receives notice about copyright restrictions
  • Placed into Category:Artwork_from_Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2025_in_the_United_States
• Historic Landscape
  • Placed into Category:Landscapes_from_Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2025_in_the_United_States
• Other
  • Placed into Category:Other_subjects_from_Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2025_in_the_United_States

We also ask users to tag any of the following, if they apply:

• UAV (drove) photos
• Native American sites
• Previously unphotographed sites

We will have funding this year for additional prizes for those three categories.

Thanks, ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 12:36, 30 September 2025 (UTC)

@Kevin Payravi, I have a couple ideas. Could we do a category for the following: Cemeteries, Transportation (such as rail cars, ships, ferries and so on), Infrastructure (Bridges, dams, water towers, railways).

When it comes to Native American sites, can we include an option for uploaders to say whether they obtained permission or permits to photograph on the land. I did some searching and I believe the following nations require some sort of permission or permit: Hopi Tribe (Arizona), Taos Pueblo (New Mexico), Acoma Pueblo / Sky City (New Mexico), Zuni Pueblo (New Mexico), Navajo Nation (Arizona / New Mexico / Utah), Havasupai Tribe (Arizona), Hualapai Tribe – Grand Canyon West / Skywalk (Arizona). Ktkvtsh (talk) 01:16, 1 October 2025 (UTC)

Good ideas. I've added options for cemeteries, transportation, and infrasture to the upload form. All these "subject" categories are now under Category:Images from Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 in the United States by subject.

Regarding permits, Commons typically doesn't have requirements around non-copyright restrictions (this includes things like museum no-photo policies, and even permit requirements for commercial photography in National Parks that were only just loosened at the beginning of this year). But we of course want participants to follow rules and respect local regulations and desires. I think it's difficult to put that question as a binary, given there are dozens of nations who may or may not have permit requirements, the permits may be required for specific contexts or sites, etc. But I have updated our main page to mention that a number of Native American nations require permits to take photos (and I also added notes about following local laws and regulation for drone photography). ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 03:51, 1 October 2025 (UTC)

Great! Thank you for creating the categories and adding to the upload form. also appreciate you adding to mention possible permit or permission requirements.

This year, will we need to go through and review images from an unreviewed category, or was that removed thanks to the updated upload form? Ktkvtsh (talk) 03:58, 1 October 2025 (UTC)

I haven't enabled the unreviewed category this year since it historically hasn't been cleaned up (even as photos are looked at). But I can enable it if you believe it will be helpful. I think our new "subject" categories will be more helpful for filtering through uploads and identifying potential copyright violations. ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 04:15, 1 October 2025 (UTC)

Ok gotcha. I don’t think we need it since we have our specific categories this year. Will make it much easier to go through them.

If users upload photos not in our form and then add the WLMUS template themselves, will it show up somewhere letting us know those photos should be looked at? Possibly if they add the template but not any of the categories. Ktkvtsh (talk) 04:28, 1 October 2025 (UTC)

No, but here is a PetScan query that can be run to find all uploads that are not in any of the subject categories. We can periodically check this and sort images as needed. ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 04:34, 1 October 2025 (UTC)

Perfect! Thank you! Ktkvtsh (talk) 05:19, 1 October 2025 (UTC)

Another note: the CampaignEvents extension will be enabled on Commons on Sept 15. Once it's deployed, we can set it up for WLM US as a way for users to formally register for the event, and maybe utilize the Invitation List feature. ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 21:10, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

Wonderful. Ktkvtsh (talk) 18:50, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

How old do you need to be to do this 2600:1700:3222:2060:FA5D:271E:DFB7:7CA7 12:48, 6 October 2025 (UTC)

I don't believe there is an age requirement. Ktkvtsh (talk) 18:40, 8 October 2025 (UTC)

Contestants self-categorizing Category:Previously unphotographed sites from Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 in the United States when the site depicted in their entries has in fact been uploaded before

What is your plan for verifying Category:Previously unphotographed sites from Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 in the United States? Or does it matter since you use your secret rules to exclude all but the smallest number of contestants? See, for example, [1], which the contestant self-categorized on upload as "previously unphotographed" despite File:Large Dewey Bridge view from North.JPG which was uploaded in 2009 and File:Dewey Bridge condition 2010.jpg which was uploaded in 2011. -- DanielPenfield (talk) 09:27, 10 October 2025 (UTC)

See also [2] versus File:Study at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello home, Charlottesville, Virginia LCCN2011635145.tif which was uploaded in 2016 and File:MONTICELLO. STUDY LOC hec.08199.jpg which was uploaded in 2018. -- DanielPenfield (talk) 12:02, 10 October 2025 (UTC)

One more [3] despite File:Tipsoo Lake Comfort Station NRHP 91000206 Pierce County, WA.jpg which was uploaded in 2017 and is prominently featured in the English-language Wikipedia article Tipsoo Lake Comfort Station. -- DanielPenfield (talk) 15:46, 10 October 2025 (UTC)

Same with this entry [4] and this entry, both subsequently edited by User:Kevin Payravi. File:ACD2.jpg of the same site was uploaded in 2016. -- DanielPenfield (talk) 16:30, 10 October 2025 (UTC)

Before determining final counts, all photos in that category will be checked to see if existing uploads exist by our organizers and jury members. Any help there is appreciated.

"you use your secret rules to exclude all but the smallest number of contestants" What are you talking about? All eligible photos that follow the rules listed on the contest page go through the judging process. This is not the first time you've made false assumptions or made up blatantly false statements. ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 21:44, 10 October 2025 (UTC)

To expand, for the record: looking at last year, the contest rules are listed on the contest page, and our jury process outlines how photos are reviewed through a multi-round process. All photos are reviewed by organizers and the jury. In 2024, we had ~380 uploaders. After removing photos uploaded outside of the contest window, the pre-jury round filtered out photos that were very low resolution, were of ineligible subjects (e.g. animals), or were photos of very popular monuments that are already extremely well-covered (e.g. Washington Monument) and whose composition and quality of the photograph is similar to what is already available. For Round 1, the jury reviewed photos from 287 uploaders; for Round 2, 146 uploaders; and Round 3, 32 uploaders. This is not excluding "all but the smallest number of contestants". ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 22:32, 10 October 2025 (UTC)

For information sake, I can confirm that I have sifted through hundreds of photos for this year and I do remove the "previously unphotographed sites" category after I do research and can confirm the site has images uploaded before the contest began. Haven't gone through every single photo. I never take into account what user uploaded the photos. As Kevin said above, every single uploaded image will be reviewed before judging begins. Ktkvtsh (talk) 21:05, 18 October 2025 (UTC)

Uploads by day

For any Commons contributors helping sort through new uploads to categorize and review photos (thank you!), we now have categories for uploads by day: Category:Images from Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 in the United States by upload day. Images uploaded through our upload portal will be automatically placed in their respective upload date categories. For photos manually tagged as WLM-US, I'll periodically be checking for uploads missing a date category via script and applying the category. Thanks, ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 19:44, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

Great! This will help a ton. Ktkvtsh (talk) 21:06, 18 October 2025 (UTC)

Soursop1943

I am writing to thank you for the very informative knowledge I just received about Guyana. I am a Guyanese who migrated to the U.K. at the age of 20 and really did not know much about the country except for the area I lived in and the Corentyne coast where my relatives were from. I went there 2 years ago and visited a bit of the Essequibo coast which I found that I liked a lot. So thank you for teaching me about all of those towns and villages along the coast. Now I would like to visit again soon. Thank you for the wonderful work you have done about the country.

Verdine Benn 2601:CB:0:9190:EC8E:6B4B:8C8D:1F5F 05:59, 26 October 2025 (UTC)

What exact time today (October 31) is the deadline are uploads accepted to be eligible for the Wiki Loves Monuments - United States Competition?

What exact time today (October 31) is the deadline are uploads accepted to be eligible for the Wiki Loves Monuments - United States Competition? -- Ooligan (talk) 17:00, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Pinging @Kevin Payravi. -- Ooligan (talk) 17:13, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

@Ooligan: Most Wiki Loves Monuments competitions end at midnight in the latest timezone for their country. For the US, that's midnight Hawaii time (so midnight UTC-10). Thanks, ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 17:23, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Thank you for the prompt response @Kevin Payravi.

To verify- that means persons in the PST (Pacific Standard Time) zone on the west coast of the US, would be able to upload photos until 2:00 AM (PST), October 2nd- is that correct? -- Ooligan (talk) 17:57, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

@Ooligan: In PST, yes -- but with daylight savings currently on in the US (but not in Hawaii), west coast is on PDT/UTC-7, so you would have until 2:59 AM local time. ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 18:17, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Ok, so PST deadline is 2:59 AM for contestants on the west coast PDT/UTC-7. Than you for the details and for facilitating this year's US contest. Best regards, -- Ooligan (talk) 18:30, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

on November 1st... -- Ooligan (talk) 18:30, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

November, of course ;) ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 18:43, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Do participants need to register?

@Kevin Payravi, Am I one of the current "25 participants registered privately" or do I need to register? I am not on this public list of registered participants here [5] Thank again. -- Ooligan (talk) 19:07, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

@Ooligan: No requirement to register. The event registration is just there as a way for users to discover the event, and for users to express interest in the event and receive updates via email. You are not currently registered, and it's up to you whether you want to (makes no difference for the contest). ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 21:30, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

I just registered after reading here: [6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs_%26_Events_Dashboard. thanks, -- Ooligan (talk) 22:41, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

@Ooligan: The Events/Outreach Dashboard is a separate tool (though can be useful in this context). The event interface you see on the WLM US page is part of the relatively new mw:Extension:CampaignEvents, which was just enabled on Commons last month. ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 02:12, 1 November 2025 (UTC)

Category:Previously unphotographed sites from Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 in the United States

@Kevin Payravi,

Are photographs of individual gravestones, cenotaphs, memorials, etc. located within the boundaries of a National Register of Historic Places cemetery site that already have a photograph(s) on Commons, prohibited from be placed into Category:Previously unphotographed sites from Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 in the United States? -- Ooligan (talk) 20:19, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

@Ooligan: Yes. If a cemetary is on the NRHP and already has a photograph on Commons, additional photos of the site (even if of previously unphotographed individual gravestones) do not qualify. The "previously photographed" applies to the entire site/location. ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 21:30, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Thanks, I just wanted to verify that. Do you know in what forum can I propose a future cemeteries only- Wiki Loves Monuments in the United States? -- Ooligan (talk) 23:11, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

@Ooligan: Are you thinking of a special prize category for cemeteries as part of WLM US? Or a separate campaign/event? There have actually been a few Wiki Loves Cemeteries events over the years in a few countries, but I don't think there is a well-established international campaign. ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 02:09, 1 November 2025 (UTC)

@Kevin Payravi, Either. -- Ooligan (talk) 03:49, 1 November 2025 (UTC)

Winners2025

When will the winners be posted? Phil Evenden (talk) 16:08, 2 January 2026 (UTC)

Hi @Phileven: Our top-10 winners are now available at Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2025_winners#United_States. A separate WLM-US announcement page will be published soon once we hear back from the winners (along with the special contest winners later this month). Thanks, ~Kevin Payravi (talk) 09:52, 4 January 2026 (UTC)