Commons:Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 in the United States
 | The upload period for Wiki Loves Monuments in the U.S. has come to an end! The United States has over 3,200 entries from over 390 people - thank you to everyone who contributed! Judging will last through the month of November and winners will be announced in December. |
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| Join the Commons If you don't have a Wikimedia Commons account yet, create one - takes just a few moments! |
Find historical sites Find registered historical sites in the United States via our guide. |
Take photos Take photos to document the site, or search through photos you've previously taken. |
Describe them Note the site's name, any historic registries it's on, and date of photo. |
Upload to Commons Upload your photos through October under a free license. |
Wiki Loves Monuments is an international photographic competition that invites the global community to document and preserve historic sites around the world on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.
A 'monument' refers to a protected historic site that is recognized by a governmental body or other organization, such as a historical society. In the United States, this primarily consists of places listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. We also accept photos of historic sites that are recognized by tribal, state, and local governments, as well as historical societies and related organizations.
This year the United States is participating through the month of October. By sharing your photos under a free license that allows anyone to use them, you help document our history and share it with the rest of the world to enjoy through the internet, and get a shot at winning a prize! We will explain below how to participate, what you can win and what monument sites are eligible.
Participate
Find a registered historic site and upload a photo you have taken of it to the Wikimedia Commons:
U.S. Prizes
1st: $500
2nd: $350
3rd: $200
4th–10th: $50 each
Special Prizes
Most sites previously unillustrated: $200
Top 2 Native American site photos: $100 each
Top 2 UAV (drone) photos: $100 each
See the Prize Categories section below for full details. Monetary prizes will be provided as a gift card of the winner's choice.
Why participate?
Help Wikipedia document historically significant buildings and historical sites.
A nice challenge to improve your photography skills.
Compete for prizes in both the national and international competitions.
Competition rules
There are a few rules for photos to participate in the United States contest.
- Photos must be your own work.
- Photos may have been taken at any time (including prior to this event), but must be uploaded during October 2025 to be included in the contest. The US contest formally begins October 1 in US Eastern time (UTC-4) and ends at the end of October 31 in Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (UTC-10).
- During the upload process, you must release your photo under a free license that allows for re-use of the image (CC BY-SA license or similar) - see Commons:Licensing for more information.
- Photos should be uploaded through our upload portal in order to be properly tagged for the contest.
- Experienced contributors may also bypass the portal and manually tag their images per this guide.
- The photo must feature a site that is identifiable and registered as a historical or cultural site by some authoritative organization (whether on the federal, tribal, state, or local levels). Examples would be the National Register of Historic Places or your local historical society. When you upload your work, be sure to provide the name of the historical site, any identifiers, and the list it is on.
- Digital manipulations must not deceive the viewer. Correcting flaws, color adjustments, and other minor edits are acceptable.
Next to that, there are a few practical rules:
- You should have an activated e-mail address on Wikimedia Commons, so that you can be contacted if you win.
- If the photo gets deleted for any reason, it is automatically disqualified from the competition.
- You are responsible for following local laws and regulations.
- Do not trespass onto private property.
- Be especially careful and ensure you are following regulations when doing drone photography.
- Some locations may require a permit for photography.
At the end of the month, the national jury will evaluate the photographs and select winners. See the Prize Categories and Judging sections below for more details.
Copyright notes
In the United States, you may freely take photos of buildings, but not copyrighted artworks, sculptures, and signage. See our page on freedom of panorama for more information. Permanently installed artworks may be photographed if they were installed before 1926, or installed before 1978 without a copyright notice.
Check out Cornell's guide for more details and an easy-to-read table.
Applicable templates:
- For public artwork installed before 1926, use {{PD-US}} or {{PD-US-expired}}.
- For public artwork installed between 1926 and 1977 inclusive, use {{PD-US-no notice}} or {{PD-US-not renewed}}.
Prize Categories
Each year, we recognize our top-ten photos based on composition, technical quality, originality, and usefulness for Wikipedia:
- 1st: $500
- 2nd: $350
- 3rd: $200
- 4th-10th: $50 each
A participant may only place once in the top ten.
The top-ten photos are also submitted to the international competition.
Special Categories
This year, we have additional prizes for the following categories:
- Most sites photographed that were previously unillustrated: $200
- Top two photos of Native American sites: $100 each
- Eligible submissions include photos of recognized tribal properties, historic sites, cultural landmarks, archaeological sites, and monuments that are connected to Native American heritage.
- Please note, some Native American nations may require permits for taking photos.
- Top two UAV (drone) photos: $100 each
- Please ensure you follow laws and regulations when flying a drone. Photos in which the drone operator was violating regulations or creating a hazardous situation will be disqualified.
More details...
The National Register of Historic Places has over 80,000 historical sites listed on it! Many states also have their own historical societies, as do many cities and towns throughout the country.
For a historic place to count for the contest, it must be recognized by an authoritative organization as a historical site. Explore your local community and see what's out there!
Contact us!
There are a few ways to get in touch:
- Post on our talk page
- Email us at wlmUnitedStates@gmail.com
- Reach out to us on Facebook, Bluesky, or Mastodon
This year's U.S. organizers include:
Judging and Prizes
Through the month of November, the U.S. jury will go through and judge all photos to determine the top-10. See our Jury page for more information.
Criteria
The following criteria are used (in no particular order):
- Composition
- Technical quality (sharpness, use of light, perspective etc.)
- Originality
- Usefulness of the image for Wikipedia
- Note: Photos of all historical sites are valued, but photos of more uncommon and less-photographed sites may do better in judging.
New for 2025, a photographer may only place once in the top-10.
If there are any doubts about the implementation of the rules, the organizers and jury discuss and come to a consensus on how to proceed.
Judging
Our jury will process the images through three rounds during November. At the end of this process, the jury determines the top-10. Our jury will be composed of individuals across the U.S. with backgrounds in art, photography, history and historical preservation, and the Wikimedia Commons.