Commons:Photo Challenge

Photo Challenge

The Photo Challenge inspires photographers to take great pictures and upload them to Commons. Monthly thematic competitions encourage participants to try new subjects, new photographic or processing techniques, and to develop skills while improving the Commons repository of free images. Photographs entered into a competition must be new to Commons and taken by a Commons user.
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Formal things

Challenges

Challenges are based on a theme and run for a month. The theme may be a concrete subject, an abstract concept, a photographic technique or artistic style.

Participation

Everybody can participate in challenges open for submission. You simply

  1. Choose one or all of the current challenges
  2. Read the challenge description(s), which may vary in their rules (e.g., some place restrictions on when the photos are taken)
  3. Take picture(s) for the challenge(s) during the challenge period (or, if allowed, select from your own existing pictures that are not yet on Commons)
  4. Upload your picture(s) during the challenge period
  5. Submit your candidates at the top of the current challenge gallery during the challenge period. To do that you click the [Edit] button of the Entries section of your chosen challenge and insert the File name above the last entry (or above File:-Insert image here-.svg for the first entry).
    Add your entry between the <gallery> tags as indicated. Gallery entries are placed each on a new line, and consist of the filename, a vertical bar |, and a description. For example:
    Electric steam iron.jpg|An electric steam iron
    For help on the syntax of entries in a gallery see Help:Gallery tag. Please do not add square brackets [[ ]] or include a thumb parameter or the full URL. The File: prefix is not required, but harmless.
  6. Do not sign your submission(s)
  7. If you want, you can have a look at previous challenges and Vote

Challenges are open to any Commons user. Submissions must be your own work, not previously uploaded to Commons prior to the challenge date and should illustrate the challenge theme in the opinion of the photographer. Please read the challenge descriptions, as there may be additional rules or explanations for specific challenges. There is no limit on the number of submissions per user (unless specially so restricted in the challenge), but please choose from among your best and most varied images.

To submit pictures, you edit the gallery of the contest and add your candidate(s) to the top of the list.

New themes can be proposed and discussed here.

Assessment

After the challenge has closed to new submissions, the pictures will be assessed by popularity voting in the subsequent month. You are allowed to vote for images submitted by others if your Commons account is at least ten days old and has more than 50 edits or if you participated in one of the challenges. Challenges open for voting can be found here.

Winning

The best three pictures will be awarded first, second and third place. They will be displayed on the Photo challenge page and may use the template {{Photo challenge winner}} on the file description page.

Table of contents


New media viewing experience

Please note users can disable the media viewing experience for all images on Commons when logged in (uncheck "Enable Media Viewer" under Files and click Save in Preferences, Appearance).

Challenges open for submission

2026 – July – Disaster Rephotography

The new challenge features Rephotography of Disasters. Please submit a pair of photos for each entry where only the second one has to be your newly uploaded photo.

Ideally, each submission should contain a summary description of the subject in the file information, including the location of the subject, and relevant categories should be added to the files to enable other Commons users to find them and use them. Please take care not to violate copyright in respect of non-free creative works, and observe our educational project scope and the personality rights of identifiable people, or your files may be subject to deletion.

The challenge will remain open for submissions throughout July AoE.

Checklist for this theme:

  • Photographs must be the work of the nominator.
  • Photographs must be newly uploaded to Commons during the challenge submission period i.e. July 2026 AoE (but may have been taken earlier).
  • Submissions must be added to the top of the "Entries" section below.
  • Please do not nominate lots of similar photos; instead choose just your best and most varied images.

Add your entry between the <gallery> tags as indicated. Gallery entries are placed each on a new line, and consist of the filename, a vertical bar |, and a description. For example:

Electric steam iron.jpg|An electric steam iron
For help on the syntax of entries in a gallery see Help:Gallery tag. Please do not add square brackets [[ ]] or include a thumb parameter or the full URL. The File: prefix is not required, but harmless.
  • Restriction: a maximum of four pairs of photographs can be submitted per photographer.

There are 13 days 18 hours left before this challenge ends. (refresh)


Examples

Entries

2026 – July – Puddles

The new challenge features Puddles.

Ideally, each submission should contain a summary description of the subject in the file information, including the location of the subject, and relevant categories should be added to the files to enable other Commons users to find them and use them. Please take care not to violate copyright in respect of non-free creative works, and observe our educational project scope and the personality rights of identifiable people, or your files may be subject to deletion.

The challenge will remain open for submissions throughout July AoE.

Checklist for this theme:

  • Photographs must be the work of the nominator.
  • Photographs must be newly uploaded to Commons during the challenge submission period i.e. July 2026 AoE (but may have been taken earlier).
  • Submissions must be added to the top of the "Entries" section below.
  • Please do not nominate lots of similar photos; instead choose just your best and most varied images.

Add your entry between the <gallery> tags as indicated. Gallery entries are placed each on a new line, and consist of the filename, a vertical bar |, and a description. For example:

Electric steam iron.jpg|An electric steam iron
For help on the syntax of entries in a gallery see Help:Gallery tag. Please do not add square brackets [[ ]] or include a thumb parameter or the full URL. The File: prefix is not required, but harmless.
  • Restriction: A maximum of four entries can be submitted per photographer.

There are 13 days 18 hours left before this challenge ends. (refresh)


Examples

Entries

Challenges open for voting

Voting is open to all registered contributors who have held accounts for at least 10 days and made 50 edits, and also to new Commons contributors who have entered the challenge with a picture. Users cannot vote for their own picture. Voters may select up to three photographs in each theme to award points and can give praise to other photos without awarding points. Voting will be open for one month. The votes not complying with those requirements will be removed or converted to praises. In some cases users might be asked to correct their votes after voting ends.

June 2026

Previous challenges

May 2026

Horizontal lines: Entries • Votes • Scores
RankimageTitleAuthorScore
#1Unterführung Essen
Hauptbahnhof_Lichtinstallation		YvoBentele18
#2Rain, autumn rain - water drops on
clotheslines		BogTar20121315
#3Ecocathedral in Mildam municipality of
Heerenveen, Part of surplus building
material stacked in a special way.		Agnes Monkelbaan14
Oceanography: Entries • Votes • Scores
RankimageTitleAuthorScore
#1Pacific sea nettles at the Vancouver
Aquarium.		The Cosmonaut13
#2African penguin colony at Boulders Beach
in Simon's Town, South Africa		Krigore7
#3Shell CollectionPedemann6

April 2026

Fair grounds: Entries • Votes • Scores
RankimageTitleAuthorScore
#1Giradabo at Tibidabo amusement park in
Barcelona		IM02713
#2Lunapark, Krynica Morska, PolandBogTar20121313
#3Swing ride at the Wurstmarkt DürkheimF. Riedelio10
Wooden bridges: Entries • Votes • Scores
RankimageTitleAuthorScore
#1Bridge on the beachNocomentapapun13
#2Pont en bois sur une rivière entre le
Dorgun nuur et le volcan Khorgo,
Mongolie, Juillet 2008 - Wooden bridge
over a river between Dorgun nuur and the
Khorgo volcano, Mongolia, 7/2008		Jean-Marie Vugnon (2)9
#3Wooden Bridge over the Elz in
Wittenweier, Germany		Kmtextor7

March 2026

Three-wheelers: Entries • Votes • Scores
RankimageTitleAuthorScore
#1Child with a tricycle in Reggio Emilia
1982		Ermell32
#2BMW Kneeler team BJ.1973 at the mountain
race in Würgau		Ermell15
#3War es so in der Steinzeit?Mensch0111
Town entrances: Entries • Votes • Scores
RankimageTitleAuthorScore
#1Solitaire, NamibiaChoinowski22
#2Entrance of Marigny in Jura department,
France		Spielvogel12
#3Town sign of the city of Stralsund with
common buzzard, Stralsund, Germany		Mozzihh11

February 2026

First aid: Entries • Votes • Scores
RankimageTitleAuthorScore
#1A labrador retriever of the search and
rescue dog unit of the Austrian Red
Cross. Vienna 2025, Austria.		Aciarium20
#2Lifting a person in a rescue basket.Julian Herzog12
#3REGA rescue teamRoy Egloff9
Orange: Entries • Votes • Scores
RankimageTitleAuthorScore
#1Woman in traditional orange dress called
Buhara sun, Buhara, Uzbekistan		PetarM14
#2Fire burns, but makes you warm and
relaxed		Maryam Yazdanisheldareh11
#3People viewing trees across the pond,
illuminated by the setting sun.		Ka23 139


January 2026

Brutalist architecture: Entries • Votes • Scores
RankimageTitleAuthorScore
#1Architectural detail on The National
Theatre in London.		Julian Herzog29
#2beautiful brutalism in MetzKaiBorgeest12
#3Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New
York, 1969, currently digitized		Foeniz12
Peace: Entries • Votes • Scores
RankimageTitleAuthorScore
#1Signpost in Christiania (Copenhagen).Gzzz10
#2Artistic peace symbol at Toronto
Distillery District		Muzzudan9
#3Menhire für den FriedenFischer19619


Previous years