Grants:Project/Rapid/UG LV/Wiki Loves Earth 2019

Increasing the number of freely licensed images of preserved areas and natural monuments in Latvia;
Raising awareness of nature protection through the photographs uploaded during the competition;
Highlighting the need to document nature monuments at their current state.
Informing the youth about nature preservation and media copyrights;
Improving the quality of the content on Wikimedia projects by providing images to the articles;
Creating and improving existing articles in Wikipedia by providing pictures;
Raising awareness of free licences among photographers in Latvia;
Recruiting new contributors to Wikimedia Commons;
Increasing local media coverage about Wikimedia projects.

Project Plan

Activities

Tell us how you'll carry out your project. Be sure to answer the following questions:
1. What content will the contest focus on, and why is it important to your community?

The contest will focus on pictures of natural protected areas and natural monuments in Latvia. We have published a list of protected areas based on official lists by state agency. The amount of freely licenced photos of natural monuments in Latvia is low and as time goes by the accessibility and state of the monuments deteriorates due to loop-holes in nature preservation legislation. Prizes are important for the Wiki Loves initiatives because this helps us to gain the trust of participants and continue to engage them in the future.

2. How will you let people know about the contest?

The most important way to advertise the contest will be central notice banner arranged by the international team.
Posting announcements in local photo and tourism related forums and sites.
Writing a press release before and after the contest.
Communication through our social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) which have limited reach;
Information about the contest will be sent to nature protection and ethusiast organizations, schools and youth organizations;
Posters, stickers and other means of physical promotional material will be made.

3. How will you judge the contest and award prizes?

The jury will consist of 4-5 people from mixed backgrounds and will judge photos in several rounds, using Montage jury tool, which we used for previous editions of Wiki Loves Earth and Wiki Loves Monuments. We will try to include a photography and a nature protection expert, as well as a wikimedian. An award ceremony will be held in July to give prizes to the winners.

4. For photo contests, what is the strategy to get images used on projects?

The lists of objects contain links to already existing articles on the topic. The community will be encouraged to create articles about the missing topics. Social media will be used to promote quality images without an article on the topic.

5. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?

The project will go on even if not funded. We have run Wiki Loves Monuments without funding and still received several hundred pictures.

Time plan for activities:

Before May: Preparing announcement texts and other promotional material, promoting contest through social media, sending announcements to the media, youth and nature enthusiast organizations.
May: Running the competition, posting updates to social media, making pre-selection for the jury. Publicly announced photo expedition to a less covered region.
June: Jury work, deciding local winners. 10 best photos will be submitted to the international contest.
Start of July: Awards ceremony for local winners. Follow-up press release.
July: Evaluating the project and compiling the report. Showcasing best work on social media.

Impact

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets and feel free to add more:

1000 photos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons
30 participants uploading a photo
15 newly registered participants
15% distinct photos used in Wikipedia articles
mentions in 5 different noteworthy web sites

Resources

What resources do you have? Include information on who is organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding).

Team

Papuass (head organizer)
AgrisR (social media)
GreenZeb (promotional materials)
silraks
Voll (technical support)
Edgars2007 (technical support)

What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense and include a total amount.

Budget

Item	Cost (EUR)

Awards for participants	600
Gifts for jury members	80
Venue for awards ceremony & snacks	60
WLE photo expedition	50
Traveling or shipping expenses for people who are not living in the capital	50
Posters, stickers and other promotional material	50
Miscellaneous	50
Total	940

Endorsements

Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!