Cultural Heritage 2026: Photo competition

Storurmaker Erik Magnus Mørk under arbeid i klokketårnet på Uranienborg kirke. Foto: Morten Lauveng, CC BY-SA 4.0.

19. August 2026

Does our cultural heritage consist of stave churches and old sailing ships, or is it eating Friday night tacos and going trick-or-treating? Cultural heritage can span the entire spectrum, and much of it has not been documented well enough. Throughout September, you can upload photos from Norway and Sápmi, and the photos can then be used on Wikipedia and elsewhere. Win great prizes, both in the Norwegian competition and in the international finals!

Prizes

Jury

Editing competition

Cultural heritage is a wide topic field, and we can document and communicate it better if we have access to good illustrations. While it’s easy to notice monuments, and this summer many have visited historical buildings and contemporary architectural gems, living heritage doesn’t leave the same physical traces. It consists of intangible heritage passed on from person to person, such as singing, storytelling, crafts know-how, traditions, and much more.

In this year’s competition, we are paying extra attention to how living heritage is practiced, and we are looking for photos that illustrate tacit knowledge. How do you hold the scythe when mowing the meadow? What does it mean when children are busy “French skipping” in the schoolyard? How do you pick over mushrooms and berries after you have been foraging? We can communicate this better if we have quality images for the world’s largest encyclopedia!

^{Tablet weaving. Photo: Monica Ferreira Ask.}
^{Varhaug chapel. Photo: Marianne Sunde Hestetun.}
^{Rowing an oselver at Osøyro. Detail from Kjell Magnus Økland’s photo.}
^{All photos: CC BY-SA 4.0.}

Take part

You can submit photos taken at any point in time, but you have to upload them to Wikimedia Commons during September 2025. Please register a user account in order to upload images. The photos must have been taken by you, and you have to share them under a free license. The upload wizard will guide you through this.

You can enter images taken in Norway and Sápmi in two categories, and you can submit as many as you want.

Category 1: Monuments

This category covers registered cultural heritage sites and cultural environments that have been given cultural heritage ID numbers (“kulturminne-ID”). Find photo opportunities at your location with the help of the map at Kulturminnesøk. Make a note of the cultural heritage ID – you will need it when you upload images to the competition.

Buildings
Industrial plants and infrastructure
Vehicles and vessels
Archeological heritage sites
Heritage sites for social practices, rituals and festive events
Cultural environments
Other monuments or sites

Up to ten photos in category 1 will qualify for the international Wiki Loves Monuments finale.

From 1 September, submit photos to category 1: Monuments

Category 2: Living heritage

Living heritage is traditional knowledge that is passed on between people. The knowledge is actively put to use and is transmitted through creative ways of expression.

Traditional craftmanship
Performing arts
Knowledge concerning nature and the universe
Social practices, rituals and festive events
Oral traditions and expressions
Traditional foods

From 1 September, submit photos to category 2: Living heritage

I tillegg til å kåre inntil ti vinnerbilder i hver klasse, hvorav tre i hver klasse vil motta premie, blir det en spesialpremie til den beste illustrasjonen av handlingsbåren kunnskap. Det vil også bli kåret en publikumsfavoritt via sosiale medier. Alle vinnerbilder kunngjøres i første halvdel av desember.

Ten winning photos will be announced in each category, and the top three of each category will receive a prize. There will be a special prize for the best illustration of tacit knowledge, and there will be a social media vote to select a winner of the people’s choice award. All winning photos will be announced in the first half of December.

What determines a good image?

In this photo competition, three evaluation criteria have been defined:

Technical quality
Originality
Potential usefulness on Wikipedia and in knowledge sharing elsewhere, meaning how well the photo illustrates the depicted cultural heritage.

Share your knowledge

Cultural Heritage 2025 is a joint effort to improve how cultural heritage is illustrated on Wikipedia, but the photos can also be used elsewhere. Wikimedia Norge is the organiser, and the competition is also part of Wiki Loves Monuments.

There are many of us that strive to improve how cultural heritage in Norway and Sápmi is documented, not least the organisations within The Norwegian Federation of Cultural Heritage Organisations. Their members transmit tacit knowledge and skills and preserve heritage. But how is this communicated to the world? September 5th-13th there will be wonderful photo opportunities at Kulturverndagene.

We hope to receive a wide range of submissions to our photo competition! Everyone is welcome to take part and to upload photos of what cultural heritage is to them. Volunteers are ready to make use of the images on Wikipedia, and all of September we will be improving pages in Norwegian Bokmål, Nynorsk, Northern Sámi and Inari Sámi.

Previous years

Ever since the annual competition was started, 13,000 photos of monuments have been submitted from Norway and Sápmi. Starting in 2023, we have also been collecting images of living heritage, but so far only 200 photographs have beeen uploaded within that category. The international competition has received 3.7 million photos of monuments from 108 countries.

We need your help, and you can win great prizes in our exciting competition. Join our push to document cultural heritage!