Commons:Wiki Loves Bangla 2026

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Theme: Festivals in Bengal

Throughout the month of Baishakh

14 April – 15 May, 2026

Participate and Win a total of $1,100 in Cash Prizes!

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Wiki Loves Bangla is an annual international photography contest organized by Bangla WikiMoitree. As part of the Bangla Culture and Heritage Collation Program, the contest is held each year around a specific theme. The main goal of this initiative is to collect photographs that capture the diverse culture, heritage, and way of life of Bengal, and to preserve them on Wikimedia Commons under a free license for global use. From 2024 to the present, a total of 3,808 media files have been added to Wikimedia Commons under a free license through this competition.

The theme of the 2026 contest is Festivals in Bengal. This event will create an effective platform to collect, preserve, and display photographs and videos related to various festivals in the Bengal region. One of the key aims of the contest is to present the richness and beauty of Bengal’s traditional, folk, cultural, and social festivals to a global audience. At the same time, this initiative will help build a reliable visual record of Bengali heritage and further enrich Bengali cultural diversity in the open knowledge base.

What is meant by Festivals in Bengal?

"Bengali festivals" shall refer to the various festivals celebrated in the Bengal region—that is, in the current geo-geographical context, in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India—from a geographical and cultural perspective. However, photos or videos of any festivals celebrated outside Bangladesh and West Bengal will not be accepted in this competition. The types of festivals included under this definition are:

Cultural and folk festivals: Festivals connected to Bengali culture, seasonal cycles, and folk traditions, such as Pohela Boishakh, Nabanna, and Poush Mela.
Local and regional festivals: Festivals celebrated around specific regions, communities, or local traditions, such as various rural fairs, community festivals, or traditional observances.
Religious festivals: Festivals observed by different religious communities based on their beliefs and practices, such as Durga Puja, Eid, Buddha Purnima, and Christmas.

The following will not be considered as festivals in Bengal—

Promotional or marketing events: Event organised to promote a specific product, organisation, or brand.
Trade fairs or exhibitions: Such as trade fairs, corporate fairs or exhibitions of various products.
Commercial or corporate events only: Events that are primarily organised for business purposes and are not part of any cultural or social celebration.

Participate

Click on the Upload button below to upload your photos and videos:

Upload

For examples of festivals in Bengal, see this list

Join Wikimedia Commons

Don't have an account on Wikimedia Commons? Create one!

Take photos/videos

Take as many good photos / videos as possible, use different perspectives (or angles). Even if it doesn't win a prize, it will be worth it for Wikipedia!

Describe them

Keep notes as you take the photo; this will make it easier to add details when uploading. For instructions: How to participate.

Upload to Commons

Upload photos or videos you've taken. (If you have photos or videos previously taken, you can upload them too!).

Prizes

Photos

1st Prize: $400, crest, certificate and souvenir
2nd Prize: $300, crest, certificate and souvenir
3rd Prize: $200, crest, certificate and souvenir
4th – 5th Prize: Crest, Certificate and Souvenir
6th – 10th Prize: Certificate and souvenir

Videos

Best Video: $150, crest, certificate and souvenir

Best Contribution

Top Uploader: Certificate and souvenir

Special Prize

Selected by the organiser
The selection will be based on the quality of the photo, the correct title, description, and inclusion of the appropriate category.

Special Mention: $50, certificate and souvenir

Competition Rules

You can participate in this contest by uploading photos or videos of any festival in Bengal. You may also submit photos or videos that you have captured in the past. For more details, please see the Frequently Asked Questions. To take part in the contest, you must follow the rules listed below:

Main participation rules:

Photos or videos must be uploaded between April 14 and May 15, 2026.
Only photos or videos related to Bengali festivals celebrated in Bangladesh and West Bengal of India are acceptable.
Only your own original work (photos/videos) can be uploaded.
Photos or videos taken from the internet, created by others, or copied are not acceptable.
Photos or videos created using AI will be directly disqualified.
Photos or videos must be uploaded under a free license (such as CC BY-SA 4.0) so that they are available to everyone; in the case of videos, background music must also be under a similarly free license (see Video upload guidelines for details).
Images or videos may not contain any logos, names, signatures, or watermarks or frames/borders. Photographer credit is confirmed through license and may also be included in Exif.
For photos, the resolution must be at least 2 megapixels—i.e. 1600 × 1250 or higher. For videos, acceptable resolution and quality must be maintained.

Practical rules of participation:

Your Wikimedia account must have an active email address linked (add email)—for communication if needed.
When uploading a photo or video, you must provide complete details in the Description section, including the name of the festival, location, date, and a brief description; otherwise, the file may be considered ineligible for awards.
Do not upload the same photos/videos multiple times (avoid duplicates).
Try not to upload blurry, dark, or low-quality photos/videos.
If any of your uploaded files are removed from Wikimedia Commons during the competition for valid reasons, they will automatically be considered ineligible.
If necessary, the organisers may request the raw file of a photo or the original video file to verify eligibility—so please keep them safely stored.

Judging Criteria

The judges will determine the winners based on the following criteria:

Content accuracy and relevance – Whether the image clearly represents the selected theme (festivals in Bengal) and includes appropriate context or explanation about how and where it was captured;
Quality of description – How clear, informative, and easy to understand the uploaded description is (this will be judged primarily based on the information provided by the uploader);
Usefulness for Wikimedia projects – Whether the image is relevant and valuable for supporting and expanding free knowledge;
Originality and rarity – Whether the subject of the image is unique, uncommon, or holds historical significance;
Technical quality – Composition, sharpness, lighting, perspective, colour balance, and overall visual quality.

Conditions for winning images:

If selected as a winner, participants must provide the original RAW file to the organising committee. Otherwise, the image will not be considered for a prize.

The reasons for rejection can be considered as follows:

Confirmed or suspected copyright violations;
Images generated using AI will be rejected outright;
If necessary, participants may be contacted via their talk page or email. If no response is received within 48 hours, the image may be considered suspicious and can be rejected. Participants are advised to ensure that their email is enabled (active), regularly check their talk page, and also review their email spam folder;
Lack of complete Exif information, where relevant metadata (or a link to a file version containing Exif) should be provided;
Excessive post-processing, such as filters that result in unrealistic edits, may lead to disqualification.

How to Participate

Step 1: Don’t have a Wikimedia Commons account yet? Click here to create an account now — it only takes a few seconds! Don’t forget to confirm your email address.m

Step 2: Not sure what to upload?

👉 View the list of festivals in Bengal

This page provides examples of various cultural, folk, local, regional, and religious festivals from Bengal—helping you easily get an idea of what you can upload.

Step 3: Upload your photos or videos by clicking here. For help with video uploads, see this page.

Step 4: When uploading multiple photos or videos of the same subject, follow the instructions below. Add the camera file name at the end of the file name in the following format:

→ For photos: (DSC00369), or (1) (2)

→ For videos: (C0369), or (1) (2)

If you don't know the exact name of the festival, don't worry. Upload the image or video with the most likely name. When uploading, enter the file's Title in this format - Festival name, location, year, for example:

Mangal Shobhajatra, TSC, Dhaka, Bangladesh (DSC00369).jpg

Mangal Shobhajatra, TSC, Dhaka, Bangladesh (C0369).mp4

Step 5: In the Description field of the upload form, write a description in Bangla of the festival shown in your photo or video. Then publish it. You can upload as many photos and videos as you like. (If possible, include a short description, such as where, when, and how the photo/video was captured, or any special aspect of the festival. However, do not copy and paste text directly from Wikipedia or any other website (see copyright rules). You may also write the description in English or other languages if you prefer.)

Step 6: You can also view the winning images from previous years to get an idea about this competition.

Out of scope of the competition

We discourage uploading the following types of files:

Exact duplicates of files already available on Commons, as well as photos or videos submitted to other competitions
Multiple identical or nearly identical (duplicate/near-duplicate) images of the same scene or subject
Non-photographic works, such as drawings or fully computer-generated images
Collages, photomontages, or composite images made by combining multiple photos
Unclear, blurry, or very low-resolution images where the subject cannot be properly identified
Portraits or selfies not directly related to a festival, where the festival context is not evident
Images where unrelated elements dominate instead of the main festival context or environment
Images that violate privacy or personal rights (e.g., capturing sensitive moments without consent)
Images focused only on commercial stalls, product displays, or corporate promotions without reflecting any cultural or social aspects of a festival
Images that only show text, posters, banners, or flex materials, without any real activity or environment
Images of trade fairs, corporate expos, product exhibitions, or purely promotional events that are not part of traditional or cultural festivals in Bengal
Images with poor or incorrect descriptions, such as a wrong festival name, location, or date
Files uploaded with incorrect or incomplete licensing information that do not comply with Commons policies

Make sure that your uploaded files comply with the competition rules! 😊

Fine print: This competition is organised by volunteers, and the organisers reserve the right to modify, update, or cancel any of the rules at their discretion, even before or during the competition. In case of any issues with sponsors, the organisers are not responsible for providing prizes and do not assume any liability. The rules on this page or any related content do not constitute a legally binding agreement with any organisation. Judges are not eligible to receive the main prizes of the competition (although they are welcome to contribute photos).