Commons:European Science Photo Competition 2015

Translate this page

ESPC 2015

.

Participation

by: Maido Merisalu
by: Heiti Paves
by: Tõnu Pani
by: Tõnu Pani
by: Siim Sepp
by: Tõnu Pani

Next competition will be held in November 2017. See more at wikisciencecompetition.org

Concept

European culture cannot be imagined without European science. It's not enough to just speak about it, it must also be shown. In order to do so, there is a need to capture and share it. This is why it is necessary to have a science photo competition. First such a event, that covered all Europe and what was focused on sharing the results freely to the world took place in November-December 2015.

This competition was brought to Wikipedia because Wikipedia is an active environment dedicated to collecting and sharing educational content freely to everyone. That makes it an excellent platform for presenting science photos. Open access, interest in information of community and Wikipedia users, and general reliability are just some of the features of the free encyclopedia that make it an attractive environment for popularization of science in general and science photos in particular. Wikipedia excels in communication of knowledge and science photos are appreciated for their high informational quality, which should make collaboration between wiki community and science photographers beneficial for both. Science photo competition is a motivational framework for catalyzing the formation of sustainable relationship between the two.

Between the years 2011–2013 the concept of collecting fine scientific images to Wikipedia was successfully tested during the Estonian Science Photo Competition. In 2015 it seemed to be the right time for widening the scope of the project and increasing its impact. Therefore, in 2015 a pan-European science photo competition was organized to bring more science to Wikipedia. An international competition made it possible to reach out to the wider scientific community and made them aware of the possibility to share their findings and passion with wider audiences using visual communication and free environment of Wikimedia.

European Science Photo Competition consists of two levels: there is a local competition in each participating country and the local organizing team will forward chosen pictures to the international competition. Local organizers are responsible for the promotion of this competition, selection of regional winners and cooperation with local partners and sponsors. It there is no local team present, then international team will take their place and chose local winners for the final.

The goal is that all the photographers in Europe would have the possibility to participate in the competition.