"Wiki Loves Monuments" 2025: "Jewish Heritage" winners awarded
For the eighth consecutive year, the international "Wiki Loves Monuments" photo contest features the "Jewish Heritage" Special Category in Ukraine, organized with UJE's support.
The "Jewish Heritage" special nomination covers all immovable Jewish cultural heritage sites in Ukraine, regardless of their condition — from active sites to semi-ruined or reconstructed structures.
This year, 55 authors submitted nearly 900 photographs to the contest, depicting 148 Jewish cultural heritage sites. Following the initial screening, the jury received 851 photos for evaluation. Out of these, 130 advanced on to the second round, where each was evaluated on a 10-point scale based on its value to Wikipedia, technical quality, and originality. In the final round, the jury selected 19 winning photographs and recognized one work with an honorable mention.
"Jewish Heritage" Special Category winners in the "Wiki Loves Monuments" 2025 photo contest. Kyiv, 30 May, 2026.
The jury for the special nomination included Wikimedians and Jewish heritage researchers: Amir E. Aharoni (Israel/USA); Marla Raucher Osborn and Jay Osborn, co-founders of the NGO "Rohatyn Jewish Heritage" (San Francisco/Lviv); and Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight (USA).
In the 20 recognized photographs, 15 authors captured monuments from 10 regions of Ukraine — Kyiv, the Crimea, and the Vinnytsia, Volyn, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Lviv, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, and Chernivtsi oblasts. Submissions competed across five categories: "Cemeteries,” "Mass Shooting and Burial Sites,” "Synagogues,” "Other Buildings," and "Karaite Kenasas."
All winning photographs and other recognized works from the 2025 contest are available on Wikimedia Commons.
On 30 May, the special category winners were honored at the Kyiv WWII Museum, taking home traditional book sets published with UJE's support.
During the award ceremony of the "Wiki Loves Monuments" 2025 contest. Kyiv, 30 May 2026.
Vladyslav Hrynevych, Jr., Regional Manager, UJE, Ukraine
