Stunning Northside photo is one of 10 winning images from across Ireland

A photo of a Northside seascape is among the winning entries of a worldwide photography competition.

Wiki Loves Earth, the world’s biggest photography competition dedicated to natural heritage, has just announced this year’s Irish round of winners.

A stunning photo of Baldoyle Bay Estuary, taken by Jonathan Baker, caught the eye of judges to finish in the top 10.

A photo of the Cliffs of Moher County Clare was the overall winner.

2021 is the second year that Ireland has taken part in Wiki Loves Earth and the first year the whole island of Ireland was included in the competition, which took place in June 2021.

Initiated by Wikimedia, the movement behind free encyclopaedia Wikipedia, and run in Ireland by the Wikimedia Community Ireland, the competition aims to raise awareness of Ireland’s protected sites and habitats and create a crowd-sourced bank of diverse and high quality photos that will be free to use for education, tourism, and awareness.

The following were the winners of the Wiki Loves Earth competition:

1. Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare by Diego Lopez
2. Gap of Dunloe, Co. Kerry by Diego Lopez
3. Mirror Wall Cliff at Alladie, Co. Clare by Síoda Photography
4. Mourne Mountains, Co. Down by Diego Lopez
5. Baldoyle Bay Estuary, Co. Dublin by Jonathan Baker
6. Sally Gap Wicklow Mountains National Park by Jonathan Baker
7. Roo Tree, a lonely tree sprouting out of the Burren limestone by Síoda Photography
8. Gleninchaquin Park, Co. Kerry by Diego Lopez
9. Clew Bay, Co. Mayo by Diego Lopez
10. Inishmore Island, Co. Galway by Diego Lopez

All of the winning photos can be viewed and downloaded here. 

Photographers of all skill levels were invited to photograph protected sites including national parks, nature reserves, Special Areas of Conservation, Area of Outstanding Beauty, Ramsar sites, and Geoparks across Ireland and Northern Ireland and upload their photos to Wikimedia Commons. Entries were judged by zoologist Dr Ruth Carden, research fellow Dr Rena Maguire, and wikipedian Ivo Kruusamägi from Estonia.

Wiki Loves Earth was first held in Ukraine in 2013 with 9,695 images uploaded that year. Since then it has grown significantly with over 700,000 images uploaded by over 58,000 participants internationally. All images are uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia’s online repository that makes public domain and freely-licensed educational media content (images, sound and video clips) available to everyone.

Rebecca O’Neill of Wikimedia Community Ireland commented: “It is a real joy to share such amazing photographs of Ireland’s diverse and ecologically important landscapes with the whole world. The high standard this year really challenged our judges, and we are delighted to send these images off to the international round!”