The Commons Picture of the Year is a competition that was first run in 2006. It aims to identify the best freely licensed images from those that during the year have been awarded Featured picture status. This year's candidate images are listed at Commons:Featured pictures/chronological/2024.
Second place: Banna children in Ethiopia with traditional body painting, playing on wooden stilts. Attribution: WAVRIK(CC-BY-SA 4.0)
Third place: Young stars form in 'The Pillars of Creation' as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared camera Attribution: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; image processing by Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI) (public domain)
Third place: Firefighter fighting a battle against a veld-fire at Ashton Bay, Jeffreys Bay, Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa. Attribution: StevenTerblanche(CC BY SA 4.0)
First place: Evolution of a Tornado: Composite of eight images shot in sequence as a tornado formed in Kansas. – Attribution: JasonWeingart (CC BY-SA 4.0)
First place: NASA's New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution enhanced color view of Pluto on July 14, 2015. – Attribution: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute (public domain)
First place: Two Julia Butterflies (Dryas iulia) drinking the tears of turtles in Ecuador. The turtles placidly permit the butterflies to sip from their eyes as they bask on a log. This "tear-feeding" is a phenomenon known as lachryphagy. Attribution: amalavida.tv (flickr) (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Third place: High above Tocopilla, Chile, one of SQMs Boxcabs coasts downhill to the Reverso switchback. Attribution: Kabelleger / David Gubler (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Second place: On August 31, 2012 a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the Sun's atmosphere, the Corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 p.m. EDT. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Flickr)
Third place: High-speed photography of a light bulb shot with an airsoft pistol (positioned right of the lamp). Stefan Krause, Germany (User:Ritchyblack)
First place: A view of the lake Bondhus in Norway. In the background a view of the Bondhus Glacier as a part of the Folgefonna Glacier. (POTD) Heinrich Pniok (Alchemist-hp / pse-mendelejew.de)
First place: In mid-August 2010 ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky snapped this amazing photo at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. A group of astronomers were observing the centre of the Milky Way using the laser guide star facility at Yepun, one of the four Unit Telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). (POTD) – Credit:
Second place: Stari Most, the "Old Bridge", which connects the two banks of river Neretva, has been a symbol of Mostar for centuries. This view from north shows Helebija tower to the left and Tara tower to the right. It was made from the minaret of Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque. (POTD) – Credit: Own work by Ramirez. (GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0)
First place: Sikh pilgrim at the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar, India. (POTD) – Credit: Wikimedian Paulrudd. (GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0)
Third place: The Russian military honor guard welcomes U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow, Russia, June 26, 2009. Mullen is on a three-day trip to the country, meeting with counterparts and touring the Russian military academy. (POTD) – Credit: MC1 Chad J. McNeeley. (PD US Navy)
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First place: Two Julia Butterflies (Dryas iulia) drinking the tears of turtles in Ecuador. The turtles placidly permit the butterflies to sip from their eyes as they bask on a log. This "tear-feeding" is a phenomenon known as lachryphagy. Attribution: amalavida.tv (flickr)
Second place: An Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) in Antarctica jumping out of the water. Attribution: Christopher Michel
Third place: High above Tocopilla, Chile, one of SQMs Boxcabs coasts downhill to the Reverso switchback. Attribution: Kabelleger / David Gubler
First place: The tungsten filament burning with a flame in the light bulb. Stefan Krause, Germany (License: FAL 1.3)
Second place: National park "Sviati Hory" (Holy Mountains), Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine Balkhovitin (License: CC BY-SA 3.0)
Third place: A swallow (Hirundo rustica) drinking while flying over a swimming pool sanchezn (License: CC BY-SA 3.0)
First place: European Bee-eater, Ariège, France. The female (in front) awaits the offering which the male will make. Pierre Dalous (User:Kookaburra 81)
Second place: On August 31, 2012 a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the Sun's atmosphere, the Corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 p.m. EDT. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Flickr)
Third place: High-speed photography of a light bulb shot with an airsoft pistol (positioned right of the lamp). Stefan Krause, Germany (User:Ritchyblack)
First place: A view of the lake Bondhus in Norway. In the background a view of the Bondhus Glacier as a part of the Folgefonna Glacier. (POTD) Heinrich Pniok (Alchemist-hp / pse-mendelejew.de)
Second place: Self portrait of Tracy Caldwell Dyson in the Cupola module of the International Space Station observing the Earth below during Expedition 24. (POTD) Tracy Caldwell Dyson (NASA)
Third place: Cueva de los Verdes, Canary Islands, Spain. Reflection on water. (POTD) Luc Viatour (Lviatour)
First place: In mid-August 2010 ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky snapped this amazing photo at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. A group of astronomers were observing the centre of the Milky Way using the laser guide star facility at Yepun, one of the four Unit Telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). (POTD) – Credit:Yuri Beletsky (ESO).(ESO - CC-BY-SA-3.0)
Second place: Stari Most, the "Old Bridge", which connects the two banks of river Neretva, has been a symbol of Mostar for centuries. This view from north shows Helebija tower to the left and Tara tower to the right. It was made from the minaret of Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque. (POTD) – Credit: Own work by Ramirez. (GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0)
Third place: Sarychev Peak Volcano erupts June 12, 2009, on Matua Island (North Kuril Islands) (POTD) – Credit: (CC-BY-SA‑2.0)
First place: Sikh pilgrim at the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar, India. (POTD) – Credit: Wikimedian Paulrudd. (GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0)
Second place: Elakala Waterfalls in the Blackwater Falls State park, West Virginia, United States. (POTD) – Credit: Forest Wander from Cross Lanes, USA. (CC-BY-SA-2.0)
Third place: The Russian military honor guard welcomes U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow, Russia, June 26, 2009. Mullen is on a three-day trip to the country, meeting with counterparts and touring the Russian military academy. (POTD) – Credit: MC1 Chad J. McNeeley. (PD US Navy)_in_Amritsar,_India.jpg)
First place: Horses on Bianditz mountain. Behind them Aiako Harria mountain can be seen. Mikel Ortega/Richard Bartz (CC-BY-SA-2.0)
Second place: Fire breathing "Jaipur Maharaja Brass Band" in Chassepierre, Belgium. Luc Viatour (CC-BY-SA-2.5, 2.0, 1.0)
Third place: Steam locomotives of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway in the roundhouse at the Chicago, Illinois rail yards in 1942. Jack Delano (PD-USGov)
Third place: Red Squirrel with pronounced winter ear tufts in the Hofgarten in Düsseldorf Ray eye (CC-BY-SA-2.0-DE)
First place: The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, shines above Bear Lake, Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska Joshua Strang (Public domain)
Second place: Homeless person in Paris Eric Pouhier (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Third place: Hoverflies mating in midair. Fir0002 (GFDL)
