Pakistani photo wins first place in Wiki Loves Earth contest 2015

The Wiki Loves Earth contest, organised by the Wikimedia Foundation, has chosen Zaeem Siddiq’s photo from Lower Kachura Lake, a popular tourist destination in Central Karakoram National Park, Skardu, Pakistan as the best international picture for the year 2015. The global 2015 edition has seen more than 8,500 contestants participating from 26 countries, with over 100,000 photo submissions throughout the month of May.
From Pakistan alone, over 1500 contestants chipped in from across the country to submit more than 11,000 photographs; making it the country with the fourth largest number of submissions and second largest in the number of participants.
Read: Wiki Loves Earth: Top 10 pictures from Pakistan
The prize for the winner includes a trip to attend the Wikimania 2016 conference in Esino Lario, Italy, with paid travel and accommodation expenses.
The top 15 pictures as decided by the jury are given below:

 

First place:2015 winner comes from Lower Kachura Lake, a popular tourist destination in Central Karakoram National Park, Skardu, Pakistan. — Image by Zaeem Siddiq

 

Second place: a view of the Laurisilva (laurel forest) of Madeira, Portugal. — Photo by Jnvalves

 

Third place: the Alpine ibex (Capra ibex), or Steinbock, in an Austrian national park in the Hohe Tauern mountain range. —Photo by Bernd Thaller

 

Fourth place: a spider (Misumena vatia) with a freshly killed bee in the Bratental nature reserve, near Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. — Photo by Suhaknoke

 

Fifth place: a European bee-eater (Merops apiaster) in Ichkeul National Park, Tunisia. — Photo by Elgollimoh

 

Sixth place: Carpathian Biosphere Reserve, Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine. — Photo by Vian and retouched by Iifar

 

Seventh place: Wolayer See and surrounding area, Carinthia, Austria. — Photo by Gerald Köstl

 

Eight place: cormorants at dusk on the pond of Vaccarès, France. — Photo by Ddeveze,

 

Ninth place: limestone stalagmites inside the Anhumas Abyss, Brasil. — Photo by Caio Vilela

 

Tenth place: High Tatras as seen from the Polish Spisz, Tatry Natura 2000 Special Area of Conservation, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland. — Photo by Łukasz Śmigasiewicz

 

Eleventh place: Greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus), Salines de Thyna Ramsar site, Tunisia. — Photo by Elgollimoh

Twelfth place: Khlong Lan Waterfall, Khlong Lan National Park, Kamphaeng Phet Province, Thailand. — Photo by Khunkay

 

Thirteenth place: the Malakatyn River at Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island, part of the Lena Delta Wildlife Reserve, Sakha, Russia. — Photo by Boris Solovyev

 

Fourteenth place: Morning in Tolkuse bog, Luitemaa Nature Conservation Area, Pärnu County, Estonia. — Photo by Märt Kose

 

Fifteenth place: Lines left after skiing on the snowy slopes of Baba Mountain, Pelister National Park, Macedonia. — Photo by Ptahhotep,

 

Special nomination: Apis Mellifera drone—moment at birth, Ribeirão Preto, Brasil. This image received a high rating from the jurors, but as it was not taken in a protected area, it was not eligible for an award. — Photo by Jonathan Wilkins
Source wikipedia .