Grants:Project/Rapid/Wiki Loves Monuments 2020 in Malta

statusfunded
WCM/WLM Malta 2020
This proposal aims to facilitate the organisation of the fifth edition of Wiki Loves Monuments in Malta. The grant amount will be used for multiple purposes, ranging from awards for winners, to promotional material related to the contest and a small exhibition promoting the entries to the contest. The purpose of organising the contest in Malta is to further encourage the documentation of Malta's vast built cultural heritage as well as to further develop outreach and the uptake of Wiki platforms by local communities and cultural practitioners.
targetWikimedia Commons and Wikipedia
start date10 August
end date31 December
budget (local currency)1500 Euro
budget (USD)1712.29
grant typeWikimedia User Group
non-profit statusYes
granteeNevborg
contact(s)• neville.borg(_AT_)wikimalta.org• toni.sant(_AT_)wikimalta.org
organization (if applicable)Wiki Community User Group Malta
website (if applicable)Wiki Community Malta website


Review your report

Please see the sample Contest application before drafting your application.

Project Goal edit

Choose one or more of the following goals. You can add or delete goals as needed.

  1. Add or improve content
  2. Recruit new editors
  3. Engage existing editors
  4. Engage with local cultural & photographic organisations

Project Plan edit

Activities edit

Tell us how you'll carry out your project. Be sure to answer the following questions:
1. What content will the contest focus on, and why is it important to your community?

The contest will focus on Malta's extensive built cultural heritage, which consists of over 2,400 sites according to the National Inventory of Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands, ranging from megalithic temples to sites of religious, cultural and architectural value. Although this heritage is central to Malta's economic and social development, much of it remains greatly under-documented across Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia. As of this year, we will be expanding the list of eligible monuments to include properties that have been scheduled by Malta's Planning Authority, following discussions with the Planning Authority itself. This will increase the typology of monuments eligible for the contest, to also include sites and structures that are notable in terms of Malta's 20th Century architectural heritage. We believe that this will also help broaden interest in the contest itself amongst the general public. Wiki Loves Monuments has been held in Malta for four consecutive years, and has become a fixture within the local cultural calendar. The level of engagement in each edition has been closely related to the human and financial resources available to the organisers. We believe that this grant is crucial to ensuring high levels of engagement, as was the case when a previous rapid grant was awarded for this purpose. Through this grant, this contest will seek to continue building upon the success of the previous editions of Wiki Loves Monuments held in Malta. Furthermore, as an organisation, we have stepped up our engagement with the growth of mt.wikipedia, as we believe that improving the state of Maltese-language Wikipedia is extremely valuable in the local context. This year's contest will be particularly geared towards this, by using the photographs submitted to incentivise editors to create pages about these sites and monuments on mt.wikipedia.

2. How will you let people know about the contest?

  1. Central Notice across Wikimedia projects;
  2. Social media, including Facebook and Twitter posts;
  3. Outreach activities (including workshops and photowalks);
  4. Collaboration with local cultural organisations, most prominently Spazju Kreattiv, Malta's National Centre for Creativity and Heritage Malta, both of whom have been valuable collaborators in previous editions of Wiki Loves Monuments, and have promoted the contest through their own media channels, as well as through complementary activities. From this edition, we will also collaborate with the Valletta Design Cluster, which is set to open in September 2020.

3. How will you judge the contest and award prizes?

The jury will select winning photographs based upon the following criteria (in no particular order):
  1. Technical/aesthetic quality of photograph (composition, lighting etc.);
  2. Heritage value of subject;
  3. Usefulness of image for Wikipedia.

The jury will be composed of five members, including photographers, heritage experts and an international Wikimedian. Prizes will be awarded to the top ten ranked photographs, as well as to the individual who has contributed the greatest number of entries to the contest.

4. For photo contests, what is the strategy to get images used on projects?

We organise a series of fortnightly open meetups/editathons during which we work to edit content related to the various projects, contests and activities we run (including CEE Spring and Art&Feminism). The meetups/editathons during and in the aftermath of WLM will be focused on selecting the best images and using them in relevant articles. These meetups will also be used to create new articles (in both English and Maltese) or improve existing articles for the relevant sites and monuments. These sessions are led by Nevborg and ToniSant. All meetups/editathons will be held exclusively online, following the model of similar meetups/editathons that took place throughout our participation in CEE Spring 2020 over the past months.

5. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?

As part of our ongoing collaboration with Spazju Kreattiv, Malta's National Centre for Creativity and Heritage Malta, we have exhibited digital presentations of all submitted photographs and prints of the winning entries in a prominent cultural space or heritage site throughout each previous edition of Wiki Loves Monuments held in Malta, both during the contest itself as well following the end of the contest. As there will be no associated offline public events funded by this grant, we will be working with these organisations and their online channels to help further promote the contest, engage new audiences and give prominence to the value of documenting cultural heritage through Wikimedia Commons. As of this edition, the Valletta Design Cluster will also be joining in on this as a new GLAM organisation with which we're developing a working relationship.

Impact edit

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets and feel free to add more:

For photo contests:

  1. Number of participants: 50
  2. Number of photos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons: 1,000
  3. Number of photos used on Wikimedia projects : 50

For writing contests:

  1. Number of participants
  2. Number of articles created or improved

Resources edit

What resources do you have? Include information on who is organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding).

We are a core organising team of 3 persons:
Nevborg
ToniSant
Mewga

This team will be responsible for the planning, logistics, communication and administration of the contest.

We have the full support of Spazju Kreattiv who are our main collaborators on the project, and Heritage Malta, with whom we have also collaborated on previous editions of WLM. For this edition, we're also developing a working relationship with the Valletta Design Cluster, which is a new GLAM organisation. They will be providing support in kind, particularly online space in which to host and promote activities related to the contest (online workshops and editathons). What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense and include a total amount.

Items Sub-items Amount (in Euro) Total
Promotion Printed material 275 375
Online promotion 100
Prizes (in the form of books and/or photographic equipment i.e. not cash awards) First prize 250 1,125
Second prize 150
Third prize 100
4th-10th prize 175 (25 each)
Maximum contributor 50
Printing & framing of top ten entries 400
Total 1500

Endorsements edit

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