Wiki Loves Africa 2021/Wiki Loves Africa in brief
WIKI LOVES AFRICA IN BRIEF
Wiki Loves Africa (WLA) is an annual contest where anyone across Africa can contribute with free media that is relevant to their experience to Wikimedia Commons for use on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia communities (Wikimedia movement), and also make this shared media freely available for the Humankind. Wiki Loves Africa encourages participants to contribute with free media (photographs, video and audio) that illustrate the specific theme for that year.
Each year the theme changes and is chosen by the community from a few universal, visually rich and culturally specific topics (for example, markets, rites of passage, festivals, public art, cuisine, natural history, urbanity, daily life, notable persons, etc).
When
Last one... launched in Feb 15th 2021 and closed April 30th, 2021.
Theme
- In 2021, the contest theme will be Health and wellness;
- In 2020, the contest theme was Transportation;
- In 2019(*), the contest theme was Play;
- In 2017, we worked on People at work;
- In 2016, the chosen theme was Music and Dance;
- In 2015 the theme focused on Wiki Loves Africa Cultural Fashion and Adornment;
- In 2014 the theme was Wiki Loves Africa Cuisine.
(*) If you wonder why there is no 2018... it is not due to skipping a year. In 2014-2015-2016-2017, the contest was taking place around October-November-December. Then in 2019, we decided to move to January-February-March to better accommodate the wikimedia community calendar of photo contests ;))
Where
The project is run at the entire African continent level. However, every year, specific actions (training, communication etc.) are held in some countries with national organisers.
Prizes
At the end of the contest, some national organizers host local ceremonies and prizes (some others do not). This is up to local teams to decide if they want to host ceremonies.
In any cases, there is a global jury, and global selection of international winners (usually between 3 to 5), with prizes.
In 2021, the international prizes are:
- 1st prize: US$1,000
- 2nd prize: US$800
- 3rd prize: US$500
Additional categories are:
- Culturally specific or traditional representations of health or wellness : US$500
- Prize for best quality video (audio and visual quality and storytelling will be taken into account): US$500
Each winner will also receive a pack of goodies (proposed: a hat "I edit Wikipedia from Africa", a branded battery, stickers)
Winners and jury
2021 winners are announced on Commons.