Wikimedia CEE Spring local organizer manual

Being a local organizer of CEE Spring article contest can be a a challenging task but is a rewarding one. These are the tips from organizers of past local contests. Generally international organizers will be very supportive, make use of it :)

Article lists

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  • Consult lists from previous years or other countries. There might also exist similar non-Wikimedia related lists.
  • Make sure that there are some missing articles in all languages, even if it means including less important topics.
  • Do not include topics which are covered in every language, even if they feel important.
  • Do not include article if English version of it is a poor one.
  • Start early, creating lists from scratch can take multiple hours. Doing this early will also give international organizers more confidence in your participation.

Prize allocation

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  • Example prize categories:
    • Best article (judged by jury)
    • Most contributions (bytes added)
    • Most new articles
    • Most contributions (new user, bytes added)
    • Most new articles (new user)
    • Most new articles from lists
    • Most women/science/<other weak area in your wiki> articles
    • Lottery between participants which have covered a topic from each country
  • Limit prizes to 2(?) per user, have clear rules who is next in line.
  • Generally topics from the lists should be considered more valuable.

Things that might work for you

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  • Arrange promotion of contest in site notice
  • Use social media to promote contest
    • Schedule reminder for each thematic week
    • Promote newly created articles (maybe just the best ones)
    • Make an effort in writing a longer post before contest (or transalting sample press release from internationa organizers)
  • Lead by example, be one of most active contributors
  • Leave private invitations in user talk pages to participate
  • Trick people into starting 100wikidays
  • Promote closing gender (or other content) having a dedicated prize for that.

Awarding the prizes

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  • Do not procrastinate this - it can take time.
  • Make sure users have confirmed email account so that you can send them email via Wikipedia.
  • Include some postage fees in your calculations, as winners might live in different city or country.
  • Consider if prizes are attractive (travel to a Wikicamp might be interesting only to wikimaniacs)

Contributors

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Here is a list of users who have contributed to this manual. You are welcome to contact these people directly.

  • Papuass (CEESpring in Latvia 2015, 2016)