Wikipedia Celebrates People at Play!
in the Wiki Loves Africa competition
Lusaka, Zambia 1 February, 2018 – The Wiki Loves Africa photographic and media competition is
back for its fifth year. This year, Chabota Kanguya, Chalo Chatu, Manic Creatives, The Wikipedia
Community in Zambia and global organisers Wiki In Africa are pleased to announce that Wiki Loves
Africa celebrates PLAY! as the central theme for the annual visual celebration of Africa’s
cultural diversity on Wikipedia.
The competition runs from the 1st February - 1st March 2019 and entries are welcome from
anywhere on the continent and beyond. The theme Play! encourages the submission of visual
representations depicting scenes from across the African continent of joyful and serious games,
sport, and recreation in the form of board or mental games, physical fun or contests, playful
interactions, theatrical and musical performances, etc. It is intentionally broad and open to
interpretation to fully encompass the wide range of voluntary, culturally-defined activities
in the pursuit or recreational pleasure and enjoyment across the multiple countries and
peoples on the African continent. Quality images and media that cover people, objects,
animals and environments in the act of play or dedicated to play on the African continent will
be accepted. In addition, there are two specific prize categories that call for images or media
depicting Women in Sport and Culturally specific or traditional formal forms of play,
recreation or events.
Every year, Wiki Loves Africa challenges the relentless negative depiction of “Africa”,
by encouraging Africa’s amateur and professional creatives and cultural practitioners to celebrate
this continent by submitting photographs and media to the world’s largest and most widely
accessed knowledge resource, Wikipedia. Over the last four years, the Wiki Loves Africa
contest has encouraged the donation of over 40,000 photographs from 5,000 contributors to
Wikimedia Commons for potential use in Wikipedia articles and other Wikimedia projects.
Images submitted through Wiki Loves Africa are viewed over 13 million times on Wikipedia, every
single month.
While the photographs or media should visually depict something that has happened on the
continent of Africa, anyone can contribute relevant photos from anywhere on the globe. A
series of fun, participatory events are planned by local volunteer teams across Africa. Events
vary from introductory workshops and photographic excursions to upload sessions. They are
aimed at encouraging an ongoing pride in local heritage and cultural practice, as well as to
foster a culture of contribution to the internet to shake up the single story of Africa.
In Zambia, 3 events are happening in Lusaka during the course of the competition. Planned events include introdcution to the Wikimedia foundation, Wikimedia commons a wikipedia edit-a-thon and also introduction to the Chi-Chewa wikipedia
Currently there are 14 local teams taking part in this focused way. The hosts of these
interventions range from established communities in Algeria, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana,
Nigeria, Mali, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Uganda to brand new country teams in Benin, Botswana,
Guinea, Senegal and Zambia.
Wiki Loves Africa is activated by the Wikimedia community that created Wikipedia in
support of WikiAfrica movement. The competition was conceptualised and is managed by
Florence Devouard and Isla Haddow-Flood of Wiki In Africa as a fun and engaging way to
rebalance the lack of visual representations and relevant content that exists about Africa on
Wikipedia. The competition is supported by Ynternet.org. Its activities are funded by the
Wikimedia Foundation and supported in-kind by a host of local partners in individual countries.
The images donated are available for use on the internet and beyond, under the Creative
Commons license CC BY SA 4.0.
How do people enter? What else can be won? What events are happening where?
These can be found on the website – bit.ly/WikiLovesAfricaPlay – or on the
Facebook page.
Key Links:
www.wikilovesafrica.net
www.wikiinafrica.org
- Competition page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Africa_2019
or http://bit.ly/WLAPlay
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WikiLovesAfrica
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/WikiLovesAfrica
Theme page for inspiration: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Africa_2019/Theme
Local Events: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Africa_2019/Local_events
Media release by Wiki In Africa
For Zambia media queries contact:
Cell: 0976409603
E-mail: Icem4k@yahoo.com
For international media queries contact:
English: Isla Haddow-Flood
Email: isla @ wikiinafrica.org
French: Florence Devouard
Email: fdevouard @ anthere.org
LOCAL ORGANISING TEAMS
HOW TO CONTRIBUTE: IN 5 EASY STEPS
This is the fun part! You can enter media (photos, video clips or audio files)
that shows people working, making things, and doing their jobs across Africa.
Think rare and unusual perspectives of both ordinary and extraordinary jobs.
Your media could go onto Wikipedia to illustrate an article. Choose photos
and media where the subject matter is clear and in focus.
You have to be registered on Wikimedia Commons to enter the competition.
Make sure your email is enabled so that we can contact you if you win! www.commons.wikimedia.org
Use the Upload Wizard to enter your photographs. Scan the QR code
below to go directly to the upload page. Remember to describe the photo and
add relevant categories to the image.
Now you are registered on Wikipedia, the fun doesn’t stop here!!
There are many things you can still do:
Take more amazing photos and enter them!
Add your photos to the relevant article on the Wikipedia in your language.
If an article doesn’t exist, then you might want to consider writing an article about that subject.
can be entered as long as you own the copyright.
ORGANISATIONS INVOLVED IN THE COMPETITION
Chalo Chatu is an online English-language wiki-based free encyclopaedia dedicated to documenting the entire Zambia only and also try to preserve the history and pride of Zambia covering historical events and current events, notable public figures, companies, organizations, websites, national monuments and other notable key features of Zambia. It was founded by Jason Mulikita in 2016.
Founded in 2015 Manic Creatives is a digital marketing agency helping brands
flourish online was incorporated in 2015 as a Limited Company under the laws of Zambia.
Wiki In Africa is a non-profit organisation that is based in South Africa. It is the
financial and legal structure that operates global initiatives in support of the
WikiAfrica movement. The organisation is currently lead by Iolanda Pensa,
Florence Devouard and Isla Haddow-Flood.
WikiAfrica is an international movement that takes place on the African
continent and beyond. It encourages individuals, interested groups
and organisations to create, expand and enhance online content about Africa.
This involves motivating for the representation of the continent’s
contemporary realities and history, its peoples and its innovations on the
world’s most used encyclopaedia, Wikipedia. WikiAfrica is not owned by one
organisation and it belongs to all people and organisations contributing to its scope.
In its various guises and hosted at several institutions (including Lettera27,
Africa Centre, Ynternet.org, Short Story Day Africa, Wikimedia CH and Wiki In Africa),
the WikiAfrica movement has consistently instigated and led multi-faceted
innovative projects. These projects have activated communities and driven
content onto Wikipedia. Examples include Share Your Knowledge, #OpenAfrica training
Courses and Toolkits, Kumusha Bus (in Ethiopia and Ghana), WikiEntrepreneur
(in Ethiopia and Malawi), Kumusha Takes Wiki (Cote d’Ivoire and Uganda), Wikipedia
Primary (funded by SUPSI), Wikipack Africa, WikiAfrica Schools, WikiFundi, WikiChallenge,
Wiki Loves Women and Wiki Loves Africa.
Ynternet.org Foundation was created in 1998 on the invitation of
Swiss Confederation to facilitate, identify and promote new learning
culture within digital environments. In 2006 it changed its status from
association to foundation, as an independent body within civil society.
Based in the university campus of Battelle (Geneva, Switzerland), it is
serving public interest in multilateral projects and private-public partnership.
60-80 contributors each year, including experts, social entrepreneurs and
volunteers, are contributing to Ynternet.org mission of promoting responsible
behaviours in digital environment. Ynternet.org has been successfully audited
for its activities (2013 - 2015), at European level, both as coordinator and
partner on two separate EU projects.
About the Wikimedia Foundation
