Celebrating a Decade of Wiki Loves Africa through African Innovation, Production and Creativity with "Africa Creates!

Now in its 10th year, the 2024 iteration of Wiki Loves Africa – rapidly becoming Africa’s most prominent photographic competition – launched on 1st March to visually celebrate Africa's production, manufacturing and creation. Photographers, videographers, filmmakers, and audiophiles (professional and skilled amateurs) are invited to enter. Entries will illustrate Wikipedia articles. Competition prizes total USD 6,500.

Wiki In Africa  is thrilled to announce the launch of "Wiki Loves Africa 2024", a continental photo contest that invites submissions of photos, videos, audio, and graphics from across Africa. This year's theme, "Africa Creates!", celebrates the vibrant creativity, production and innovation that pulses across the continent.

For ten years, the annual "Wiki Loves Africa" contest has provided an opportunity to directly represent Africa more diversely and inclusively online. 

This year, the focus is on showcasing the rich diversity of African creativity, productivity and manufacturing in all its forms – from traditional arts and crafts to technology and digital media, and everything in between.

By participating, you will help to create a richer, more nuanced picture of Africa's creative and production landscape. Whether you're a professional photographer, a hobbyist, or someone who loves capturing life's moments, we invite you to share your perspective of "Africa Creates!"

A decade of impact!

Since 2014 Wiki Loves Africa has been encouraging people across the continent to change the visual narrative, close the gaps, and alter global perceptions of “Africa '' on Wikipedia (and beyond). The contest has facilitated the addition of 88,640 alternate ‘African’ perspectives to the Wikipedia free-licensed media library, Wikimedia Commons. Wikipedia’s more than 55 million articles (in 2021) can be accessed in over 300 languages, for free, and without advertisements, all created by volunteers. One out of seven distinct images entered for Wiki Loves Africa now illustrates a Wikipedia article, and these images have been collectively viewed 1,3 billion times. This equates to over 1 billion opportunities for previously negative or biased perspectives of Africa or Africans to be revised, reviewed, or altered.

Each entry is directly added to Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository that provides many of the images used on Wikipedia.

“Contributing to Wiki Loves Africa has done more than impact my work, it has changed my life. I say a big thank you to the team who work tirelessly behind the scenes to give Africans a voice to tell their stories.” – Green Wilfred Simoni, Wiki Loves Africa prize winner in 2023.

Wiki Loves Africa not only changes how Africa is perceived but also provides a necessary visible platform to grow the skills of African professional photographers eager to present their visual artistry to the world. Over 10,000 photographers from 55 countries have submitted entries throughout Wiki Loves Africa’s history. This is no mean feat in a region where access to and access for professional photographers is notoriously low. World Press Photo’s annual competition laments that 2% of its global entries are submitted from Africa.

How to get involved

Wiki Loves Africa is open for entries until 30 April. Entries are accepted from anywhere globally but must represent ‘Africa’ and the theme of “Africa Creates!” Over 30 local volunteer Wikimedia communities across Africa are hosting multiple events. Get in touch with your local groups and chapters to join photowalks, workshops, and edit-a-thons. All entries must be released under a free license and uploaded via Wikimedia Commons, the media library for Wikipedia, and other Wikimedia knowledge portals.

Entries are judged on their quality and relevance to the theme, as well as their encyclopaedic value. Winners will be announced in August 2024 at Wikimania in Poland.

How to enter

To participate, you only need create a free Wikimedia Commons account. Participants are invited to submit their entries via bit.ly/WLA24_Enter. 

Enter your photographs, videos, or audio files: please visit the competition portal.

Attend a local event or learn more about Wikimedia in your country, please visit this link providing access to each Wikimedia community.

Tell others about the Wiki Loves Africa competition or post your entries on social media using #WikiLovesAfrica, and tag @WikiLovesAfrica in your posts.

INTERNATIONAL PRIZES: 
Photography Prize Categories

• 1st Prize: USD 1,000

• 2nd Prize: USD 900

• 3rd Prize: USD 800

Media* Prize Categories

• Audio Prize: USD 800

• Narrative Video Prize: USD 1,000

• Reportage Video Prize: USD 1,000

• Clip Video Prize: USD 200

• Jury Prize: USD 800

Wiki Loves Africa (WLA) is a photo contest annually across the African continent to challenge the relentless negative depiction of “Africa” on global knowledge platforms. Each year the community chooses a universal theme. In 2024 this theme is Africa Creates! 

It encourages the ‘crowd’ contribution by developing and upskilling African photographers, creatives, and cultural practitioners by leveraging the power of the open movement. Their photographic, audio, or video entries under a free licence illustrate the world’s largest and most widely accessed knowledge resource, Wikipedia. Through local events and training around the competition, the project actively develops local creative and Wikimedia volunteer communities.
www.wikilovesafrica.net 

Wiki Loves Africa has achieved much over 10 years:

• Over 102,026 images have been entered by 11,165 competitors from up to 55 countries under a free licence (CC-BY-SA).

• 32 Wikimedia communities from 26 African countries have hosted participation events, information sessions and training workshops.

• At least 357 participation and training events have been held by participating communities between 2014 and 2023.

• The competition attracts high levels of new contributors to the Wikimedia projects – an average of 80% of participants are newbies.

• The images entered into Wiki Loves Africa are viewed over 28 million times each month (Jan 2023).

• Wiki Loves Africa’s images from the first 9 years have been viewed over 1,37 billion times altogether (Jan 2023).

• A Wiki Loves Africa prize-winning image was included in the Journeys Through Our Fragile Heritage exhibition at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

• Wiki Loves Africa’s ISA Tool was the winner of the WikiData Award for Best Multimedia Tool in November 2019.

• Mohamed Hozyen, a prize winner for Wiki Loves Africa 2019, was selected for the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), Prins Claus Fonds and Magnum Foundation Arab Documentary Photography Programme.

• A Wiki Loves Africa image Firefighter, Ashton Bay, March 2017 submitted by South African photographer user:StevenTerblanche for the Wiki Loves Africa 2017 contest under the theme of People at Work. The stunning image was selected for 3rd position for the Picture of the Year 2021 award and depicts a courageous firefighter battling against a veld fire at Ashton Bay, Jeffreys Bay, Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa.

April 15, 2024