Commons:Wiki Loves Africa 2025/Media

Wiki Loves Africa 2025

2025 Media and Press Page

Wiki Loves Africa (WLA) is an annual contest organised by Wiki In Africa and conducted across Africa's Wikimedia movement. The contest encourages people across Africa to contribute media (photographs, video and audio) that document and reflect their culture, daily activities and environment on Wikimedia Commons for use on Wikipedia and other project websites of the Wikimedia Foundation. Wiki Loves Africa particularly encourages participants to contribute media that illustrate a specific theme for that year.

Each year the theme changes and could include any universal, visually rich and culturally specific topic (for example, markets, rites of passage, festivals, public art, cuisine, natural history, urbanity, daily life, notable persons, etc).

10 years of Wiki Loves Africa

Wiki Loves Africa particularly encourages participants to contribute to media that illustrates a specific theme for that year. Each year the theme changes and could include any universal, visually rich and culturally specific topic (for example, markets, rites of passage, festivals, public art, cuisine, natural history, urbanity, daily life, notable persons, etc). The project is run across the whole continent. However, some specific actions (training, communication, etc.) are held in some countries with national organizers.

Wiki Loves Africa has achieved much over 10 years:

Over 116,189 images have been entered by 9,182 competitors from up to 55 countries under a free licence (CC-BY-SA).
Wiki Loves Africa images have illustrated 32,515 pages across 437 Wikimedia projects, such as Wikipedia, Wikivoyage and Wikiquote.
33 Wikimedia communities from 26 African countries have hosted participation events, information sessions, and training workshops.
Participating communities held just under 400 participation and training events between 2014 and 2024.
The competition attracts high levels of new contributors to the Wikimedia projects – an average of 75% of participants are newbies;
The images entered to Wiki Loves Africa are viewed over 31 million times each month (Mar 2024)
Wiki Loves Africa’s images over the 10 years have been viewed over 1,85 billion times altogether (Jan 2025)
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 has won the Cool Tool: Eggbeater Category at Wikimania 2024 and 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.

International team

Wiki Loves Africa was created by Florence and Isla in 2014. In 2025 it is hosted and run at the international level by the Wiki In Africa team. Regional Ambassadors connect the contest and international team with the local Wikimedia communities. Wikimedia communities across Africa host local information and training events, photography shoots, video workshops and uploading sessions. There have been over 400 such events hosted by over 34 local teams over the last 10 years.

Hilary
Is the facilitator of the Wiki Loves Africa. He is a Wikimedian from Nigeria who has been actively involved with the movement via Igbo Wikimedians User Group. He is the community lead for a community for wikimedians interested in contributing free knowledge through Wikimedia Commons. You can reach him on his talk page or via email

Anthere
Florence Devouard has been a wikipedian since early 2002. She is formerly Chairwoman of Wikimedia Foundation as well as a co-founder of Wikimedia France. She cares very much for diversity, international participation, and multilingualism.

So late 2012, she decided to refocus her attention to diversity (or lack there-of) and co-created projects with Isla Haddow Flood with the explicit goal of getting more African editors and more African-related content onto Wikimedia project. In the following years, Florence has conceptualised, instigated and been the co-lead on a number of projects related to Wikipedia and Africa, including as Wiki Loves Africa. In 2017, she co-founded Wiki In Africa, a South Africa based association along with Iolanda Pensa and Isla Haddow-Flood to host some of those initiatives, and ever since then co-lead the association with Isla.

Islahaddow
A Zimbabwean by birth, and a Capetonian by adoption, Oxford-educated Isla Haddow-Flood is a writer, editor and project and communications strategist who is passionate about harnessing communication technology and media platforms for the advancement of open access to knowledge; specifically, knowledge that relates to and enhances the understanding of Africa via the Open Movement (and especially Wikipedia). Since 2011, Isla has been working to Activate Africa. Working as a member of the WikiAfrica movement, she has conceptualised, instigated and been the co-lead on a number of projects related to Wikipedia and Africa, including as Wiki Loves Africa. She lives in Simon's Town, South Africa, is the Director of Communication for Open Education Global and co-leads Wiki In Africa.

Nonny Ntlahla

Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Nonny graduated from Stellenbosch University with a degree in Social Science, specialising in Psychology and Political Sciences. Complementing her academic background, she holds a Health and Fitness Diploma and possesses a deep-seated passion for the intersection of Mental Health and Sports/Physical Exercise, recognising their potential for catalysing social and community development.

Rachel Zadok

Rachel Zadok is an editor, writer and designer and the author of two novels: Gem Squash Tokoloshe (Pan Macmillan, 2005), shortlisted for The Whitbread First Novel Award and The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and longlisted for the IMPAC Award; and Sister-sister (Kwela Books, 2013), shortlisted for the University of Johannesburg Prize and The Herman Charles Bosman Prize, and longlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Award. She is the managing editor of Short Story Day Africa, a project to promote and develop African writers using the medium of the short story, and as such has published seven anthologies of African short fiction.

She is also the communications manager for Wiki in Africa and the project manager for Inspiring Open, a podcast series of Wiki Loves Women, a project of Wiki in Africa.

Wiki Loves Africa Ambassadors

This is an elite group of individuals who will be doing the sensitive task of providing linguistic and administrative support for the Wiki Loves Africa project life cycle. Their tasks include but not limited to:

Translations
Social media
Office Hours to support
Training sessions
Jury support

The 2025 ambassadors are:

Minette is one of Wiki Loves Africa French Ambassador. She is a Wikimedian from Cameroon. She has been an organizer of WLA in Cameroon since 2021. You can reach out to her for support on her talk page or via email

Mermoze ADODO is one of Wiki Loves Africa French Ambassador, a Wikimedian since 2018. Founding member of the Wikimédiens du Bénin User Group, Co Local Organizer of Wiki Loves Africa in Benin 2019-2020, 2021-2022;
Since 2020: Verification and evaluation of images from Wiki Loves Africa, in order to make them more visible and useful on other Wikimedia projects; Image clean-up (categories, description, renaming etc.) and submission of our best pictures to quality and featured status. See Commons:Wiki Loves Africa/WLA images under evaluation, You can reach out to him for support on his talk page or via email

Alvin Ategyeka is one of the Wiki Loves Africa English Ambassadors, a committed Wikimedian since 2019, is a notable contributor to the Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda. For over 5 years, Alvin has actively participated in building a diverse collection on Wikimedia Commons, highlighting the cultural richness of Uganda.
Within the Ugandan Wikimedia community, Alvin serves as a mentor, guiding new contributors to share their unique stories on Wiki Commons. His dedication extends beyond photography to fostering community engagement and cultural representation, making a lasting impact on the Wikimedia landscape in Uganda. You can reach out to him for support on his talk page or via email

Albert Mkpongonyong is one of the Wiki Loves Africa English Ambassadors, a wikimedian from the southern part of Nigeria who joined Wikimedia in 2021. A member of the Igbo Wikimedians User Group. His Wikimedia journey started from improving items on Wikidata to providing translations for articles on igbo Wikipedia down to wikicomons. You can reach out to him for support on his talk page or via email

Ola is one of the Wiki Loves Africa Arabic Ambassadors, a Sudanese Wikimedian since 2018, co-founder of Sudan Community, Wikimedia Community User Group Sudan. She is mainly involved around recruiting new user community growth and visibility.

Within the global community, Ola has started the SheSaid Sudan Derive and is a member of Wiki Love Women focus Group which is mainly contributing towards bridging the gender gap on Wikimedia community. Her efforts when it comes to the African community is contributing within the Wiki Love Africa annual Photo contest to motivate more African photographer to join the efforts towards reflecting Africa better and Sudan in smaller scale.

She is also the organizer of WikiGap 2020 in Sudan, Wiki Loves Africa 2020 in Sudan, WLA2022 in Sudan. You can reach out to her for support on her talk page or via email

Duaa Khidir is one of the Wiki Loves Africa Arabic Ambassadors, a graduate of linguistics and translation. She started her journey with Wikipedia in 2020, through Kateb Maktub, an initiative that aims to enrich online content on Arab authors.

After volunteering with Kateb Maktub she continue to dedicate her time, with WM of UE UG, to research for volunteers to create, edit and translate content in Wikipedia, in hopes of creating a sustainable community of contributors.

She is the communications and community outreach coordinator for Wikimedians of UAE User Group. You can reach out to her for support on her talk page or via email

How the competition is organised

The project is a two-month competition which will start on the 1st March 2025 and end on the 30th April 2025. The project runs across the entire continent, however there are local and national groups of Wikimedians that have volunteered to host specific actions (training, upload events, communications, etc.) in their countries. In addition, there are several groups of individuals within Africa, and Wikimedia groups outside Africa that are (and encouraged to be) involved.

The project is a contest where, after the contest closes, the best media at the continental level are selected and prizes are awarded. An international jury will determine the best entries for the continental competition. Where there are local organising groups, they will decide to organise (or not) judging and local prizes for their country.

Wiki Loves Africa was created and developed, and is managed by the principals at Wiki in Africa, it is funded by the Wikimedia Foundation. Actions and activities in each country are supported by the Wikimedia community in the form of Usergroups and volunteers across Africa.

Communications links:

Discussion channels:

2025 Winners and prizes

There will be several winners. The Wiki Loves Africa 2025 international prizes categories are:

Photography:

1st Prize : USD 1,000
2nd Prize : USD 900
3rd Prize : USD 700
Wilson Oluoha Prize : USD 1,000

Media (Video, Audio):

Best audio prize: USD 700

Wiki Loves Africa video prize - Narrative: USD 1,000
Wiki Loves Africa video prize - Reportage : USD 1,000
Wiki Loves Africa video prize - Clip : USD 200

In addition, some of the local national teams will host national ceremonies and national prizes.

Local teams can decide to award separate national prizes at their discretion. Please review the Countries page to see what is happening where and what prizes are available at a local level.

Press contacts

Global contacts

South Africa: Isla Haddow-Flood: islawikiinafrica.org
France: Florence Devouard: fdevouardanthere.org

Contacts of Organisers per Country

Please note: this list is updated by the community. It might include some older connections. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Algeria: Mohammed Bachounda: bachounda@gmail.com or Reda Kerbouche: press@wikimedia-dz.org
Nigeria: Ayokanmi Oyeyemi: ayokanmi@wikimedia.org.ng, Ceslause Ogbonnaya: ceslause@wikiinafrica.org, and Musa Umar: umarmusaahmad77@)gmail.com, Obiageli Ezeilo: oby.ezeilo@gmail.com, Steve Kally: stephenjonah7@gmail.com, Mikael Sodiq: jerrykufang22@gmail.com
Cameroon: Minette Lontsie: wikimediacugcameroon@gmail.com, lontsiminette@yahoo.fr
Tunisia: Mourad Ben Abdallah: mourad.babdallah@gmail.com, wmtnug-board@googlegroups.com
Uganda: Kwera Faith: quera1204@gmail.com, Geoffrey Kateregga: kateregga1@gmail.com
Ghana: Bright Ayisi: wikigrapher@gmail.com, Gabriel Amuzu: amuzugabrieljoe@gmail.com, and Eugene Masiku: emasiku@ofwafrica.org
Mali: N'fana Diakité: nfanadiakite92@gmail.com
Kenya: Faith Mwanyolo: faithchugu@gmail.com and Carol Mwaura: lisapeter.lp5@gmail.com
Benin: Fawaz Tairou: fawaz.tairou@gmail.com
Rwanda: Boris Bahire: boris.bahire@gmail.com
Sudan: Maram Ali Ahmed: sd.wikimedia@gmail.com, marmaroma@gmail.com
Morocco: Rachid Ourkia: rc.ourkia@gmail.com, Mounir Neddi: neddimounir97@gmail.com, Reda Benkhadra: Rbenkhadra1@gmail.com
Haiti: Handgod Abraham: sambayo23@gmail.com
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Nixon Mukoko: nixmukoko@gmail.com
Guinea: Aboubacar Keita: Aboubacarkt14@gmail.com
Botswana: Candy Khohliwe: ckhohliwe@gmail.com
Burundi: Gilbert Ndihokubwayo: gigi.kadi@gmail.com
Republic of the Congo: Kano TCHAPI: kanotchapi@wikimedia.cg
Tanzania: Antoni Mtavangu: antonicmtavangu@gmail.com, Justine Msechu: justinemsechu12@yahoo.com,
Togo: Hermann Kassalouwa: hermann.kass@gmail.com
Chad: Ahmat Matary: ahmatmatary@gmail.com
Senegal: Adjo Essenam: essenam.fumey@gmail.com
Zambia: Isaac Kanguya: icem4k@gmail.com
Côte d'Ivoire: Konan N'Da N'Dri: ndandrik@gmail.com

2025 Media mentions

Documents

Wiki Loves Africa logo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki-Loves-Africa-logo.png
Material: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wiki_Loves_Africa_2025_Communications

Videos

Wiki Loves Africa Celebrates Africa
Wiki Loves Africa 2021
Upload wizard tutorial
Wiki Loves Africa 2019
Wiki Loves Africa 2017
Wiki Loves Africa 2023

2025 Documents

Social media launch cards

Social media information 'cards' are available on Canva for organisers at these links:

A3 Design:

Click here

Instagram and LinkedIn:

Click to Edit

Facebook:

Click here

Publicity poster (jpgs)

Social media posters (jpgs) in 3 languages

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Publicity poster series (pdf) in 3 languages (available as high res for printing or smallest emailable size)

Generic publicity material

Generic Wiki Loves Africa email banner
Generic Wiki Loves Africa French and English Pull Up banner
The pull-up banner template with space for local organisers and partners logos
The English version of the A5 Generic Flyer
The French A5 version of the generic flyer
Square, Round and Rectangular stickers
The generic t-shirt design elements
A beanie to be used as a goodie for participant or winner
Example of "I edit Wikipedia from Africa" cap. Also shows a branded battery (not WLA)
Other resources
10 Years poster