Deadline: April 15, 2021

Applications for the Wiki Loves Africa Competition 2021 are now open. Wiki Loves Africa is an annual contest where anyone across Africa can contribute media that relates to that year’s theme to Wikimedia Commons for use on Wikipedia and other project websites of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Wiki Loves Africa encourages participants to contribute media (photographs, video and audio) that illustrate the specific theme for that year. Each year the theme changes. Each year’s theme is chosen by the community to be a 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). The theme for the 2021 contest is Health + Wellness.

Prizes

There are several prizes up for grabs, both nationally and internationally. At the international level, there are 3 main prizes for Wiki Loves Africa, and as with last year, there will be two additional prize categories for photos and media.

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
  (Disclaimer: Prizes to be dispersed in a gift card or voucher format.)
• Each winner will also receive a pack of goodies (proposed: a hat “I edit Wikipedia from Africa”, a branded battery, stickers)

Eligibility

• All photos must be taken by the person submitting them. Unless, they are uploaded during a registered mass upload session. Your image must have your name, username or nom de plume on the uploaded file.
• You can enter media that was taken at any time, even historic photographs (as long as you own the copyright on these photographs or they are in the public domain), but they must be uploaded during the application window. Photographs that are already on Commons and re-uploaded are not eligible.
• Participants must be registered on Wikimedia Commons and be contactable.
• All entries submitted to the contest must be under a free licence (or in the public domain). In most cases, the photo will automatically be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 (CC-BY-SA 4.0).
• Images with watermarks or embedded signatures will not be eligible.
• Pictures or media must be categorised under Images from Wiki Loves Africa 2021 to be eligible.
• To be considered for the video prize, the file must be uploaded in a video format (.ogg, .ogv, or .webm) that is accepted on Wikimedia Commons. Note that the audio and visual quality and storytelling will be taken into account for your file to be eligible for a prize.

Judging Criteria

The judging will be done by a panel of international Wikipedians, professional photographers and subject specialists, based of thumb rules of photography and as well as the community standards.

• A good photo has a good story to tell.
• A good photo removes all unnecessary distractions from the chief element, so that the latter is not out of the focus.
• Potential usefulness and overall value of the image (including its licensing) to the Wikimedia projects.
• Technical quality – Image parameters such as focus, lighting, saturation, ISO etc. will be taken into consideration.

The jury will judge individual entries based on the following criteria:

• Technical quality
• Originality
• Potential usefulness and overall value of the image (including its licensing) to the Wikimedia projects.

Application

• Take photos related to the theme Health + Wellness
• Create a free account or log in on Wikimedia Commons
• Upload your photos

For more information, visit Wiki Loves Africa Competition.