Association Burkinabè de Fundraising

Entries are now open for Wiki Loves Africa (WLA), an annual contest where people across Africa can contribute media (photographs, video and audio) about their environment to Wikimedia Commons for use on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation project websites.

Wiki Loves Africa particularly encourages participants to contribute media that illustrates a specific theme for that year. Each year the theme changes and can include any universal, visually rich and culturally specific topic (e.g. markets, rites of passage, festivals, public art, cuisine, natural history, urbanity, daily life, notables, etc.).

Theme 2023: Climate and Weather

• The Climate and Weather theme calls for the submission of visual representations of climate and/or weather. According to the WHO, climate factors affect the social and environmental determinants of health - clean air, safe water, adequate food and secure shelter. This year's theme celebrates the prevailing climates and daily weather conditions of various locations on the African continent.
  • How have people adapted to the climates of the region you live in?
  • What weather conditions do you associate with your place, habitat or country?
  • Have you observed any recent drastic changes in the climate or weather conditions in your location or in another African place you visit often?
  • Images, videos and audio clips can capture these climatic and atmospheric conditions - thunderstorms, floods, clouds, winds, hurricanes, fogs, precipitation, sunlight, scorched earth, erosion, changing water levels, landscape vegetation, extreme heat, snow, ice, extreme cold, etc.

Awards

• There are several prizes to be won, both at national and international level. For national prizes, please check the local events in your country.
• At the international level, there are 3 main awards for Wiki Loves Africa, and as every year, there will be two additional award categories for photos and media.
• The international awards are :
  • Photography:
    • 1st prize: USD 2,000
    • 2nd prize: 1 500 USD
    • 3rd prize: 1,000 USD
    • 4th Prize: 750 US$
  • Media (video, audio, graphics, photo essays) :
    • Best Audio or Video Award: 1,000 US$
    • Best graphics: 750 USD
  • Africa Environment Video Award: Best video representation of the impact of climate change: USD 2,000
  • Africa Environment Special Collection Award: Best collections of images showing the impact of climate change: USD 1,200
  • Disclaimer: Cash prizes may be distributed in the form of a gift card or voucher.

The winners

• Each year it is a tough choice to select the final winning images. The 2023 winners will not be announced until July/August 2023, but there have been many great winning images selected over the past 8 years!

Eligibility criteria

• The competition works in all African countries (and beyond...). In some countries, local teams organise events and can help you. Do not hesitate to get in touch with them.

Competition rules

• Rule 1: All photos must be taken by the person submitting them. Unless they are uploaded in a recorded mass upload session. Your image must have your name, username or pen name on the uploaded file.
• Rule 2: Entries will only be accepted if they are uploaded between 1 March and 30 April 2023. You may enter media that was taken at any time, even historical photographs (as long as you hold the copyright to those photographs or they are in the public domain), but they must be uploaded during these dates. Photographs that are already on Commons and re-downloaded are not eligible.
• Rule 3: Participants must be registered on Wikimedia Commons and be contactable. Please enable email on Wikimedia Commons when registering so that we can contact you if your image is chosen for a prize.
• Rule 4: All entries submitted to the competition must be under a free (or public domain) license. In most cases, the photo will automatically be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 (CC-BY-SA 4.0) license. Read more about the cc-by-sa license here.
• Rule 5: Images smaller than 2 MB or with embedded watermarks or signatures will not be eligible.
• Rule 6: Images or media must be filed under Wiki Loves Africa 2023 Images to be eligible.
• Rule 7: To be considered for the video award, the file must be uploaded in an accepted video format (.ogg, .ogv or .webm) on Wikimedia Commons. Please note that audio and visual quality and narration will be taken into account for your entry to be eligible for a prize.

Judging criterion

• Judging will be done by a panel of international Wikipedians, professional photographers and subject matter experts, based on the rules of thumb of photography as well as community standards.
• A good photo has a good story to tell.
• A good photo removes all unnecessary distractions from the main element, so that it is not blurred.
• Potential usefulness and overall value of the image (including its license) for Wikimedia projects.
• Technical quality - Image parameters such as focus, lighting, saturation, ISO, etc. will be taken into account.
• The jury will judge the individual applications according to the following criteria:
  • Technical quality
  • Originality
• Potential usefulness and overall value of the image (including its license) for Wikimedia projects.

Ineligibility

• Photographs that are already on Commons (this means that re-downloading is not allowed).
• As the images will be hosted on Wikimedia Commons, all entries must fall within the scope of Commons. Those that do not will be disqualified and may be deleted without notice.
• Images with watermarks, time stamps or image credits on the image itself or any other type of editing that associates the image with the uploader are not eligible.

For more information, please visit Wiki Loves Africa .