A plate of koshary, the most popular food in Egypt. This picture was taken for “Wiki Loves Africa Cuisine”, a photo contest about african food. Photo by Dina Said, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
The Wiki Loves Africa organizing team is proud to announce the winners of this year’s photo contest — and invites you to vote for the Community Prize.
Wiki Loves Africa Cuisine
Wiki Loves Africa (WLAf) is an annual contest that invites people from across Africa (and beyond) to contribute media (photographs, video and audio) on a specific theme. All photos are posted to Wikimedia Commons, where they can be freely used on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.
This year’s theme for the Wiki Loves Africa contest was Cuisine!
The 2014 contest invited entries that document diverse types of cuisines from across the African continent. Participants could submit media on a variety of topics: “foods”, “dishes”, “crops”, “husbandry”, “culinary art”, “cooking methods”, “utensils”, “food markets”, “festivals”, “culinary events”, “famine food” — and any other issues related to food in Africa. The contest aimed to feature the pride we feel about the food we eat, how it is prepared, what it looks like, how it differs from other types of food, which types of rituals may be observed, and how that cuisine reflects the many and diverse cultures of Africa.
The contest ran for two months, from October 1 until November 30, 2014. It took place across all of Africa. The project was facilitated by WikiAfrica at the Africa Centre and funded by Orange Foundation and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Wiki Loves Africa Cuisine engaged community members in a variety of ways, such as this cooking contest at the Rotary Club in Tema, Ghana. Photo by Dromo Tetteh, CC BY-SA 4.0
Outcomes
Wiki Loves Africa had several positive outcomes for the Wikimedia movement: it helped increase the amount of free content on Commons; and it also increased the visibility of Wikimedia projects in Africa. To make this possible, local teams were formed on the ground in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Malawi, South Africa, Tunisia, Algeria or Uganda. These country teams, made up of existing or new groups of volunteers, hosted specific events as part of the contest. In the end, 27 different local events were organized over the two months, to foster and support participation. Three cooking sessions were organized, which resulted in more images (and were apparently lots of fun). Other local teams organized photo hunts (in a market place, for example), followed by uploading sessions. Three press conferences were organized locally and resulted in media exposure, which not only drove participation but also cast a much needed light on Wikimedia projects in those countries.
Overall, this project added 6,116 images to Wikimedia Commons, from 873 unique contributors in 49 countries. Countries with the largest number of contributions included: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Tunisia, Uganda, Egypt, Morocco and South Africa (which by and large maps the countries where local teams were involved). But we also noted unexpected enthusiasm and high participation from countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania that did not have local teams.
The tastiest entries
The Wiki Loves Africa entries were judged by a panel of experts made up of Wikipedians, photographers and food professionals. The judges came from across Africa and beyond, including: Carianne Wilkinson (South Africa), Paul Sika (Cote d’Ivoire), Africa Melane (South Africa), Pierre-Selim Huard (France), Pierre Beaudoin (France), Habib M’henni (Tunisia), and Mike Peel (United Kingdom).
After several weeks of evaluation, they chose the following images:
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Here are the prizes the winners will receive:
- 1st Prize: Samsung Galaxy Note 4 + “Star Fish: Top 10 Sustainable Fish” by Daisy Jones and Lazy Days by Phillipa Cheifitz (a book donated and published by Quivertree) + a Wiki Loves Africa T-shirt + the print of the winning picture
- 2nd Prize: Sony Xperia Z3 Compact + “The Karoo Kitchen: Heritage recipes and true stories from the heart of South Africa”, by Sydda Essop and The Bo-Kaap Kitchen (a book donated and published by Quivertree) + Wiki Loves Africa T-shirt + print of the 2nd prize picture
- 3rd Prize: US $200 Amazon gift voucher + “The Bo-Kaap Kitchen and Lazy Days” by Phillipa Cheifitz (a book donated and published by Quivertree) + “Wiki Loves Africa” T-shirt + print of the 3rd prize picture
- The Community Prize: US $200 Amazon gift voucher + Wiki Loves Africa T-shirt + print of the Community Prize
Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who helped organize the contest this year!
Check out some of the best images on the contest page!
Help pick the Community Prize
The Community Prize is yet to be decided. Wikimedia community members are invited to pick their favorite photos in the next 7 days. Community members from Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and social media related to Wikimedia projects are welcome to choose their favorite image from these top 20 images (also shown below). You can vote on this Community Prize until 24:00 (UTC+1) on Wednesday, February 25, 2015.
Community members can vote:
- on this page: WLAf Community Prize Selection
- on this Facebook post
- on Twitter – @wikilovesafrica – by including these hashtags in your post: #communityvote #wikilovesafrica #[the photo of choice]
Here are the twenty photos you can choose from:
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Thanks and next steps
We would like to specifically thank:
- Romaine for his technical support to set up banners and the upload wizard.
- Erik Zachte for the statistics and moral support 🙂
- All of our jury members: Pierre-Selim, Pyb, Mike, Habib, Carianne Wilkinson, Africa Melane, and Paul Sika.
- As well as ALL the WiC, WiR and volunteers who helped during local events: Samuel Guébo, Cyriac Gbogou, Donatien Kangah, Eben-Ezer Guebo Dja, Mélèdje, Emmanuel Dabo, Raphael Berchie, Stephen Tetteh, Okpoti Felix Nartey, Katerega Geoffrey, Erina Mukuta, Steve Bukulu, Felix Nartey, Bobby Shabangu, Clement Khanye, Linda Shusha, Michael Mwangi, Millicent Mudzusi, Sipho Mampe, Joel Phologo Thembelihle, Mohamed Ouda, Ahmed Mohie, Eldeen Samir Elsharbaty, Nathan Kalungi, Douglas Ssebagala, Michael Phoya, Blessings Phumisa Upile Rina Malenga, Constance Thyangathyanga, Peter Lungile Chidothe, Sam Banda Jr, Mounir Touzr, Yassin Tounsi, Okpoti Edmond Laryea Sabra Asante, Felix Tetteh, Prince Akpah, Gervasio Ngumbira, Steve Kamanga, Laetitia k., Guilian Zouzouko, Abel Asrat, (my deep apologies if we forgot anyone here).
We hope that the Wiki Loves Africa 2014 contest will foster more content creation in the coming year: this could range from the new article creation, to documenting what the pictures are about, or adding recipes in Wikibooks (see Cuisine ivoirienne). We hope these photos will make their way to illustrate many articles on various food-related subjects.
The local teams are eager to participate in the next Wiki Loves Africa! The 2015 theme is still to be decided. Proposals received by the organizers from local teams are diverse and exciting: Fauna, Modern Art, Wildlife, Clothing, Architecture, Markets, Rites and Rituals are just some of the ideas they have suggested.
Florence Devouard, former chair, Board of Trustees, Wikimedia Foundation
Isla Haddow-Flood, Project Manager, WikiAfrica
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