Wiki Loves Clermont-Ferrand: Wikimedia Commons competition organized by students, for students

At Clermont Auvergne University, four engineering students successfully organized a photography competition entitled Wiki Loves Clermont-Ferrand, held from 24 to 31 January 2026. The initiative aimed to highlight the urban, architectural, cultural, and natural heritage of Clermont-Ferrand and its surrounding agglomeration, while promoting free culture and contributing high-quality, freely reusable images to Wikimedia Commons.

The event took place in person at Clermont Auvergne INP – ISIMA, on the Cézeaux campus in Aubière, and was made possible through funding from Wikimedia France.

Organizing a photography competition on Wikimedia Commons had long been an idea we were considering. As part of our Project Management course, we decided to turn this idea into reality, taking advantage of the support provided by our school. Being in our final year, we chose Clermont-Ferrand as the subject of the competition as a way to acknowledge the many meaningful moments we experienced in this beautiful city and to leave a positive and lasting contribution to it.

We submitted our project proposal to both ISIMA school and Wikimedia France, and its approval by both marked an encouraging starting point that allowed us to fully focus on the organization of the event.

To promote the competition, we created a range of communication materials and carried out outreach through the university’s mailing lists, Meta-Wiki, posters displayed in university residences, and flyer distribution, with the goal of engaging as many students as possible. Although the competition itself was open to everyone, the launch workshop and the closing event were exclusively reserved for students of Université Clermont Auvergne.

The event officially began with a launch workshop on 24 January 2026. This session introduced student participants to the principles of free licenses, the Wikimedia ecosystem, and best practices for contributing photographs to Wikimedia Commons. Combining theoretical explanations with practical guidance, the workshop enabled students—most of whom were discovering Wikimedia projects for the first time—to participate in the competition confidently and effectively. The workshop concluded with an open discussion, during which participants asked questions about how to contribute effectively to the competition. Following the session, participants began exploring the city to capture photographs and upload them to Wikimedia Commons.

As communication efforts continued across the university campus, the competition officially ran for one week, from 24 to 31 January 2026. During this period, participants uploaded their photographs to Wikimedia Commons, resulting in a total of 98 submitted images.

The evaluation phase followed from 2 to 6 February 2026. Four volunteer jurors from the Wikifranca community, who kindly responded to our invitation, reviewed the submissions using the Montage platform. Jurors then selected their top three photographs, which determined the final results of the competition.

The event concluded on 7 February 2026 with a closing ceremony during which the winners of the competition were officially announced. The program began with a presentation summarizing the project and its outcomes, followed by a cultural quiz about the city, with a prize awarded to the winner.

We then presented the Public Choice Award before announcing the prizes for the three main winners of the competition. The ceremony concluded with an open discussion over a coffee break, providing participants with an opportunity to exchange feedback and share their experiences in a friendly and informal setting.

Organizing this event represented an important milestone for us. It allowed us to share our experience while introducing new contributors to the principles of free knowledge and to the process of sharing photographs on Wikimedia platforms. Through this initiative, we were able to engage new users and encourage their first contributions to Wikimedia Commons.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who made this project possible. Our thanks go to ISIMA for providing the facilities necessary to host the event, and to Wikimedia France and its staff for their financial support and guidance throughout the organization process.

We are also deeply grateful to the volunteer jurors for their commitment and invaluable contribution: Aboubacarkhoraa, from Wikimedia Guinea, Africany, from Wikimedians of Republic of Congo User Group, Habib Mhenni, from Wikimedia Tunisia and administrator on Wikimedia Commons and Mermoze Adodo, from the Wikimédiens du Bénin User Group. Their engagement ensured the quality and credibility of the evaluation process.

This experience confirmed the strong potential for student engagement in free knowledge initiatives. We hope this will inspire future Wikimedia activities within the university.