Wiki Loves Africa is an annual public contest where people across Africa can contribute media (photographs, video and audio) about their environment to Wikimedia Commons for use on Wikipedia and other project websites of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Welcome to the Wikimedia Commons portal for 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 9 years:
Over 102,026 images have been entered by 11,165 competitors from up to 55 countries under a free licence (CC-BY-SA);
32 Wikimedia communities from 26 African countries have hosted participation events, information sessions, and training workshops.
Participating communities held at least 357 participation and training events between 2014 and 2023.
The competition attracts high levels of new contributors to the Wikimedia projects – an average of 80% of participants are newbies;
The images entered to Wiki Loves Africa are viewed over 28 million times each month (Jan 2023)
Wiki Loves Africa’s images from the first 8 years have been viewed over 1,23 billion times altogether (Jan 2023)
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 was the winner of the 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.
1st prize winner: My Homeland by Mohamed Ahmed Yousry (Egypt) User:Myousry6666
2nd prize winner: Bread delivery by bicycle by Abd Elhamid Fawzy Abd Elhamid Tahoun (Egypt) User:Abdo tahoon
3rd prize winner: A Mess by Summer Kamal Eldeen Mohamed Farag (Egypt) User:Summering2018
4th traditional culture winner: Salt transport by a camel train in Ethiopia by Olivier Siret (France) User:LeFnake
Video Prize Winner: Le Transport Lagunaire à Abidjan (STL) réalisé par Bouba Kam’s by Aboubacar Kamaté (Côte d’Ivoire) User:Kamboo19. Link to video
2019: Play!
1er prix / 1st prize: Yida refugee camp in South Sudanese territory by Marco Gualazzini from Italy
2ème prix / 2nd prize: Peek-a-boobySummer Farag from Egypt
3ème prix / 3rd prize: Street football is one of the most famous games in Africa and boys play hard and show their skills and how talented they are by Mohamed Hozyen Ahmed from Egypt
Women in Sport Prize / Prix Femmes et Sport: by Yvonne Youmbi from Cameroun
Culture and Tradition Prize / Prix Culture et tradition: Fantasia by Sofiane Mohammed Amri from Algeria
Sudanese woman making the traditional baking called "Kisra, byUser:Alfateh2005 (Mohamed Elfatih Hamadien), from Sudan
Supported by
Wiki Loves Africa is activated by the Wikimedia community. The competition was conceptualised by Florence Devouard (Anthere) and Isla Haddow-Flood as a fun and engaging way to rebalance the lack of visual representations and relevant content that exists about Africa on Wikipedia and support the WikiAfrica movement.