Wiki Loves Africa
Wiki Loves Africa is an annual continent-wide competition that shifts the visual narrative of Africa by encouraging people to contribute Africa-relevant media (photos, video, or audio) relevant to an annual theme.
“Photography continues to play a key role in how we are seen, not just as Africans, but as black people from every corner of the world. Stereotypes and prejudice are incited by images, and if it’s used, yet again, to undermine those of us who are truly doing the difficult work, then we need to have some uncomfortable conversations.“ — Aida Muluneh, Ethiopian photographer quoted from The problem with photojournalism and Africa, Al Jazeera (2017).
Status: Active
Wiki Loves Africa is one of the largest annual photographic contests in Africa that continues to challenge the visual narrative of Africa. At its heart, Wiki Loves Africa is a drive for Africans to document Africa. Both amateur and professional photographers and filmmakers are called to share the world that they view every day; life recorded and observed from within their own communities. Their contributions form a collection of royalty-free images about Africa, a continent that is often subject to a condemning external gaze and many subsequent stereotypes.
Since 2014, Wiki Loves Africa has spearheaded alternative ways to support Africa’s Photographers as they share their view of ‘Africa’ and change how the world sees the continent they live on. Its success is remarkable – especially as, in 2020, World Press Photo reported that only 2% of the annual submissions for its competitions came from Africa.
Impact since 2014
Wiki Loves Africa provides support to photographers and community organisers through training and mentorship. Over the year, several of Wiki Loves Africa’s winners have transformed their photographic careers as a result of the contest. For example:
- An image submitted to Wiki Loves Africa was awarded 3rd place in the 2021 Picture of the Year prize on Wikimedia Commons. Another Wiki Loves image made it to the shortlist. View them here.
- A Wiki Loves Africa winning image was featured in the “Journeys Through Our Fragile Heritage” exhibition at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.
Each year, the contest is held under a different theme that is universal, yet culturally rich and significant to communities across Africa. Winners are chosen through a rigorous selection process that involves the final decision of an independent international jury, comprising professional photographers from Africa and experienced Wikimedia Commons contributors.
The ISA tool was created by the Wiki Loves Africa team to ensure that the images contributed were easily findable and had the best descriptions. This tool won the WikiData award for Best Multimedia Tool in November 2019 and the Eggbeater Award for the Coolest Tool at Wikimania 2024.
The Winners Gallery
Past Wiki Loves Africa competitions:
- 2025: Farm To Plate
Farm to Plate celebrates the intricate process of transforming raw farm produce into delicious and nutritious, culturally specific meals ready for consumption. Images, videos, and audio depict fields, agricultural practices, farm products, farm machines, people farming, food transformation and processing, cooking, restaurants, food preparation, and the entire process (or a segment of it) that consists of transforming farm produce into food.
View the winners for 2025. Watch the top 20 shortlist video. - 2024: Africa Creates
Africa Creates celebrates the creation, manufacture, and/or production of items, objects, commodities, and products by Africans across the continent. It encompasses the creation of art in all forms, including craft, fashion, film, dance, literature, textile design and fabrication, beverages, and street or restaurant food, utilising traditional methods or modern manufacturing processes.
View the winners for 2024. Watch the top 20 shortlist video. - 2023: Climate and Weather
Climate is a hot topic as the world’s weather patterns are affected by climate change and environmental challenges. What does this look like in Africa? Wiki Loves Africa’s 2023 contest puts visuals to the data and statistics.
View the Winners for 2023. Watch the top 20 shortlist video. - 2022: Home & Habitat
Homes come in all shapes and sizes. They reflect our deep-seated identity, interconnections to our community, and economic reality. They display our traditional roots, our aesthetic choices and our aspirations.
View the winners for 2022. Watch the top 20 shortlist video. - 2021 : Health + Wellness
The theme Health + Wellness encouraged the submission of visual representations of health, and wellness and can include representations of traditional or western medical interventions or personnel, healthy eating, or exercise etc. 8,319 images and 56 video files that were contributed by 1,149 photographers.
View the winners for 2021. Read the Jury report here. - 2020 : Africa on the Move
The theme encouraged the contribution of images and media representing movement, migration or transportation, whether local or regional, by path, road, sea, or air, self-propelled, or by animal, natural or mechanical means. just under 17,000 images submitted to the competition by 1,904 photographers.
View the winners for 2020. Read the Jury report here. - 2019: Play!
The Wiki Loves Africa 2019 photographic competition has resulted in 8,879 image uploads to Commons around the theme Play! Photographers were encouraged to submit visual representations of joyful and serious games, sport, and recreation in the form of board or mental games, physical fun or contests, playful interactions, theatrical and musical performances, etc.
View the winners for 2019. - 2017: People at Work
18,294 images were uploaded to Commons and entered to the competition to represent the theme People at Work.
View the winners for 2017. - 2016: Wiki Loves Africa Music and Dance
Nearly 7,917 image were entered to the contest via Commons to promote Africa’s rich heritage and culture expressed through music, song, dance, and movement.
View the winners for 2016. - 2015: Wiki Loves Africa Cultural Fashion and Adornment
Over 7500 image were uploads to Commons to promote Africa’s rich culture of dress and fashion, especially that defined by local cultural influences, including cloth, styles, and ways of wrapping and hanging, etc. Entries covering adornment were also requested, including culturally defined jewellery, makeup, hairstyles, cloths and woven materials.
View the winners for 2015. - 2014: Wiki Loves Africa Cuisine
Over 6000 image uploads to Commons documented the diverse cuisines across the continent of Africa, the theme encompassed foods, dishes, crops, husbandry, culinary art, cooking methods, utensils, food markets, festivals, culinary events, famine food and any other issues related to cuisine on the African continent.
View the winners for 2014.
Each year’s project runs for two months at the entire continental level. However, some specific actions, such as training and communication, are held in some countries with national organisers. Wiki Loves Africa is an initiative activated by the Wikimedia community, which created Wikipedia, in support of the WikiAfrica movement. The competition was conceptualised and is managed by Florence Devouard and Isla Haddow-Flood of Wiki In Africa as a fun and engaging way to bridge the digital divide by rebalancing the lack of visual representations and relevant content that exists about Africa on Wikipedia.
This project started due to funding from the Orange Foundation (2014) and receives ongoing support from the Wikimedia Foundation. Over the years, it has received in-kind support from UNESCO and numerous local partners in individual countries. The images donated are available for use on the internet and beyond, under the Creative Commons license CC BY SA 4.0.
Explore this project in more detail:
- website: www.wikilovesafrica.net
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/WikiLovesAfrica
- Twitter: @WikiLovesAfrica
- Instagram: @wikilovesafrica
- On Commons
- On Meta
- On French Wikipedia