Earlier this month, while the Wikimedia community at large was connecting, sharing and celebrating at Wikimania – the annual Wikimedia community conference – the Wiki in Africa team took the opportunity to announce the photography shortlist of our Wiki Loves Africa contest, which centred around the theme "Africa Creates". Watch the video above to see who is in the running to grab this year's three top Best Picture prizes, which will see Africa's top photographers with an encyclopaedic eye winning $1000, $900 and $800 respectively.
Let us know on our social media @wikilovesafrica who you think should win. | | Wiki in Africa's co-founders Isla Haddow-Flood and Florence Devouard proudly show off the Africa Creates shortlist video looping at the Wikimania Conference with Georges Fodouop, Président de WikiFranca. | | How is the Wiki Loves Africa shortlist selected? | Each year, the Wiki Loves Africa team assembles an international jury of professional photographers/filmmakers and veteran Wikimedians – or sometimes all three rolled into a single person – to select the images that are compositionally and creatively exceptional and, more importantly, document the theme and have encyclopaedic value in order to contribute to the library offreely licensed photographs about Africa available on Wikimedia Commons.
This year, we asked one of the Africa Creates jurors Mohammed Amine Ben Loulou to give us some insight into what he looks for in a award-winning photograph or film. Mohammed is a photographer, filmmaker and the Algerian Wikimedians Usergroup coordinator for Wiki For Climate Change, Maghreb region. In other words, he is the ideal juror for a media contest in the Wiki universe like Wiki Loves Africa. | | Wiki Loves Africa juror Mohammed Amine Ben Loulou is a photographer, filmmaker, African Wikimedian and amateur breakdancer. | WLA: Please tell us a bit about your own photography and filmmaking and what drew you to the medium.
MB: When I was younger, I was inspired by breakdance videos and hip-hop culture to pursue a career in photography and filmmaking. Practising breakdancing, I began making video clips and images for my friends. Over time, my passion for cinema and photography grew, enabling me to convey stories. My documentary film "The Black Panther of Algeria" is an example of my work. I constantly want to capture memories from both the present and past, ensuring they can be passed down to future generations.
WLA: What do you look for in a prize-winning photograph or video that separates it from one that you might consider good but not prize-winning?
MB: I look for emotional stories that transmit an intangible quality and captivate viewers on a deep, human level. These photographs or films stand out for eliciting strong emotions, telling captivating stories, and connecting with people in ways that go beyond technical perfection.
WLA: For newbie hopefuls who want to enter Wiki Loves Africa 2025, can you tell us the best photography or filmmaking tip you received when you were starting out that changed the game for you?
MB: When I first started out, the best advice I received was to "document stories." This tip altered the game for me since it emphasised that everything in our lives has a narrative to share and record. By focusing on identifying and sharing these tales, I am working to create more meaningful and compelling work that speaks to audiences and connects with the human experience.
WLA: Finally, you've given so much of your time to Wiki Loves Africa – thank you so much for that. What draws you to dedicate so many hours to the contest, but also to the Open movement?
MB: As an African, I belong to this beautiful continent and believe in a shining future for Africa. My dedication to Wiki Loves Africa stems from my desire to promote human connections between Africans and the African diaspora across various fields. We have a beautiful culture, rich diversity, and a legendary history that inspires humanity. In 2020, I participated in the Wiki Loves Africa contest for the first time with a picture titled "History is in the Eye of the Present". It captures my friend searching on Wikipedia about the history of Medinet Habu (temple) in Luxor, Egypt. After finding and using the information on Wikipedia, I realised the profound importance of sharing my knowledge about Africa.
This experience ignited my passion for contributing to the Open movement and ensuring that our stories and heritage are documented and accessible to all.
WLA: Thank you, Mohammed, for the great insights, and thanks to you and your fellow jurors for all the hard work.
To find out who else was on this year's jury, click here. The winners of the 2024 Wiki Loves Africa contest will be announced in September. Watch this space! | | In other news, Wiki in Africa's ISA Tool is so cool it can't be beaten! | | Also announced at the Wikimania Conference were the Wikimedia '24 Coolest Tool Awards. Wiki in Africa's ISA Tool won the Eggbeater Award, a category specifically for tools that have been in use for many years and remain useful and irreplaceable in terms of the value they add for users of Wikimedia or Wikipedia spaces. | "user-friendly and well-organised" | ISA Tool is a multilingual, mobile-first tool, that makes it easy for people to add 'micro-contributions' in the form of structured data (descriptions, captions, tags, etc.) to images that have been contributed to Wikimedia Commons, for example images uploaded during by Wiki Loves competitions.
ISA was designed as a collaboration between Wiki In Africa, Histropedia and the Structured Data on Commons project. ISA is not only an acronym for Information Structured Acceleration, but is also a chiShona language word for 'put' or 'place'.
The intent behind the tool was to increase the use of the knowledge that is reflected by each image hosted on Wikimedia Commons. Initially it was built to assist in the descriptions of Wiki Loves Africa images, but was specifically modelled to be useful to all of the Wiki Loves competitions and beyond.
The judges of the Wikimedia '24 Coolest Tool Awards called the tool "very simple and easy to use" as well as "user-friendly and well-organised". | | Wiki Loves Women's most recent "Tell Us About Her" ISA campaign focussed on Women in Art. | | |
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