Wiki Loves Africa presents 'Farm to Plate:' A Journey from Seed to Serving Through Your Lens

File:SWIFT EXCHANGE.jpg <https://w.wiki/CwTL> by MICHELLE KIBE, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Now in its 11th year, the 2025 iteration of Wiki Loves Africa – now one of the largest annual photographic contests in Africa – launched on 1st March to celebrate Africa's agricultural processes and production. Photographers, videographers, filmmakers, and audiophiles (professional and skilled amateurs) are invited to enter. Entries will illustrate Wikipedia articles. Competition prizes total USD 6,500.

All image and video attributions: bit.ly/WLA25_Credits

Open for Entries

Wiki In Africa (www.wikiinafrica.org) is thrilled to announce the launch of "Wiki Loves Africa 2025" (www.wikilovesafrica.net), a continental photo contest that invites submissions of photos, videos, audio, and graphics from across Africa. For over a decade, this annual contest has celebrated the vibrant cultures, traditions, heritage, innovations, production methods, landscapes, weatherscapes and creativity that pulses across the continent, representing Africa more diversely and inclusively online.

This year, we’re turning the focus on food production with the theme, Farm To Plate, inviting submissions that capture the journey of our food, from fields, herds, rivers, and oceans and to the final dish on a plate. Submissions can capture the entire process from seed to plate, or part thereof. These can be in the forms of videos, audio, or photo essays. Portraits and, documentary that give us a window into the lives of the people working the land, factories, and restaurants — this includes depictions of farm products, agricultural machinery, people working on farms, food processing, cooking, plating, and everything in between. The growers, food technologists, processors, chefs and home cooks, those alchemists of cuisine that transform raw ingredients into the smorgasbord of supermarket food, street food, Michelin-star restaurant food, fast food, and home-cooked meals.

By participating, you will help to create a richer, more nuanced picture of Africa's creative and production landscape. Whether you're a professional photographer, a hobbyist, or someone who loves capturing life's moments, we invite you to share your perspective on 'Farm to Plate!'

Klein_River_Cheese_Making.jpg <https://w.wiki/DK9M>CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Capturing Cultivation and Cuisine

Submissions may cover diverse aspects of agriculture, such as fishery, livestock, poultry, and crop production. This can include cultivation (showing fields, orchards, and farmers nurturing crops), weeding, pest control, and harvesting (whether it's hand-picking or using machinery to gather ripe crops). You can also feature farm equipment like tractors and plows, as well as distribution centres and markets where produce is sorted, graded, and prepared for consumption.

Food transformation can be showcased, such as mills grinding grains into flour, factories canning and bottling produce, or artisanal bakeries crafting bread and pastries. Butchers can be seen expertly preparing meats, and other forms of food processing are also welcome.

The culinary arts are also a key part of this theme, highlighting how chefs and home cooks turn raw ingredients into mouth-watering dishes. This can include scenes of sizzling pans, steaming pots in restaurant kitchens, traditional home cooking, food styling, plating, and presentation. The use of kitchen tools, cooking techniques like grilling or roasting, and traditional methods such as wood-fired ovens are all important aspects to capture.

Ultimately, this theme celebrates the complex process of transforming raw farm produce into delicious, nutritious meals ready to be enjoyed.

File:Farmers in Igunga, Tanzania.jpg <https://w.wiki/DHwV> by Michaelgoima,, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

“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. (From The problem with photojournalism and Africa, Al Jazeera, 2017)

Wiki Loves Africa not only changes how Africa is perceived but also provides a necessary visible platform to grow the skills of African professional photographers eager to present their visual artistry to the world. Over 10,000 photographers from 55 countries have submitted entries throughout Wiki Loves Africa’s history. This is no mean feat in a region where access to and access for professional photographers is notoriously low. World Press Photo’s annual competition laments that 2% of its global entries are submitted from Africa.

How to get involved

Wiki Loves Africa is open for entries until 30 April. Entries are accepted from anywhere globally but must represent ‘Africa’ and the theme of “Farm to Plate!” Over 30 local volunteer Wikimedia communities across Africa are hosting multiple events. Get in touch with your local groups and chapters to join photowalks, workshops, and edit-a-thons. All entries must be released under a free license and uploaded via Wikimedia Commons, the media library for Wikipedia, and other Wikimedia knowledge portals: bit.ly/wla25_enter

Entries are judged on their quality and relevance to the theme, as well as their encyclopaedic value. Winners will be announced (insert 2025 date)

How to enter

Each entry is directly added to Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository that provides many of the images used on Wikipedia. To participate, you only need to create a free Wikimedia Commons account.

1. Enter your photographs, videos, or audio files: please visit the competition portal.
2. Attend a local event or learn more about Wikimedia in your country, please visit this link providing access to each Wikimedia community.
3. Tell others about the Wiki Loves Africa competition or post your entries on social media using #WikiLovesAfrica, and tag @WikiLovesAfrica in your posts.

Community Focus: Local Organisers

Community organisers play an important role in the success of Wiki Loves Africa each year, creating local events from photo walks to Wikimedia Commons upload workshops and editing training. We had the pleasure of asking Sichelesile Similo Ndlovu, a Zimbabwean Wikimedian in her fourth year of organising local Wiki Loves Africa events in her country, 10 questions about her experience.

WLA: When did you first start organising local WLA events, and what inspired you to get involved?

SSN: I started organising Wiki Loves Africa in 2022 with the theme Home and Habitat. As a newbie on Wikimedia, I was looking for something interesting to introduce specifically to my community, which includes students and teachers. The theme resonated with the Heritage subject, which had no pictures representing Zimbabwe online. I introduced the campaign to my community, and all went well. This campaign was participated in by the Humanities Department of the school.

WLA: What are the biggest challenges you face organising local WLA events in Zimbabwe? You mentioned during the launch that there is some opposition to open information, which makes things difficult.

SSN: While organising events, I faced many challenges. First, explaining what Wikipedia is and how we can contribute to closing the content gap on Zimbabwe was difficult. Participants also wanted to be paid to do the photo hunts, and the finances to run the campaign did not come on time from the Fiscal Sponsor, as they were provided in very small amounts due to funding limits. However, being one of the leaders in our team has given me the opportunity to lead and train others, raising new leaders passionate about contributing to Wikimedia.

WLA: What events do you have planned for this year, and where can budding photographers and Wikimedians find you?

SSN: In 2025, we as Team Zimbabwe have big plans that include:

The Northern Ndebele language currently in the incubator moving to the main space. This is very important, as Northern Ndebele is one of the two local languages used in Zimbabwe and is examined in schools, yet there are no freely available resources for students.
A Part 2 of How to Contribute to Wikimedia from Zimbabwe.
Participation in other campaigns like Wiki Loves Africa, 1Lib1Ref, and Wiki Loves Women.
Training more leaders across the country to run different campaigns by helping them set up in their areas and organise and run their own events.

Almost everything you need to know about Team Zimbabwe can be found on our Meta page.

WLA: If you had to choose three images that moved you from your local events since you started organising, which are they, and what is it about them that makes them special to you?

SSN: The images that are special to me (pictured above) all have one thing in common—our culture. What makes them special is that these creative traditions are slowly being overridden by modernisation. It is important for us to participate in these campaigns to preserve our culture and way of life before modernisation takes over, ensuring that future generations can appreciate and learn from them.

WLA: If you could be granted any wish for your local community from the Wikimedia Foundation for your WLA events, what support would you ask for? Put another way, what do you feel you need as a community that you don’t currently have access to?

SSN: As a budding community, we have many wishes, but the most important is gaining recognition from the Wikimedia Foundation as an official community. We have not yet met the requirements, as there have not been consistent campaigns—mainly because people prefer to be paid to participate. Advocacy support to spread awareness of Wikimedia across the country would be very helpful. We would also love financial support and physical support, such as visits from established Wikimedia communities as part of a pilot study in Zimbabwe. That would give us the confidence to continue and help us reach even the most challenging sectors, such as media and education.

WLA: What is the best piece of advice you were given when you first became a Wikimedian? And what advice would you give a newbie to the Wikimedia community in Zimbabwe?

SSN: As a newbie, I was told that contributing gives one a sense of ownership; however, one must always be guided by the rules. I always encourage newcomers not just to consume information but also to contribute to it. In Zimbabwe, there are many content gaps, and we need people to focus on their areas of expertise so they can collaborate effectively with Wikipedia rather than duplicating efforts.

Celebrating Women!

To celebrate Women's History Month, Wiki Loves Women is running a Tell Us About Her drive on the ISA Tool. Play the ISA Tool and add structure data to Women in Literature, because Visibility matters!

Don't miss WikiAfrica Hour on the last Wednesday of every month! WikiAfrica Hour is a monthly vodcast to support the activities of wikimedians across Africa. This month: WikiAfrica Hour #44: Women Visibility: How Wikimedia Movement sheds light on women.

Wiki Ọ̀tọ̀ launched on 1st of March. This exciting Wiki Loves Women initiative addresses the information gap about African women on Wikidata. Click here to read more.

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