The second edition of the Africa Wiki Challenge writing contest has been launched by Open Foundation West Africa, a soft skills tech-based organization and a network of communities, committed to digitally representing and preserving the culture of Africa.
The Africa Wiki Challenge is a writing contest aimed at bridging the content gap about Africa on Wikipedia. The first edition of the contest with the theme “Landmarks in Africa” saw 184 editors from 12 African countries including Ghana with 1.1k articles created and 2.5k articles improved on Wikipedia.
According to Similarweb.com, as of 2021, Wikipedia ranked the number one (1) most visited encyclopedia in the world.
The theme for this year’s writing contest is “Projecting African Culture”.
Professor Kodzo Gavua who is an archaeologist and Ethnographer Lecturer at the University of Ghana during the launch said that for Africans to project and protect the culture of Africa, we need to reconceptualize what we may refer to, as the culture of Africa.
A number of centuries now, there have been several attempts to disconnect Africans from their past.
“There are core elements of the culture that we may transform positively and project because those aspects are mental based, irrespective of what has been done to us, that’s the arts. The arts continue to be the major aspect of our culture”, he said.
The theme “Projecting African Culture” was chosen not just to project Africa’s culture as a whole but to also serve as an inspiration to document our own story on the continent.
Anyone interested in the proper representation of Africa on Wikipedia can participate in the contest to project the Culture of Africa on the web.
The contest calls on Africans in and outside Africa to contribute content about African diverse culture that falls under the theme.
The contest will solicit participation through writing, improving existing articles, and uploading photos, audio, and videos.
The contest starts from 27th May to 30th June 2022.
Winners of the contest will receive fantastic prizes for their contribution.
By Francis Quasie
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