Education/News/August 2024/Results of the 2023 “Wikipedia for School” Contest in Ukraine
Results of the 2023 “Wikipedia for School” Contest in Ukraine
From October 1 to November 30, 2023, this contest was held in Ukraine for the fourth time, continuing its mission to enhance Wikipedia as a valuable educational resource for school teachers and students. The goal was to create and improve articles that would serve as useful learning materials for both students and educators. This contributes to improving the quality of the educational process and better comprehension of academic subjects.
This year, the contest featured 11 subjects: world history, geography, civic education, history of Ukraine, foreign literature, computer science, art, Ukrainian literature, physics, mathematics, and pedagogy (a special nomination).
The majority of this year's participants were school teachers and university lecturers, joined by other education professionals, including librarians.
The contest took place under extraordinary challenges for the entire country, which continues to face Russia’s military invasion. Despite the ongoing war and regular power outages, participants continued their work on creating and improving articles, finding time and opportunities to contribute, often working late at night or under limited internet access conditions.
The contest relied on the expertise of the organizing committee, which included experienced Wikipedians and subject matter experts. They were responsible for preparing quality article lists for each subject area.
Marina Lebid, who joined the organizing committee for the first time this year, shared her experience: “This was my first time joining the organizing committee to determine topics for Ukrainian language and literature and to review articles on Ukrainian and foreign literature. I have ten years of teaching experience in these subjects at educational institutions. It is a pleasure to be part of the Wikipedia community among educators in our country, to exchange knowledge, and to learn from each other. As a teacher, I am interested in using verified and reliable Wikipedia articles in my lessons.”
The contest focused not only on the quantity but also on the quality of the articles. Submissions had to meet certain criteria and be evaluated by a professional and impartial jury.
Iryna Buchnieva, who was a contest winner in previous years and joined the organizing committee and jury this year, shared her impressions: “When I wrote articles for the contest, it felt like I was sharing knowledge with others, with students. When I created the contest lists, I realized how many more articles still needed to be done. And when I reviewed the articles, especially in geography, I felt a little envious that I hadn't written such great articles myself.”
The jury determined the winners in each subject separately in two categories: the author of the best individual article in their subject and the contestant with the highest overall score for all articles. To win one of the prize places, participants needed to score the required number of points according to the rules. For the first place, it was 60 points, for the second — 30, and for the third — 15. If no one scored the required number of points, the place remained unoccupied.
To support the contest, organizers held several webinars during the contest, as well as a post-contest online award ceremony, which concluded with an informal discussion about the upcoming 2024 contest.