Outstanding Professional advancing Open Access to Cultural Heritage Award/FAQ
Why this award?
The award has the following goals:
- To honor Effie Kapsalis' legacy by making it known to other people, highlighting how she contributed to the movement for open access in the cultural heritage field and how she found support and allyship in the Wikimedia communities.
- To provide support to cultural heritage professionals and activists by giving them public recognition and the opportunity to connect with the Wikimedia community at large.
You can read more about Effie Kapsalis and her legacy on her Wikipedia bio.
How are awardees chosen?
This award consists of the following steps:
A nomination process where Wikimedia community members can nominate cultural heritage professionals and/or activists that are doing outstanding work to bring open access to cultural heritage within their institutions or communities. Selection Committee — formed by people from the Wikimedia community and renowned cultural heritage professionals that knew Effie Kapsalis in her professional capacity — will select from the nominees and announce the award.
What does the award include?
The award will consist of a travel scholarship to a Wikimedia Conference during 2024, 2025 and 2026 (flight ticket, accommodation, visa fees, conference fees and a small per diem). This award does not affect other people’s opportunities to get a scholarship to those Conferences.
Who can receive the award?
For this award, only people nominated by a third party can be considered for the award. You can't self-nominate.
This award is specifically directed towards cultural heritage professionals. We understand that oftentimes a cultural heritage professional can also be a Wikimedia volunteer. For the purposes of this award, the career path as a cultural heritage professional will be given greater weight in the Selection Committee's assessment.
Who can nominate a cultural heritage professional?
Any Wikimedia community member working with GLAM Wiki partnerships in their country or region. For 2024, the focus was on Latin America, following the momentum of GLAM Wiki in Uruguay.
What are the criteria for receiving the award?
The selection committee will evaluate nominations based on criteria that reflect the impact of the nominee's work on the landscape of open access to cultural heritage.
When will the nomination happen?
The nomination period will be announced through relevant communication channels of GLAM Wiki communities, such as Telegram groups, mailing lists, newsletters, etc. For 2025, there is time till July 31st to fill in the form.
I have a different question that is not being answered here. Who can I contact?
You can write to info [at] wikimedistas.uy for further information.