Talk:Wikimedia CEE Spring 2026

WM terminology explained

I am trying to work with few people from different backgrounds and levels of experience (including newbies), but to whomever I sent links (to elaboration texts from Meta) people are either confused or interpret terminology we use in different ways. Would it be possible to map few key terms and how they are used in the context of Wikimedia and maybe also specifically CEE Spring?

Zblace (talk) 09:37, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

@MHeidarzadeh-CEEhub: probably you may help with that? Lvova (talk) 16:22, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

Well, it seems like a big task, I'll add it into our agenda for the next meeting. Lvova (talk) 08:48, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

other timelines

Maybe it would be good to clarify/illustrate that aside from Wikimedia CEE Spring 2026 - General Timeline there can be shorter and non-continuous timelines also - if that is the case - no? Zblace (talk) 09:40, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

Philip will do a timeline like that, but in the last moment, when all communities that want to participate will be listed. Lvova (talk) 16:20, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

That is reasonable in terms of thematic focuses. I was thinking in terms of different dynamics/length of sub-contests.--Zblace (talk) 18:11, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

Every language community can make their own CEE Spring shorter than 21.03-31.05; if we will add additionally some shorter sub-contests, it will be a problem, so we should not. Lvova (talk) 18:38, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

@Lvova I am not understanding why it would be a problem? Language communities often have much more resources to start with (sometimes even own affiliate), they are also given more resources...meanwhile sub-contests do harder work of content-gaps and have less resources and are given less - if anything I would thing the opposite would be the case. Am I missing some info and/or failing to understand? Zblace (talk) 08:27, 7 March 2026 (UTC)

Our timeline may be like "CEE Women just since 21.03 till 21.04", and the whole CEE Spring for some country may be since 1.05 till 31.05. Lvova (talk) 09:22, 7 March 2026 (UTC)

on CEE Spring in English

In regards to options to hold the CEE in English sub-contest, or have the contest managed by local organizers, or implement both options (as person who worked on 2022) I think I would like to do it with at least one more person in whichever way we decide, but likely with more specific focus in sub-contest. I will outreach to few individuals.--Zblace (talk) 18:11, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

For the sake of transparency I am still looking for a person to join me in organizing sub-contest. -- Zblace (talk) 17:19, 20 March 2026 (UTC)

to include Iran

Whether to include Iran in the Hall of Fame and the main (not guest) participating communities - IMHO it is fairly easy YES.--Zblace (talk) 18:11, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

to include Nigeria

I'd like to host this contest locally in Nigeria and specifically in my homewiki Yorùbá Wikipedia. What are the things to put in place, and where can I add my name as a local organiser? Which category best suits? I will need more clarification and procedures to follow. many thanks Royalesignature (talk) 23:37, 8 March 2026 (UTC)

Hi @Royalesignature! I see Yorùbá Wikipedia is still very small and with very few contributors though language is spoken by many...

Is it because English or some other language is used by students at high level?

I see you are also experienced contributor to English Wikipedia

Would you consider contributing to that effort?

--Zblace (talk) 01:58, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

Hi @Zblace, thank you for your response.

Yes, one of the major reasons Yorùbá Wikipedia still has relatively few contributors is that most formal education in Nigeria is conducted in English, especially at higher levels. As a result, many people are more comfortable reading and writing academic content in English, even though Yorùbá is widely spoken.

That said, I strongly believe it is important to grow knowledge in indigenous languages. I already contribute to both English and Yorùbá Wikipedia, and I am interested in strengthening the Yorùbá Wikipedia community through initiatives like this contest, local trainings, and editor engagement.

I would really appreciate further clarification on the procedures for hosting the contest locally—what needs to be put in place, which participation category would best suit Yorùbá Wikipedia, and where I can add my name as a local organiser.

Many thanks.

Royalesignature (talk) 02:38, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

@Royalesignature I totally understand the small language issue. We in Southeas Europe (territory of former SFR Yugoslavia) have a macro language SH/CBSM with medium sized Wikipedia and over 20.0000.000 speakers, but since the split of Yugoslavian federation lingual fragmentation made it less easy/feasible to publish higher education books in smaller languages. Most younger people are focused on English for reading and writing, while speaking on the SH spectrum.

I doubt this competition can have as one of the goals to support indigenous languages in Africa, but maybe working on content that is interested for both could be done via English? Let me know if you are interested in that. Example could be expanding on shared history of Non-Aligned_Movement. Zblace (talk) 07:59, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

Hi!

Yes, this competition supports any language that wants to be part of and write articles about the CEE region (Zblace, why do you write that we will not?!).

You should list yourself here (Guest communities of CEE region) and follow usual recommendations for the organisers (Wikimedia CEE Spring 2026/Organizing). Please, let me know if you have specific questions after this manual. Lvova (talk) 08:25, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

@Royalesignature (I should ping in the first message but don't have this habit, sorry). Lvova (talk) 08:30, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

@Royalesignature Hi. You can organise the contest in Yorùbá Wikipedia, as the contest is open to all languages outside of the CEE region.

You have to add your language as guest community and read the organising manual that Lvova mentioned above. I believe that this contest can be exceptionally useful to provide articles about the CEE region in Yorùbá, so I encourage you to organise it. NikosLikomitros (talk) 10:06, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

noted for action many thanks Royalesignature (talk) 02:04, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Dear@NikosLikomitros,

Thank you for your encouragement and guidance. We are already planning to organize the contest within the Yoruba Wikipedia community and will proceed with adding Yoruba as a guest community while reviewing the organizing manual.

However, we currently have limited resources to support key aspects of the contest such as training venues, internet support for contributors, merchandise, and prizes to encourage participation. Additionally, contributors in Nigeria presently do not have access to the Rapid Fund program.

Could you kindly advise if there is any available funding mechanism we can explore to support the project within the timeline? Also, will our contributors still be eligible for the available global prizes even if we organize the contest with limited local resources?

Best regards,

Royales

(On behalf of the Yoruba Wikipedia Fan Club Offa Community) Royalesignature (talk) 07:00, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

CEE Spring 2026 Timeline

Do you plan to introduce theme weeks as in previous edition? Halfbricking (talk) 08:52, 20 March 2026 (UTC)

Yes, but in the last minute (of in the first minutes :)), because it is based on the list of participants, and others still can join. Lvova (talk) 10:18, 20 March 2026 (UTC)

I've got two questions for the compiler of the timeline:

• Montenegro was listed among the participating communities in the 2022 and 2023 editions, while in 2024 and 2025 it was not. In none of there years there has been an organiser signed up specifically in the name of Montenegro, but in all four years there has been a 'Serbo-Croatian'/'region of the former Yugoslavia' organiser. There's an 'International, region of the former Yugoslavia' organiser this year too. Will Montenegro be considered a participating community this year? I don't have any affiliation with the Montenegrin Wikimedians but wish there were as many participating countries as possible :)
• Is an "international" article required to make it into this year's hall of fame?

—Upwinxp (talk) 07:54, 21 March 2026 (UTC)

Regarding the above: the list of "mandatory" countries and communities needs to be updated at Wikimedia CEE Spring 2026/Statistics/Authors Hall of Fame too. MastiBot might also need an adjustment of this year's participants. —Upwinxp (talk) 13:20, 21 March 2026 (UTC)

Thank you, yes, we remember all this questions and we are working on them. I wrote you in the CEE chat that this task cannot be done in advance because it is based on the list of participants. We try to finalize the list asap. Lvova (talk) 16:48, 21 March 2026 (UTC)

Hello!

The list was approved and sent to Masti, should go live soon then. It was decided to keep the list rather compact, so unfortunately there will not be Montenegro, for example. Lvova (talk) 16:17, 24 March 2026 (UTC)

Transpose the columns and rows?

Hello. Re: Wikimedia CEE Spring 2026/Statistics, project language codes are by nature very short and are ideal for narrow columns. The category names, on another hand, would be more accessible (readable) if they were rows. By transposing the two we could make both horizontally oriented text. –Vipz (talk) 21:22, 21 March 2026 (UTC)

@Masti Lvova (talk) 08:48, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

@Lvova, @Vipz: Yes that can be done. I will think about it. masti <talk> 09:00, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

@Masti: Can you, please, also check whether anything needs to be updated in order to correctly identify the countries (and themes) for shwiki? Our template is documented here: sh:Šablon:CEE Spring 2026. Thanks! –Vipz (talk) 17:43, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

checked, and corrected, field names. Should be OK now. masti <talk> 18:23, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

On the other hand, transposing the columns and rows would, for example, prevent readers from easily sorting the competing wikis by number of articles. I personally am okay with the current table. Upwinxp (talk) 19:52, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

I will, for sure, not delete the current one. Maybe add the transposed as option. masti <talk> 20:06, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

Armenia in statistic

Hello, Where does the statistics get the data from? Articles created by Armenian participants do not appear in the statistics, even though the category originally existed and was added to Wikidata. Beko (talk) 05:10, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

@Masti Lvova (talk) 08:47, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

@LvovaIt gets articles marked with CEE Spring templates in discussion pages. I will look later today into missing languages. masti <talk> 09:01, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

fixed. masti <talk> 20:05, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

Taking part in CEE Spring 2026 - Women

Hello, I have taken part in the German language Wikipedia CEE Spring 2025 and 2024. This year there is no one to organize it, so I was wondering if I am allowed to participate on my own or as part of the Greek language Wikipedia. If the answer is "Yes" - How can I enlist? Can I write in German and Greek or only in one language? Osenji (talk) 13:48, 24 March 2026 (UTC)

As far as I am personally a little bit lost in it, I call @Kiril Simeonovski to answer :) Lvova (talk) 16:22, 24 March 2026 (UTC)

Dear Osenji, yes, you can participate in CEE Spring even though no-one organises it in the German Wikipedia. It is strongly recommended to create and add the CEE Spring template on the talk pages of all articles that you have written in the contest, but you can also keep track of your contributions in other ways (the most direct approach is to make a list of articles on your own). Finally, there is no restriction on the number of languages you can contribute in, so you can write articles in all languages that you are familiar with. I wish you a fruitful work. Best regards. --Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 13:14, 25 March 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for the answer, Kiril Simeonovski. I 'll do this. --Osenji (talk) 15:34, 25 March 2026 (UTC)

I would like to add, that much probably to add a template is the only way; I think that the bot will rewrite entries if just to add them in the table. Lvova (talk) 21:41, 25 March 2026 (UTC)

#quoteme

Hello, I have created a local page for the #Quoteme subproject, but I cannot find it in other languages. Also, I would like to know whether there should be any requirements regarding article length or size to make the rules section clearer. Panpanchik (talk) 08:03, 25 March 2026 (UTC)

Thank you Panpanchik. I think the Uzbek Wikiquote is the first to locally organise CEE Spring on this Wikimedia project, so that's the reason why the project page isn't available in other languages. There's no minimum requirement about the article length in Quote me on regional level, but the length in words will be taken into account while evaluating the contributions. However, you are free to introduce local rules regarding article length on the Uzbek Wikiquote, and the international team strongly encourages the local organisers to define the local rules themselves. I wish you a lot of success. Best regards. --Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 13:20, 25 March 2026 (UTC)

What about Slovakia?

is Slovakia also a topic? ~2026-19034-41 (talk) 09:44, 27 March 2026 (UTC)

Yes, it is. Lvova (talk) 21:35, 27 March 2026 (UTC)

West Armenian and International for bswiki

Sup yo, @Masti. I have tagged the articles as how I think they should be, but they are not appearing in the stats. Namely, two articles: Sose Mayrig (West Armenia) and Tamara Hrinčenko (International). After that, bswiki should have them all. Peace. Mhare (talk) 16:17, 27 March 2026 (UTC)

Hi yes I saw it. International is fixed, Western Armenian will be in a next run as I made a typo. I have a speciala page Wikimedia CEE Spring 2026/Statistics/Other countries where I check for missing params and fix it as they are found. masti <talk> 16:29, 27 March 2026 (UTC)

Thank you, legend. Mhare (talk) 17:21, 27 March 2026 (UTC)

Hey man, what's up. Seems now just Crimea is not registering. The bs:Nika Turbina is tagged as Crimea (Krim). Thank you for the assistance. Mhare (talk) 21:20, 29 March 2026 (UTC)

fixed. masti <talk> 21:52, 30 March 2026 (UTC)

Crimean Tatars at rowiki

Hello @Masti: What needs to be done in order to have these pages counted in the row for Romanian, column for Crimean Tatars? Gikü (talk) 21:27, 27 March 2026 (UTC)

Note: I suppose whatever the fix might be, it would sort out Wikimedia CEE Spring 2026/Statistics/Authors Hall of Fame/countries as well for the Romanian editors writing about Crimean Tatars. Gikü (talk) 21:28, 27 March 2026 (UTC)

I have just update both country list and Hall of Fame. It will be visible soon. masti <talk> 21:45, 27 March 2026 (UTC)

List of available topics

Hi there, sorry, I have several questions, because I'm confused about what is and isn't a part of the contest, country/community-wise. Nowhere on the page do I see a full list of countries/communities that are a part of this contest and thus which articles we can/cannot create and sign up for the contest. Are those listed in the List of Articles the only available ones? Or are those suggested and we can do everything listed in the Statistics? I find this very confusing, why's there not a list on some of the main pages? I'm trying to make a map for use on Slovak Wikipedia, but it's difficult if they're not listed somewhere explicitly. (Also, on Slovak Wiki, we don't have templates for specific countries.)

On a related note, what are the guest communities - do these have to also be related to the countries from my questions above? Or are these regions also included? (Which would then mean, if I exaggerate, that we essentially include half the world? Can I write articles about people from Iran that have no connection to the region of Central and Eastern Europe, for example?)

I'm really confused, someone tell me what I am allowed to write articles about, please. I am a regular WikiSpring contributor and I want to help the cause, but am really unsure what's included and what isn't. KormiSK (talk) 20:16, 30 March 2026 (UTC)

Hi @KormiSK, I've moved Iran to the international part, but the article lists are only suggestions and not relevant to the topics. In general, everything related to CEE (with its fuzzy margins) is relevant to the contest, the guest communities are not relevant topics, although I'm sure they'd be happy if you'd write about them. Braveheart (talk) 16:21, 31 March 2026 (UTC)

Ok, I can work with fuzzy margins, thanks! Whatever is connected to the general understanding of the region then gets a green light. I appreciate your help! KormiSK (talk) 19:21, 31 March 2026 (UTC)

Yes, the lack of a unified list of participating countries is indeed a problem. Managing it in its current form—as a list of subpages—is neither convenient nor effective. For example, just recently I added the Don region and North-Caucasus to the overall list for 2025, even though a page for it already existed—it simply wasn’t included in the index. On ruwiki, I created a table of participants ru:Шаблон:Вики-весна/страна based on the existing subpages for each year on metawiki. It would be great to have a similar table for participating countries, showing when each joined and when they stopped participating. Such a table could also directly link to the subpages with articles. Additionally, a separate table for topic would be useful, as I mention below. Solidest (talk) 10:13, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

I think that @MHeidarzadeh-CEEhub can create this table. Mohammad, if you need the better motivation about this action, please, ask your questions. Lvova (talk) 16:28, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

Standartize topics across all lists?

Hi. This question is related to the one above. While creating templates and categories for ruwiki, I more or less figured out the lists of countries, regions, guest countries, and ethnic groups. But what should be done with the article topics for which categories are also created across all wikis (e.g. Category:Articles written during Wikimedia CEE Spring 2026 on Society (Q138501718))? At the moment, there seems to be no established list or clear understanding of what should be created and what should not. On ruwiki, back in 2016, dozens of themes were listed, including “Wiki Loves... in Bulgaria,” which still exists to this day. In the following years, I managed to narrow the list down to about 15 topics. However, some contributors continue to create categories for topics like "cinema," which is used only on a a couple country's page.

Here is the full list of all existing themes along with their usage counts across different countries in 2026 lists:

• History 46
• Culture 45
• Women 42
• Nature / Geography 37
• Sports 33
• Politics 31
• Society 31
• Science 29
• Economics 25
• Human rights 25
• Education 19
• Architecture 18
• Transport 18
• Music 8
• Economy 6
• Literature 6
• Men 6
• Society / Politics 5
• Geography 4
• Science / Education 4
• Youth 4
• Art 3
• Traditions and food 3
• Buildings and structures 2
• Cuisine 2
• Films 2
• Food 2
• Language 2
• Museums 2
• Nature/Geography 2
• People 2
• Religion 2
• Science and technology 2
• Society and politics 2
• Visual art 2
• Agriculture 1
• Architecture & Culture 1
• Architecture / Infrastructure 1
• Armenian gods and mythology 1
• Armenian sportswomen 1
• Armenian women politicians 1
• Arts 1
• Bashkir State University 1
• Books and fairy tales 1
• Buildings / Structures 1
• Children 1
• Dialects and Para-Romani 1
• Economy and technology 1
• Education / Literature 1
• Education / Science 1
• Education/Literature 1
• Erzya Language Day 1
• Events 1
• Famous Aromanians 1
• Fortress 1
• Infrastructure / Economy 1
• Institutions 1
• Iranian festivals 1
• LGBTIQ+ 1
• Literary works 1
• Medicine 1
• Military 1
• Nature 1
• Nature and geography 1
• Organisations 1
• Painters & Paintings 1
• People from CEE descent who were born/lived in Macedonia 1
• Persian cuisine 1
• Plays (theatre), Ballets, Operas 1
• Politics and Law 1
• Relations 1
• Science / Medicine 1
• Science / Technology 1
• Science and education 1
• Sculptures & Monuments 1
• Society / Sport 1
• Songs & Albums 1
• Sport 1
• Theatres in Armenia 1
• Transport / Infrastructure 1
• University 1
• War in Europe 1
• Western Armenian 1
• Western Armenian Diaspora 1
• Western Armenians 1
• Wiki Loves... in Bulgaria 1
• Wikimedia Technology, Values and Vision 1
• Youth in Armenia 1

Perhaps it would make sense to standardize this list by reducing it to 15–20 universal themes and publishing it somewhere on a meta page, so it’s clear which article categories should be created on each wiki. And if it's probably too late to do this for 2026, then it might be worth preparing it for 2027? Solidest (talk) 10:07, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for your idea!

It is definetely too late for 2026; for 2027 we will discuss, but every standartization requires a control, and we don't control local organisers, so I may bet about the decision. In 2016 in ruwiki and in all other projects lists were a requierement, participants had to write articles from suggestions, but now it is not like that. But still - probably we will find some compomise about it. Lvova (talk) 16:24, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

The problem is that, in its current form, the topics are often not followed on the Wikipedias anyway. People sometimes just add random topics, and it's good if someone is monitoring this on each wiki and correcting it. And this should also somehow be reflected in the category structure (unless topic categories are no longer needed for the contest at all). But for those who track this on each wiki, it would be much more convenient to have a predefined list to rely on—so they could select from existing topics in advance and set up the category structure beforehand, as I did on ruwiki.

I was recently cleaning up non-standard topics on ruwiki, choosing mainly from those used more than five times in the list above (with a few exceptions). Even then, it's sometimes hard to fit everything in—for example, there is a lack of categories for events, animals, or food (these exist, but don't appear to be standardized), and military topics often have to be placed under politics/society. And even after this clean-up, people added "military history" and "theatre" just today.

I believe that standardized table formatting for each country here on Meta-Wiki would play a key role—i.e., the headers of groups on each subpage of https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:PrefixIndex/Wikimedia_CEE_Spring_2026/Structure/
. Then, based on these lists, the content could be transferred to Wikipedia when someone decides to clean up their wiki. But even if they don't, the key topics will most likely remain as they are, and the various like "Wiki Loves in Bulgaria" pages were probably never created as separate categories in the first place and aren't particularly useful, in my opinion. Solidest (talk) 17:55, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

A system is one of solutions; to remove all topics that noone uses (we use 3 for the global contest), is another :) Thank you for the help to us as the local organisers, by the way! Lvova (talk) 19:14, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

Youth-related articles.

When writing or selecting youth-related articles, is it possible to include articles about individuals who died at a young age (for example, an article about en:Josip Murn (1879–1901))? Panpanchik (talk) 06:24, 8 April 2026 (UTC)