Wiki Loves Africa 2026

Contents

Wiki Loves Africa

Wiki Loves Africa (WLA) is an annual contest where anyone across Africa can contribute free media that is relevant to their experience to Wikimedia Commons for use on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia communities (Wikimedia movement), and also make this shared media freely available for the Humankind.

Wiki Loves Africa encourages participants to contribute media (photographs, video and audio) that illustrate the specific theme for that year. Each year the theme changes and is chosen by the community from a few universal, visually rich and culturally specific topics (for example, markets, rites of passage, festivals, public art, cuisine, natural history, urbanity, daily life, notable persons, etc).

When

The project is a competition which takes place from March 1st till April 30th 2026

Theme

Wiki Loves Africa particularly encourages participants to contribute media that illustrate a specific theme for that year. Each year the theme changes and could include any universal, visually rich and culturally specific topic (for example, markets, rites of passage, festivals, public art, cuisine, natural history, urbanity, daily life, notable persons, etc).

In 2026, the contest theme will be Rites and Rituals

Earlier, the contest theme were

Where

The project is run at the entire African continent level. However, every year, specific actions (training, communication etc.) are held in some countries with national organisers.

For more information on how to message around WLA head over to the messaging and Media page

Prizes

At the end of the contest, some national organizers host local ceremonies and prizes (some others do not). This is up to local teams to decide if they want to host ceremonies.

In any cases, there is a global jury, and global selection of international winners (usually between 3 to 6), with prizes.

The 2026 international prizes categories are

Photography: