Wikimedia CEE Spring 2016/Press releases

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CEE Spring 2016 is a great event and we should let the world know about it. To make the task easier we have prepared sample press releases that you can use to get the word out. Feel free to translate those texts, adapt and remix them. And of course add your own if you feel like they may help or inspire others.

Sample promotional images[edit]

Or another logo from commons:Category:Wikimedia CEE Spring

Press release #1 (before the event)[edit]

Wikipedians from 22 countries to join forces, expanding the knowledge about Central and Eastern European countries.

Most active editors to receive awards

[Date, Place]

Wikipedia editors from Central and Eastern Europe are joining together to enrich Wikipedia's content relating to their region. Between March 21 and May 31 we will witness the article-writing competition "CEE Spring", one of the largest article writing contests in Wikipedia's 15 year history. Hundreds of volunteer editors from the 22 regional language versions of "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit" will create and improve entries related to the culture, history, geography, sports and politics of their neighbours. By the end of the contest, local versions of Wikipedia will feature thousands of new articles.

The aim of the contest is to gather information about the history, culture, traditions, and people from every corner of the Central and Eastern European region. This will promote mutual awareness and understanding by increasing the quantity and quality of free knowledge available about the CEE region. And that is an important task, since Wikipedia, the largest single source of knowledge on the Internet, still lacks detailed CEE-related information.

On many of the Wikipedias in the region, there is more information about larger countries than about our own part of the world. In the Bulgarian Wikipedia, for instance, there are 92 articles about cities in Belarus and 216 about cities in England, which has half the area of Belarus. The same can be said for politics, history, art, culture, etc. - says Nikola Kalchev, international coordinator of CEE Spring 2016.

The project is also a tool to facilitate regional cooperation, resulting in the closer integration of the Wikimedia movement, the global network of volunteers and non-profit organisations who work in support the Wikipedia websites.

We share similar history, culture and values so we should collaborate. - says Nikola. During CEE Spring, Wikipedians from different countries write on similar topics and get to know each other online. They share their work on social media, make friends from other countries, ask these friends for help with translating from languages they don't speak. The next time one of them needs a source from the other language, a document from the local archive, or help with organising another Wikimedia project, she will have another friend to ask for a helping hand.

Rules of the contest

[Add some brief information about your local rules and prizes]

More information
Contact information

[add your local coordinator and/or your organisation here]

Press release #2 (when the event starts)[edit]

[Date, Place]

CEE Spring 2016 is on the move - Europe’s largest Wikipedia article creation effort is live!

Wikipedians from 22 countries will earn rewards for writing about topics related to Central and Eastern Europe.

March 21 was the day CEE Spring 2016 launched - Europe’s largest Wikipedia article creation contest, as well as one of the largest wiki competitions globally. The 10 weeks between March 21 and May 31 will see volunteer WIkipedians from 22 countries write articles about the culture, history, geography, sports, notable people and institutions of Central and Eastern Europe. The goal of the contest is to eliminate the terra incognita of CEE-related subjects on Wikipedia.

On many of the Wikipedias in the region there is more information about larger countries than about our own region. On Bulgarian Wikipedia, for instance, there are 92 articles about cities in Belarus and 216 about cities in England, which has half the area of Belarus. Same goes for politics, history, art, culture, etc. - said Nikola Kalchev, international coordinator of CEE Spring 2016.

The organizers anticipate that several thousand new articles will be created or significantly improved during the contest; relating to the history, culture, politics, and geography of the region. Participants who register the largest content contributions will receive prizes. The contest is open to anybody, including those with no prior experience in editing Wikipedia.

More information
Contact information

[add your local coordinator and/or your organisation here]

Press release #3 (during the contest)[edit]

Translated from a news article by a Bulgarian journalist with permission https://news.bg/bulgaria/balgariya-e-sred-liderite-v-proletniya-konkurs-na-uikipediya.html

__COUNTRY__ is among the leaders in Wikipedia spring contest

__COUNTRY__ excels in the Wikipedia spring contest for writing articles about countries from the region of Central and Eastern Europe.

__COUNTRY__ editors rank __PLACE__ in activity of the 28 language communities taking part, with __COUNTRY__ community leading the list.

We remind you that the contest CEE Spring 2016 is running from the 21st of March to the 31st of May.

So far __COUNTRY__ Wikipedians have contributed __NUMBER__ new articles to the competition and have expanded __NUMBER__ of the existing already. It is worth noting that some of the editors are complete newcomers.

"You still may enrol in the competition and write about this interesting region, which had produced world renown scientists as Marie Curie, rock bands as "Omega", Nobel prize laureates as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, traditions shared between several countries as the "martenitsa" or opera stars as Solomiya Krushelnytska. The majority of the prizes in the different categories are large hardcover volumes of valuable books, which you may use in future as a reference in your next article for Wikipedia." – says Nikola Kalchev, one of the international organizers of "CEE Spring".

So far participants from all countries have created __NUMBER__ new articles and improved __NUMBER__ existing articles.

The __COUNTRY WITH MOST NEW ARTICLES__ version of the free encyclopaedia has grown by __NUMBER__ articles. On the other hand, __COUNTRY__ is one of the countries attracting the largest interest. We remind that the competitors may write articles on any country of their choice except their own.

When distribution of the articles by country is considered, __COUNTRY__ ranks sixth, with __COUNTRY__ being the leader. In total, __NUMBER__ new articles about __COUNTRY__ related topics have been created while for __LEADING COUNTRY__ this number is __NUMBER__.

With regard of the topics most favoured by the authors are the subjects related to participating countries culture followed by natural landmarks, history, remarkable women, sport and science.

The goal of CEE Spring 2016 contest is to accumulate and improve existing information in articles about the history, culture, traditions and notable people of each corner of the participating countries from the region.

The competition runs in __YOUR LOCAL RULES__ categories, and the prizes will be awarded by __YOUR LOCAL RULES__. The winners will be given valuable books to inform and inspire them to create new articles.

Awards will be given for best new article, participant with largest number of new articles created, editor with largest number of article improving contributions, largest volume of added information (in bytes), best newcomer, and for added information about women from the region. Detailed information about the competition has been published on Wikipedia:

__LINK TO YOUR LOCAL CONTEST PAGE__
Link to the international contest page
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