Wikipedia 25/ga
Happy birthday, Wikipedia!
Wikipedia's global virtual birthday party is available to watch back on YouTube and Wikimedia Commons.
Wikipedia turned 25 on 15 January 2026
This Wikipedia 25 Meta-Wiki page is a framework for the global Wikimedia movement to coordinate around the 25th anniversary of Wikipedia. The celebration will last throughout 2026. We are celebrating 25 years of knowledge, humanity, and collaboration at its best. Together and piece by piece, we build the sum of all human knowledge.
Explore these resources to help you plan, promote, and share in celebrating Wikipedia’s 25th anniversary – before, during, and after the festivities:
- A space to organize and plan events and meetups to celebrate the 25th,
- Tips and inspiration on how to organize and run an event,
- A celebration toolkit of visual assets to share and celebrate,
- A collection of tips for pitching to local media,
- A guide on using social media to spread awareness,
- A place to share birthday photos, videos, stories, and more.
Get involved
- Find an event nearby or remotely or find some helpful resources to help you plan one. We already have more than 70 events, and hope to have many more.
- Talk to the local press. Resources, including a press release template and resources on working with the media, are available to support you in your press outreach efforts.
- Use Wikipedia 25 materials. We’re inviting you to make your own illustrations, apparel, presentations, and branded elements with the templates and guidelines here.
- Help with translating. Help us get the word out about Wikipedia 25 in as many languages as possible by joining our translation efforts!
- Want to add a cute 25th birthday mascot to your Wikipedia? Get in touch with the team to take part in this experiment to create a special feature with fun “easter egg” surprises for readers starring Baby Globe. This special feature will be available from 16 Feb 2026 till 16 March 2026 on the Wikipedia portal page, and any interested Wikipedias.
- Pre-order a Baby Globe plushie, Wikipedia’s curious little birthday mascot.
- Watch and share our 9-part social media docuseries
- Wish Wikipedia a happy birthday! Use the “Add Yours” sticker on Wikipedia's Instagram to share your wishes. We aim to later stitch all wishes together to create the longest birthday card.
Approach
See below for some general things to know about the overall approach for the 25th birthday celebration:
- Based on our experience celebrating Wikipedia's 20th birthday five years ago, we know this celebration is a time when we will have the world's attention. Our goal is to capitalize on this moment to reach a broad, public audience with our key messages and calls to action. The 25th birthday celebration is a feel-good moment of impact.
- While the technical birthdate is 15 Jan. 2026, the celebration will have a much longer lifespan. We will begin building excitement about the birthday in November 2025. The main communications campaign will launch in January 2026 while we celebrate the in-person event as a movement at Wikimania Paris. Movement and partner activities and events will happen throughout the 2026 calendar year.
- The 25th birthday celebration is not about English Wikipedia. It is about the birth of Wikipedia as a concept — a creation that has evolved to be in over 300 languages.
We hope that people around the world, in as many countries as possible, celebrate Wikipedia's 25th birthday. To support this goal, the 25th birthday celebration will include a global campaign centered on the existing “Knowledge is Human" theme.