Wikipedia
Wikimedian of the Year
The Wikimedian of the Year is an annual award that honors Wikipedia editors and other contributors to Wikimedia projects to highlight major achievements within the Wikimedia movement, established in August 2011 by Wikipedia's co-founder Jimmy Wales. Wales selects the recipients and honors them at Wikimania, an annual conference of the Wikimedia Foundation—except in 2020, 2021, and 2022 when the recipients were announced at online meetings as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] From 2011 to 2017, the award was named Wikipedian of the Year.[2]
| Wikimedian of the Year | |
|---|---|
2023 recipient Taufik Rosman | |
| Awarded for | Major achievements within the Wikimedia movement |
| Location | Traditionally presented at Wikimania |
| Presented by | Jimmy Wales |
| Formerly called | Wikipedian of the Year |
| First awarded | August 2011 |
In 2011, the first title was given to Rauan Kenzhekhanuly for his work on the Kazakh Wikipedia. The following year, it was awarded to an editor identified as "Demmy" for creating a bot to translate 15,000 short English articles into Yoruba, a language spoken in Nigeria. In 2013, Rémi Mathis of Wikimédia France and the French Wikipedia was named for his role in an article controversy. In 2014, the award was given posthumously to Ukrainian journalist Ihor Kostenko, who actively promoted the Ukrainian Wikipedia on social networking sites and was killed during a protest. Wales named an undisclosed recipient in 2015, and hopes someday to tell their story. In 2016, the first joint award was presented to Emily Temple-Wood and Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight for their efforts to combat harassment on Wikipedia and increase its coverage of women. Other recipients include Felix Nartey in 2017, Farhad Fatkullin in 2018, and Emna Mizouni in 2019.
In addition to the main award, Susanna Mkrtchyan and Satdeep Gill were the first to receive honorable mentions in 2015. Since then, other honorable mentions have been conferred. The award was expanded in 2021 with additional categories including Media Contributor of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, Tech Contributor of the Year, and Wikimedia Laureate.
List of recipients Edit
| Year | Image | Recipient | Principal project | Rationale | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Rauan Kenzhekhanuly | Kazakh Wikipedia | Kenzhekhanuly recruited a stable community to improve the Kazakh Wikipedia, which in a year increased from 4 to over 200 active editors, and 7,000 to 130,000 articles. Wales was criticized by fellow Wikipedians because of Kenzhekhanuly's ties to the government of Kazakhstan. Wales stated on Reddit in 2015 that he'd been unaware of Kenzhekhanuly's prior positions in the Kazakh government and said that if he had known Kenzhekhanuly was going to go on to become deputy governor of a Kazakh region, he would have "refused to give that award".[3] | [2] [4] | |
| 2012 | — | "Demmy" | Yoruba Wikipedia | "Demmy" created a bot to translate 15,000 short English articles into Yoruba, a language spoken in Nigeria. | [2] |
| 2013 | Rémi Mathis | French Wikipedia | Mathis, a chairman of Wikimédia France and the French Wikipedia administrator, who received the honor for his role in the controversy surrounding the French article "Pierre-sur-Haute military radio station". | [5] [6] | |
| 2014 | Ihor Kostenko | Ukrainian Wikipedia | Kostenko, a Euromaidan activist, was an editor on the Ukrainian Wikipedia and actively promoted it on social networking sites. He was killed during a protest on February 20, 2014, and received the award posthumously. | [7] [8] | |
| 2015 | — | undisclosed | Wikimedia Commons | Wales named an anonymous Venezuelan editor in pectore, and hopes someday to tell the reasons why without endangering the recipient. | [9] |
| 2016 | Emily Temple-Wood | English Wikipedia | The first joint recipients for their efforts to combat harassment on Wikipedia and increase its coverage of women. Temple-Wood had created nearly 400 articles and improved hundreds more, many of which are about women scientists and LGBT and women's health. Stephenson-Goodknight had improved more than 3,000 articles, co-created a space to welcome new contributors to the site, and co-founded women's outreach projects, including the "WikiWomen's User Group", "WikiProject Women", and the "Women in Red" campaign. | [10] | |
| Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight | English Wikipedia | ||||
| 2017 | Felix Nartey | English Wikipedia | Nartey received the award for his addition of content about his home country, Ghana, and leading several initiatives to promote the importance of editing Wikipedia. In his dedication, Wales mentioned that Nartey played a leading role in the organization of the 2nd Wiki Indaba conference 2017 in Accra, and has been critical in building up the local communities in Africa. | [14] | |
| 2018 | Farhad Fatkullin | Tatar Wikipedia | In 2009, Fatkullin joined the Wikimedia movement. He describes himself as being "in love with Tatar Wikipedia". From 2015, Fatkullin has been contributing to Wikipedia on languages of Russia, including Tatar. | [15] | |
| 2019 | Emna Mizouni | Arabic Wikipedia | In 2013, Mizouni with other people founded Carthagina. She began contributing to Wikimedia projects in 2013 with that year's Wiki Loves Monuments. She has helped to organize several major Wikimedia conferences, including the inaugural WikiArabia conference, and co-chaired Wikimania 2018's program committee. In 2016, she joined the Affiliations Committee and in 2018, she became vice-chairperson of it. | [16] | |
| 2020 | Sandister Tei | English Wikipedia | Tei contributed actively to Wikipedia articles about the COVID-19 pandemic's impact in Ghana. | [1] | |
| 2021 | Alaa Najjar | Arabic Wikipedia | Najjar was honored at the Wikimania 2021 conference, which was held virtually, for his work on Arabic Wikipedia and on medical projects, especially the COVID-19 project. | [17] | |
| 2022 | Olga Paredes | Spanish Wikipedia | Paredes was honored at the virtual Wikimania 2022 conference for her leadership in communities including Wikimujeres and Wikimedistas de Bolivia, and for encouraging others, especially women, to grow the Wikimedia movement. | [18] | |
| 2023 | Taufik Rosman | Wikidata, Malay Wiktionary | Taufik was honored at the 2023 Wikimania conference in Singapore for his massive contributions to the Malay Wiktionary and for the help given in fostering a positive community of Malaysian Wikimedia editors. | [19] |
Honorable mentions Edit
| Year | Image | Recipient | Principal project | Rationale | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Susanna Mkrtchyan | Armenian Wikipedia | Mkrtchyan is a member of the board of directors from Wikimedia Armenia. She was awarded for her off-wiki activities including "One Armenian – One Article", an editing campaign and youth camp project to aid new editors of Armenia. | [20] | |
| Satdeep Gill | Punjabi Wikipedia (Eastern) | Gill is an Indian contributor on the Punjabi Wikipedia. He was awarded for encouraging people at his university to edit the Punjabi Wikipedia, making it the fastest-growing Indic-language Wikipedia that year. | [9] | ||
| 2016 | Mardetanha | Persian Wikipedia | Mardetanha created the Persian-language version of the "Wikipedia Library", which helps editors to find sources for articles. Three publishers have donated the research access to their works to editors. | [21] | |
| Vassia Atanassova | Bulgarian Wikipedia | Atanassova established the "#100wikidays" contest, which challenges editors to create one Wikipedia article per day for one hundred days. Over 120 contributors joined the contest and third of the editors have completed it. | |||
| 2017 | — | Diego Gómez | — | Colombian student who was prosecuted for copyright violation after having shared an academic paper online. He was later acquitted. | [22] [23] |
| 2018 | Nahid Sultan | Bangla Wikipedia | Sultan is an active member of Wikimedia Bangladesh. | [24] [25] | |
| Jess Wade | English Wikipedia | Wade is a physicist who began a year-long effort to create Wikipedia articles about scientists and engineers which "better represent women and people of colour". As of February 2020, she had written over 900 new articles. | [26] [27] [28] | ||
| 2021 | Netha Hussain | English Wikipedia and Malayalam Wikipedia | Hussain is a medical practitioner originally from India. She has provided invaluable contributions to medical content on Wikimedia projects, focusing much of her effort during 2020–21 on the coverage of COVID-19. She also started the Vaccine Safety Project to address misinformation surrounding COVID-19 vaccines. | [29] | |
| Carmen Alcázar | Spanish Wikipedia | Alcázar was recognized for her work to reduce the gender gap on Spanish Wikipedia. | [30][31] | ||
| 2022 | Anna Torres | Spanish Wikipedia | Torres is the Executive Director of Wikimedia Argentina, but her recognition in the Honorable Mentions category is for her efforts to create an international support network to grow and build capacity for communities across Latin America, as well as her contributions to movement processes, such as the 2030 Wikimedia Movement Strategy. | [18] | |
| 2023 | Anton Protsiuk | Ukrainian Wikipedia | Protsiuk is the Programmes Coordinator at Wikimedia Ukraine. | [19] |
Newcomer of the Year Edit
The Newcomer of the Year award was first presented in 2021.
| Year | Image | Recipient | Principal project | Rationale | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Carma Citrawati | WikiPustaka | First starting to edit the Balinese version of Wikipedia in 2019, Citrawati was instrumental in the development of a Balinese version of WikiSource called WikiPustaka through her valiant efforts to lead a team responsible for digitizing and translating ancient Balinese writings which were originally written on palm leaves. | [32] | |
| 2022 | Nkem Osuigwe | With an account that started in 2019, Dr. Nkem Osuigwe helped to start a partnership with the African Library and Information Associations & Institutions in 2020, working with an existing professional network to generate over 27,000 edits and counting. | [18] | ||
| 2023 | Eugene Ormandy | Japanese Wikipedia | [19] |
Wikimedia Laureate (formerly 20th Year Honouree) Edit
The 20th Year Honouree award was first presented in 2021. In 2022, the award was renamed Wikimedia Laureate.[33]
| Year | Image | Recipient | Principal project | Rationale | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Lodewijk Gelauff | Wiki Loves Monuments | Gelauff is a prolific contributor, a mentor to many Wikimedians, and a volunteer for many community groups and efforts. He is one of the initiators of Wiki Loves Monuments, the annual Wikipedia photo contest around cultural heritage, and has led this project for a decade.[34] | [35] | |
| 2022 | Andrew Lih | Lih is an internationally-renowned Wikipedia expert, author, professor, GLAMs activist, and long-time Wikimedia contributor. His work has inspired individuals and groups in the Wikimedia movement, especially in North America and the ESEAP region. | [18] | ||
| Deror Lin | Hebrew Wikipedia, Wikimania | Lin was a prolific contributor going back to the founding of Wikipedia. He wrote over 2 percent of the entire Hebrew Wikipedia. He participated in many 100wikidays challenges, particularly for Hebrew Wikipedia, and contributed thousands of images. He was also a key organizer of multiple Wikimanias. | [18] | ||
| 2023 | Siobhan Leachman | WikiProject New Zealand | [19] |
Tech Contributor of the Year (formerly Tech Innovator) Edit
The Tech Innovator award was first presented in 2021. The honor was renamed Tech Contributor of the Year in 2022.
| Year | Image | Recipient | Principal project | Rationale | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Jay Prakash | IT and software development and support | [36] | ||
| 2022 | — | Taavi Väänänen | Väänänen has been a critical volunteer contributor to Wikimedia Cloud Services, including Toolforge and Cloud VPS, key pieces of infrastructure that let community members host their Wikimedia-related bots, tools, and other software projects. He also helps maintain the CentralAuth MediaWiki extension, which allows users to use a single user account on all public Wikimedia sites. | [18] | |
| 2023 | — | Zabe | [19] |
Media Contributor of the Year (formerly Rich Media) Edit
The Rich Media award was first presented in 2021. The honor was renamed Media Contributor of the Year in 2022.
| Year | Image | Recipient | Principal project | Rationale | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Ananya Mondal | Wikimedia Commons | [36][37] | ||
| 2022 | Annie Rauwerda | Depths of Wikipedia | Rauwerda uses creative means on social media to spread the word about Wikimedia projects and communities that power them. She started the Depths of Wikipedia account that has now more than 1.5 million followers across Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. | [18] | |
| 2023 | Pax Ahimsa Gethen | [19] |
Wikimedia Affiliate Spotlight Edit
The Wikimedia Affiliate Spotlight was first presented in 2022. Art+Feminism and Wikimedia UK were recognized by the Wikimedia Affiliation Committee (AffCom) in the Partnerships and Governance categories, respectively.[38]
See also Edit
References Edit
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- ^ a b c Morris, Kevin (April 26, 2013). "Winners of Wikipedia's biggest award still haven't received prize money". The Daily Dot. from the original on May 18, 2020. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
- ^ Michel, Casey G. (April 2, 2015). "Wikipedia Founder Distances Himself from Kazakhstan PR Machine". EURASIANET.org. from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
- ^ Orlowski, Andrew (December 22, 2014). "What's Jimmy Wales going to do with $500k from the UAE?". The Register. from the original on June 3, 2016. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
- ^ "Rémi Mathis". École nationale des chartes (in French). December 19, 2016. from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
- ^ Geuss, Megan (April 6, 2013). "Wikipedia editor allegedly forced by French intelligence to delete "classified" entry". Ars Technica. from the original on April 8, 2013. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
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- ^ Savchuk, Iryna (August 15, 2014). "Ukrainian from the Heavenly Hundred becomes Wikipedian of the Year". Kyiv Post. from the original on May 18, 2020. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
- ^ a b Sutherland, Joe (July 31, 2015). "2015 Wikipedians of the Year unveiled in Mexico". Diff. Wikimedia Foundation. from the original on June 23, 2016. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
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- ^ Gordon, Maggie (November 9, 2017). "Wikipedia editing marathons add women's voices to online resource". Houston Chronicle. from the original on August 16, 2018. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ D’Alterio, Emily (March 12, 2019). "Women in culture and tech: Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight, academic, Wikipedian and champion of 'impractical' girls". Europeana Pro. from the original on May 28, 2020. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ Zahneis, Megan (July 19, 2018). "Some Colleges Cautiously Embrace Wikipedia". Chronicle. from the original on May 28, 2020. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ Ofori-Boateng, Pamela (August 29, 2017). . Classic Ghana. Archived from the original on December 20, 2017. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ "Татарстанец Фархад Фаткуллин стал первым россиянином, признанным Википедистом 2018". Tatar-inform (in Russian). from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
- ^ Nadiya, Jennene (October 17, 2019). "Emna Mizouni, première femme arabe à obtenir le prix "Wikimédienne de l'année"". Tunisie Haut Debit (in French). from the original on May 28, 2020. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ Bedirian, Razmig (August 16, 2021). "Arab medical professional Alaa Najjar honoured by Wikipedia for Covid-19 coverage". The National. from the original on August 16, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Celebrating the 2022 Wikimedians of the Year!". Diff. Wikimedia Foundation. August 14, 2022. from the original on August 26, 2022. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f Foundation, Wikimedia (August 16, 2023). "Celebrating the 2023 Wikimedian of the Year Winners". Diff. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
- ^ "Վիքիպեդիայի հիմնադրի անակնկալը Սուսաննա Մկրտչյանին" [The founder of Wikipedia's surprise to Susanna Mkrtchyan]. MediaMax (in Armenian). July 29, 2015. from the original on May 28, 2020. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
- ^ Erhart, Ed (June 24, 2016). "Jimmy Wales names Emily Temple-Wood and Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight as Wikipedians of the Year". Diff. Wikimedia Foundation. from the original on July 3, 2016. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
- ^ Harmon, Elliot (December 21, 2017). "Diego Gómez Is Safe, but Threats to Curiosity Still Abound". Electronic Frontier Foundation. from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
- ^ Wikimania 2017 Closing Ceremony. Wikimedia Foundation. August 17, 2017. Event occurs at 17:30. from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 7, 2020 – via YouTube.
- ^ Koebler, Jason (April 27, 2016). "Wikipedia's Piracy Police Are Ruining the Developing World's Internet Experience". Vice. from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
- ^ Elsharbaty, Samir (July 26, 2018). "Farhad Fatkullin named Wikimedian of the Year for 2018". Diff. Wikimedia Foundation. from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
- ^ "Una scienziata al giorno". PressReader. August 12, 2018. from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
- ^ Evans, Jocelyn (February 11, 2020). "Physicist writes 900 Wikipedia entries to boost diversity in science". ITV News. from the original on May 27, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ Devlin, Hannah (July 24, 2018). "Academic writes 270 Wikipedia pages in a year to get female scientists noticed". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
- ^ "Meet Netha Hussain: Wikimedian of the Year 2021 Honourable Mention winner". Diff. Wikimedia Foundation. August 15, 2021. from the original on August 15, 2021. Retrieved August 15, 2021.
- ^ "Meet Carmen Alcázar: Wikimedian of the Year 2021 Honourable Mention winner". Diff. Wikimedia Foundation. August 15, 2021. from the original on August 15, 2021. Retrieved August 15, 2021.
- ^ Riquelme, Rodrigo (August 15, 2021). "Una mexicana gana mención honorífica en los premios al Wikimedista del 2021" [A Mexican woman wins honorable mention in the 2021 Wikimedista Awards]. El Economista (in Spanish). from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
- ^ "Meet Carma Citrawati: Wikimedian of the Year 2021 Newcomer of the Year winner". Diff. Wikimedia Foundation. August 15, 2021. from the original on August 15, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
- ^ Pourzaki, Mehrdad (July 18, 2022). "Who will be the 2022 Wikimedian of the Year?". Wikimedia Foundation. from the original on September 18, 2022. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
- ^ "Meet the 2021 Wikimedians of the Year". Wikimedia Foundation. August 15, 2021. from the original on February 23, 2023. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
- ^ "Meet Lodewijk Gelauff: Wikimedian of the Year 2021 20th Year Honouree winner". Wikimedia Foundation. August 15, 2021. from the original on August 15, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
- ^ a b Sharma, Unnati (August 17, 2021). "3 Indians win Wikimedia awards for helping provide free, accessible knowledge on the internet". ThePrint. from the original on August 17, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
- ^ "Meet Ananya Mondal: Wikimedian of the Year 2021 Rich Media winner". diff.wikimedia.org. August 15, 2021. from the original on August 16, 2021. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
- ^ Foundation, Wikimedia (August 14, 2022). "Celebrating the 2022 Wikimedians of the Year!". Diff. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
External links Edit
- Media related to Wikimedian of the Year at Wikimedia Commons