Commons:Wiki Loves Ramadan 2026/Organise
Introduction[edit]Wiki Loves Ramadan is an annual writing and photo contest that invites people to document Ramadan as it is lived around the world. Participants contribute articles and photographs that capture Ramadan’s cultural, social, and spiritual expressions and then share them on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons under free licenses. The contest takes place during and around the month of Ramadan, when communities are most active with prayers, traditions, food, charity, and public life. Local editions are organized by volunteer Wikipedians and Wikimedia affiliates in participating countries. After the contest ends, each country or community forms a local jury to review the submissions and select the top entries—usually 10-15 outstanding photos and/or top article creators. Many local teams also award prizes to top contributors, sometimes through a small ceremony or public announcement. Depending on local interests, special categories may be added—for example, Ramadan food, community iftars, mosques at night, or women-led traditions. The top selections from each country are then nominated by the national organizing team for the international finale, where entries from around the world are reviewed, and global winners are chosen. 2026 Timeline[edit]
Make sure that your competition dates do not conflict with the fundraising timeline. Requirements for local teams[edit]Requirements for organising a local Wiki Loves Ramadan in your country/area are:
Landing page[edit]When people click on the banner that invites them to participate, they will be sent to a 'landing page'. For this purpose, you can create your own website (like www.wikilovesramadan.xx), a project page on Wikipedia or a project page on Wikimedia Commons (like Commons:Wiki Loves Ramadan 2026 in Xxx). Requirements for a website or landing page:
The website or landing page must also contain information about the selection of the winners (jury) and the prizes. For more information about what constitutes a good landing page: Commons:Wiki Loves Ramadan/Documentation/Landing page. Rules for participants[edit]There are a few rules for participants, both at the national and the international levels. Every submission must:
All entries into the international contest must have participated in a national Wiki Loves Ramadan contest, and have been selected by a national jury. Participants whose images are selected for entry into the international contest must have provided and maintained a valid email address, preferably by activating email within their Wikimedia Commons preferences. At the discretion of the international organisers, other methods of providing an email contact (eg by prior notification to the national organisers) may be permitted. If no email address is known to the international organisers, or if emails bounce or are not promptly replied to, the contestant's photo(s) may be disqualified from the international competition, and will in any event not be eligible to win any international prize. In such a case, the national organisers will be consulted before a decision is taken. For the national contests, it is at the discretion of the national organisers as to whether the provision of an email address is mandatory. Participants can submit multiple photographs to the national competitions. If the national jury so decides, multiple images by the same photographer may be eligible for entry into the international contest. 1. - This can be CC BY-SA or any other free license, including CC0 and release in the public domain. Upload wizard[edit]Wiki Loves Ramadan uses a customised version of the upload wizard to have participants upload their photos. By using the customised upload wizard for your country, during the contest, all uploaded files will contain a template saying that the photo is uploaded as part of Wiki Loves Ramadan 2026 and automatically added to the category of images in your country. If the local team would like to have a check category added to every uploaded photo, we can have the upload wizard add this category for you. We will create a customized upload wizard for your local team, but you need to provide some translations and information. See for more information at Commons:Wiki Loves Ramadan 2026/Upload campaigns. CentralNotice banner[edit] See also: Commons:Wiki Loves Ramadan 2026/CentralNotice & Commons:Wiki Loves Ramadan 2026/Landing pages
To get attention for the photo contest Wiki Loves Ramadan, the international team will create a banner that will be shown on top of page on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons during the month of September and October. This banner will link to your website or landing page. The banner will be activated only if you meet the requirements, and have provided a link to the landing page on Commons:Wiki Loves Ramadan 2026/Landing pages and translation(s) of the banner text in your local language(s) on Commons:Wiki Loves Ramadan 2026/CentralNotice. We can only activate the banner in time, if you have provided us all the translations and information in time. If provided in time, the banner will be activated in your country within the hour after the start of the contest in your country. (In the Telegram channel WikiLovesRamadan live status updates will be provided with the start of the contest.) Jury & winners[edit]See also: Commons:Wiki Loves Ramadan 2026/Winners (tracking page) & Wiki Loves Ramadan 2026 winners (overview of winning photos)
(note: see the timeline for updated deadlines) On 15 April 2026 the contest period will be finished, and your local jury will start with judging the photos that have been uploaded: please publish the list of your jury members on this page for transparency reasons. To start the judging process, your jury can choose to use a jury tool as described on Commons:Wiki Loves Ramadan 2026/Tools. If you want to use the Montage jury tool, you can register your interest here. By 15 May 2026 (midnight UTC) the international team needs to know which 10 photos are the winners in your country. Official submission for the international process is explained in an email by the international jury coordinator to the international Wiki Loves Ramadan mailing list – make sure you receive those emails! You can also publish the 10 winning photos yourself on Wiki Loves Ramadan 2026 winners. If you wish to keep the 10 winning photos secret until a press release, or prize giving ceremony, etc., please send the 10 winning photos to the international team with the date of when they will be published. See for more information at Commons:Wiki Loves Ramadan 2026/Winners. If you don't know how to submit the winners, please contact the international jury coordinator. The jury should determine the winners of the contest, taking into the consideration the criteria (in no particular order): technical quality (sharpness, use of light, perspective, etc.), originality, and usefulness of the image for Wikipedia. Publicity[edit]See also: Commons:Wiki Loves Ramadan 2026/Press
Wiki Loves Ramadan produces some beautiful imagery that can be shared with the press, and the press can provide valuable coverage to boost awareness and participation in your campaign. Consider talking to the press who covered Wiki Loves Ramadan in the last years. An announcement to the press may be useful when your campaign begins (at the start) and when winners are announced (at the end)! If you receive great press coverage, let us know in the 2026 press! |