BY AMANDA HAWKER
For more information on the competition and how
to enter, go to wikilovesafrica or wikimedia.
Do you love taking pictures? Do you love eating? Or cooking? Or cooking
and then eating? Do you often take
pictures your meals and share said pictures via social media?
Did you just answer “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” to the questions
above?
Well, then, Wiki Loves Africa wants YOU!
From 1st October to 30th November 2014, Wiki
Loves Africa will be photo hunting all over Africa for the best picture when it
comes to African Cuisine.
Wiki Loves Africa (WLA)
is an annual photography contest where we, the people of Africa, have a chance
to contribute media (in the form of pictures, video and audio) showcasing our
continent, to Wikimedia Commons. These images will then be used on Wikipedia
and other websites that make up the Wikimedia Foundation.
Each year there is a new theme, which usually includes universal,
visually rich and culturally specific topics (examples of this are “markets”, “festivals”,
“rites of passage”, “monuments”, “public art”, “cuisine”, “natural history”, “urbanity”,
“daily life”, “notable persons”, etc).
This year’s culinary theme, Wiki Loves Africa Cuisine, invites members of the public to submit
photographs of everything to do with African cuisine, throughout the months of
October and November. The project aims to document the amazing variety
and diversity of cuisine to be found across our African continent. The theme
will showcase everything including “foods”, “dishes”, “crops”, “culinary art”,
“cooking methods”, “cooking utensils”, “food markets”, “culinary events” and
anything else that relates to African cuisine.
The videos, pictures and audio can be taken at any time of the year in
any year. The only requirement is that they are based on this year’s theme and
that you own the copyright. The contest will run throughout the continent and
is a great way to open the rest of the world’s eyes to all that is wonderful
and unique about Africa. Especially since of all subjects you can read about on
Wikipedia, subjects relating to Africa have the least information. This
contests gives us Africans the opportunity to change the narrative and show how
richly unique Africa is.
So go grab your camera, smartphone, video camera, microphone, and share
your photos, videos and audios of African cuisine e via Wikimedia Commons.
Happy snapping!