Newsletter July 2025
✨ Our newsletter has been renewed - and we'd love to hear what you think!
Wikimedia Belgium is a small but growing organisation with a big mission: to make free knowledge accessible to everyone. That includes clear and accessible communication.
Until recently, we sent individual e-mails and manually formatted messages. That worked, but it could be improved. That is why we have given our newsletter a new digital look. With an easy-to-use mailing tool, we can now provide you with a convenient monthly update - on heritage projects, writing competitions, international campaigns and opportunities to get involved yourself.
🔹 What stays the same? Our content: current and relevant.
🔹 What's new? A fresh layout, better structure and the ability to easily customise your preferences.
💬 Your opinion counts!
We'd like to know what you think of our redesigned newsletter. Is it clearer? More pleasant to read? Is there anything missing? Let us know via email: info@wikimedia.be.
Together we make our communication even stronger. Thank you for being part of our community!
📸 Two heritage competitions, a summer full of images!
Have you been out and about with your camera or smartphone this summer? Good news: two photo competitions are currently running where you can share your images of Belgian heritage with the world via Wikipedia.
🟡 Wiki Loves Denderland 2025 - Santé!
🎯 Theme: breweries, distilleries and people's pubs
🗓️ Still until 30 September
🏆 Chance to win a place in the expo as well as participation in the national heritage competition
Want to know more or participate?
🔵 Wiki Loves Heritage 2025
📷 For heritage from all over Belgium - from castles to processions, from museums to maritime heritage
💰 With great cash prizes of up to € 500
🗓️ Up until September 30
🌍 Help make heritage visible on Wikipedia
👉 Whether you send in one photo or dozens, every contribution counts. Seize this opportunity to give your digital photos a second life and preserve cultural heritage for the future.
➡️Click here to participate or read more.
🏆 The Dutch Wikipedia Writing Contest - a tradition since 2004
The concept is simple: write an excellent new article or thoroughly improve an existing one. An independent jury judges the entries on content, structure, use of sources, writing style and completeness. Only those contributions that are explicitly entered compete for the prizes.
👥 The jury
A team of five (or six) experienced Wikipedians read and evaluate all of the entries. They work independently but coordinate their approach with each other in advance. Starting Nov. 1, judging begins.
📅 The schedule:
- ✔️ 1 August: Registration opens.
- ✍️ 1 September - 1 November: The writing period.
- 🏁 Only edits during this period count.
- 🏆 January 2026: Prize ceremony during the Wikimedia Netherlands New Year meeting.
Want to participate? You don't have to be an expert! Anyone can apply, and even during the writing period you can still join or change topics.
🎯 Join in and put your knowledge on the map!
The Writing Contest is not only a chance to show your writing skills, but also to contribute to the quality and completeness of Wikipedia. And, of course, it's also just fun and educational!"
📜 The contest rules and frequently asked questions can be found via the sidebar on the contest page.
🔗 Entries can be submitted from 1 August - we look forward to your contribution!'
Wikimedia Belgium and De Standaard Solidarity Prize
We from Wikimedia Belgium also participated this year. With our colourful poster, we wanted to convey two important messages:
- We are committed to gender equality across all Wikimedia platforms.
- Sharing free knowledge is and remains our absolute priority.
But we can't do that without you. Volunteers are the beating heart of Wikipedia. As long as there are people writing, improving and sharing their knowledge, free knowledge will continue to exist.
We were unfortunately not selected as one of the 20 laureates, but that does not take anything away from our enthusiasm. We are proud of the image we created and are happy to share it with our community.
👉 Let us know what you think!
👉 As for next year? We'll compete for a spot in the paper again then.
📌 Want to view the poster a bit larger? You can do that here.
✨ 20 years of Wikimania: Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability.
Wikimania is the annual highlight for thousands of volunteers committed to free knowledge. For four days, Wikipedians, Wikimedia organisations, developers, writers and other knowledge sharers from all over the world come together. The programme consists of presentations, workshops, training sessions, discussions and, of course, festivities.
For the first time, Wikimania is being organised in East Africa, in collaboration with volunteers from EARTHub (the Wikimedia community of East Africa) and the Wikimedia Foundation. The conference will take place in green and hospitable Gigiri, Nairobi - and for those who cannot attend, there is an extensive online programme.
The central themes of this anniversary year are:
- Inclusiveness: How do we ensure that all voices are heard within the Wikimedia movement?
- Impact: How do we make our projects more relevant and effective for the global community?
- Sustainability: How do we build a future-proof movement, technically, organisationally and ecologically?
With these themes, we want to look ahead together to the next 20 years of the Wikimedia movement.
What's on the agenda?
The programme consists of various session formats: lectures, panel discussions, lightning sessions, workshops and social activities. The focus is on skills, knowledge sharing and collaboration. Whether you are an experienced Wikipedia editor, just starting out, or active within a sister project: Wikimania offers something for everyone.
🛫 Physical participation is full, but a free virtual ticket gives access to much of the programme - right from your living room. Together, we celebrated 20 years of knowledge sharing, and continue to build an inclusive and sustainable future for free knowledge!
🖼️ Upload artwork? Avoid this error
Wikimedia Commons is a treasure chest of freely usable images, including works of art. But things sometimes go wrong when uploading such images: the photographer is wrongly identified as an artist. This is not only legally incorrect, but also causes confusion in our collective knowledge base.
📌 The photographer is not the artist
Suppose you take a photograph of a sculpture or painting. You are the photographer, but not the creator of the artwork depicted. In that case, you should correctly credit the artist of the artwork, and yourself as the photographer. A common mistake looks like this:
{{Information
|source={{own}}
|author=[[User:Hilke Arijs|Hilke Arijs]]
✅ That's how it should be:
{{Artwork
|source={{photo|{{U|Hilke Arijs}}}}
|author={{Creator:Nicolas Keppens}}
Unfortunately, the standard Wikimedia Commons upload tool does not offer the possibility to fill this in correctly right away. Therefore, it is important to edit the wikitext manually after uploading.
💡 Tip: If the artwork is in a public space, you can also add the following line (if applicable):
|permission={{FoP-Belgium}}
Have any questions about correct licensing or uploading? Don't hesitate to contact us!
Agenda
📅 Coming soon: Wiki Loves Monuments 2025
Get your camera ready, because in September it's that time of the year again: Wiki Loves Monuments is coming back! During this international photo contest, you can take pictures of protected heritage in Belgium from 1 to 30 September and upload them to Wikimedia Commons.
Whether you share one image or a whole series, your contribution helps make Belgian heritage visible worldwide through Wikipedia.
📌More info and participation link in our August newsletter.
🗣️ A question for the board? Let's hear from you!
Wikimedia Belgium maintains transparency as one of our main pillars within the organisation. Therefore, we invite all our volunteers and members to submit a question to the board during the month of August.
What would you like to know about Wikimedia Belgium?
Are you curious about our plans for the future? Do you want to know if there will be more live events soon? Or are you wondering how we are working to attract new members? This is the time to make your voice heard!
During our two-day board meeting by the sea, we take time to reflect on your input together.
Do you have an idea, a concern or just a pressing question? Please send them through!
📬 Please react by sending an email.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Contact us
Wikimedia Belgium NPO (WMBE)
Antwerpselaan 40 Boulevard d'Anvers B-1000 Brussel/Bruxelles
+32 471 82 20 26 (voice/sms/Signal/Telegram/WhatsApp)
Enterprise 0563.775.480 – RPR Brussel
www.wikimedia.be •
info@wikimedia.be