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Research into NPOV policies across Wikipedias

Last year a research was conducted to understand the status of NPOV policies across Wikipedias. On one hand, the research showcased a high number of policies including key guidance, including some practical aspects for editing. About 40% of Wikipedias with the NPOV policy go beyond the core elements to give clarity to project contributors, including management of more controversial topics. On the other hand, the research surfaced the fact that many smaller language projects do not have the policy at all. In many cases the existing policy is building on the one from English Wikipedia, not necessarily adapted to the size and context of the language project.

CEE NPOV policies

Research on the NPOV policies looked at Wikipedias across all the languages, and there is also information regarding CEE languages (in wide definition of CEE):

34 Wikipedias already have an NPOV policy:
- Albanian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Belarusian, Belarusian (Classical), Bosnian, Bulgarian, Chechen, Croatian, Czech, Estonian, Georgian, Greek, Hungarian, Kashubian, Kazakh, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Polish, Romani, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Serbo-Croatian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovene, Tatar, Turkish, Ukrainian, Upper Sorbian, Võro, and Yiddish.
7 Wikipedias do not have a dedicated NPOV policy, but have neutrality guidance in pillars:
- Buryat, Ingush, Kyrgyz, Latvian, Livvi-Karelian, Pontic, Udmurt.
20 Wikipedias do not seem to have clear neutrality guidance on their projects:
- Abkhaz, Aromanian, Chuvash, Crimean Tatar, Erzya, Gagauz, Hill Mari, Komi, Komi-Permyak, Latgalian, Lower Sorbian, Meadow Mari, Moksha, Old Church Slavonic, Pannonian Rusyn, Rusyn, Samogitian, Tuvan, Veps, and Western Armenian.

Hopefully, this initiative will help to improve the existing NPOV policies in the regional languages and support the language projects that do not have one to introduce clear guidance for neutrality.

Proposed baseline NPOV standard

As a result, the NPOV working group started working on a baseline NPOV standard to bridge the gap. The main goal was to develop a clear and concise, easily translatable policy, building on the key elements and best practices of the existing policies. The outcome of this work is now published as a proposed baseline NPOV standard for Wikipedias that do not have one:

Proposed baseline NPOV standard text:
Wikipedia articles are written from a neutral point of view. Articles are expected to be impartial and objective. Their content is expected to reflect the range of knowledge available in reliable published sources. Wikipedia articles are a summary of the information and points of view found in reliable sources.
This standard is not negotiable. Neither editor consensus nor other policies and guidelines can supersede the principle of neutral point of view.

Additionally, the working group has provided further guidance for Wikipedias: All Wikipedia projects are expected to adhere to the core principle of neutrality. Individual projects are encouraged to include this principle in its documentation on creating content by doing one or more of the following:

having a written policy
providing editing guidelines
referring to this standard as part of their editing principles

Public discussion

A public discussion on this is held for four weeks from June 17 to July 15, 2026. It will inquire into the level of clarity of the proposed text and how well it covers all the essential NPOV aspects. The focus of the conversation will be on how this global baseline NPOV standard can be brought to the projects that do not have one, building on the best enforcement approaches and practices from all Wikipedias.

The goal of this work is to ensure more and more Wikipedias have clear and applicable NPOV guidance for its contributors, especially important for smaller projects with smaller communities, not being able to allocate ample time for policy work. Hopefully, by the time NPOV policy celebrates its own 25 years in September, more Wikipedias have this policy cornerstone in place with other languages following suit in the future!

Participation of the CEE communities in the public discussion is highly encouraged, as it would be great to learn from your experiences, best practices, and perspectives!

Learning Corner

Filling the gaps, one microgrant at a time: lessons from Western Armenian Wikipedia

Learning article

By: Shahen Araboghlian (ShahenWasHere), Wikimedians of Western Armenian Language User Group

When the Wikimedians of Western Armenian Language User Group set out this spring to close the gender gap on Western Armenian Wikipedia, the goal was 200 to 250 biographies of notable women. By the time the challenge wrapped at the end of May, the community had created more than 400 articles, roughly doubling the upper target and beating both previous editions of the project. Here is how a small diaspora community keeps turning modest microgrants into outsized results.

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The project, Filling the Gender Gap on Western Armenian Wikipedia, ran as part of the CEE Women Campaign 2026 on a 400 EUR microgrant from the Wikimedia CEE Hub. The premise was simple: women's biographies have always been underrepresented on Western Armenian Wikipedia, especially in literature, politics, science, and the arts, and a focused, fully online editing challenge could begin to fix that. Organizers prepared curated lists of missing women, one international and one dedicated to Armenian women, using cross-language comparison tools such as Scheherazade, then mentored participants throughout the challenge and tracked every contribution.

The numbers speak for themselves. More than 400 new or improved articles came out, produced by a committed core of around eight editors, most of them women themselves. That result sits comfortably ahead of the group's two earlier "Filling the Gaps" editions, which delivered 334 and 410 new articles against similar targets of around 200. For a language that UNESCO classifies as definitely endangered, and one with limited digital infrastructure, every one of those biographies also strengthens the long-term visibility of the language itself.

What makes the model repeatable is not the size of the grant but the system around it. Past workshops and editathons build a base of trained editors; a small microgrant and a well-prepared article list give them a clear, motivating target; and structured mentoring keeps momentum through the challenge. The User Group has now run this loop enough times to treat it as a reliable engine rather than a one-off campaign, and we extended this edition from one month to three so it could feed naturally into CEE Spring.

If there is one takeaway for other CEE communities, it is that a small, well-organized group does not need a large budget to make a measurable dent in a content gap. A curated list, a handful of dedicated editors, and a modest microgrant can go a remarkably long way. We are always glad to compare notes with other affiliates thinking about running something similar.

Updates from communities

CEE Spring 2026

By: Lvova (talk)

CEE Spring celebrated its - wow! - 12th edition in 2026. It sometimes feels difficult to say anything new about the region’s largest content creation contest, but the competition keeps evolving, hoping to continue to attract participants in the years to come.

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On the photo: 10 years of CEE Spring - Past, Present and Future at CEEM 2025

This year, we seem to have become friends with a bot for the first time. That friendship resulted in a noticeable increase in the overall number of articles: 2,303 articles about Slovakian villages were created in Croatian, bringing the total number of articles close to 14,000. Now that is good neighbourly cooperation! We hope the articles will prove useful for future readers. The global organizers were slightly worried about whether people would still want to compete alongside bots, but we trust that local organizers know best how to deal with such situations in their own communities.

Speaking of bots: after the criteria for entering the Hall of Fame became more transparent, as many as 26 people made it in. This is a record level of dedication to writing at least one article about each participating CEE community, and we are delighted.

Communities in 26 languages took part in the contest (we are not intentionally producing so many occurrences of the number 26 in 2026, but we rather enjoy the coincidence). This year, we were approached by language communities that had previously known nothing about us - for example, the Yoruba language community in Nigeria. They did not become active participants in the end, but we believe that the very interest shown demonstrates the success of CEE Spring as a tool for building connections.

The international organizers became stricter and introduced a minimum number of articles required to compete for prizes in the sub-contests. (In reality, the threshold was 25 articles, but let me pretend it was 26; it changes nothing, while giving me one more opportunity to highlight that number.) Since then, we have seen an increase in participant activity and believe we chose the right approach, allowing us to continue rewarding contributions on women, human rights, and youth topics. Some of our sub-contests proved so successful that their names were adopted this year for separate grant programmes. On the one hand, this is admittedly rather confusing; on the other hand, it suggests that the names are good. The international organizers are also somewhat frustrated by the tendency of some participants to include articles that do not meet the requirements in the competition lists, but they bravely continue to check automatically generated lists.

And speaking of lists: from next year onwards, we have decided not to burden communities with creating new article lists every year, since we are not prepared to burden them with requirements concerning the maintenance and updating of those lists. Once upon a time, CEE Spring articles were written exclusively from those lists; an era has passed, and we hope you do not miss it too much (you can still create them as guiding points if you like!).

This year, CEE Spring expanded beyond Wikipedia and entered Wikiquote as well. What more can we say? Hooray. We like experiments, and this is one we intend to repeat.

And as always, the international organizers would like to thank the local organizers for their work and dedication to this contest, they make this contest the success that it is!

After this informal introduction, allow us once again to congratulate the winners of CEE Spring 2026:

Hall of Fame: people, who wrote at least 1 article about each participating (this year) CEE community

Call me ya, Gikü, Gower, Ljuba24b, Mhare, Nadzik, Panpanchik, Pinky sl, Rumensz, Sitora Oblakulova, Stephan Condurachis, Treisijs, Veron, Андрей Жизлов, Андрей Романенко, Роман Франц, Счастливое число, Դանայուհի, Խմբագրող, 19user99, Armineaghayan, Biafra, Egilus, Octopus, Tankists, Votre Provocateur

CEE Women: people who wrote about at least 25 women (or directly related things) from CEE

Panpanchik, Sitora Oblakulova, En Merker, Veron, Slava Sahakyan70, Mhare, Xayala Mammadli, Rumensz, AnToni, Ilnaz26

CEE for Human Rights: people who wrote at least 25 articles about Human Rights in CEE

Panpanchik, En Merker, Xayala Mammadli, Խմբագրող, Sitora Oblakulova, Veron, Счастливое число

CEE Youth: people who wrote at least 25 articles about CEE people under 30 or about something, related to them

Sitora Oblakulova, Panpanchik, Slava Sahakyan70, AnToni, IvshinPavel

Quote me: our new sub-contest for authors of Wikiquote, who edited at least 25 CEE-related pages in the project

Panpanchik, Husanowar, 23artashes, ՀայԿ, MrKrasav4ik, Armineaghayan, Mupapap29

Do you know these people? If yes, congratulate them! If no, congratulate anyway - it could be a nice spring icebreaker.

CEE you next Spring!

Bangaranga for Bulgarian heritage in Ukraine

By: antanana, a member of Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine organising team

A joyful, while full of mischief and chaos, song from Bulgaria won Eurovision Song Contest 2026 -- Dara’s performance changed not only music history (first win for Bulgaria in the contest), but also the language -- the word from Jamaican Patois entered the vocabulary, but also with a twist -- less of a chaos, and something more life-affirming, full of energy^[1]. Somewhat weird costumes of the performers were built on kukeri -- “traditional rituals intended to scare away evil spirits”. All of this -- energy, life-affirmation, and scaring off evil spirits is exactly what is needed for Bulgarian heritage in Ukraine. Most of the heritage is temporarily occupied by russians territories of Ukraine, its state is not known, and it is not well documented on Wikipedia… A special category of Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine dedicated to it, was hoping to at least collect some materials for illustrating Wikipedia articles, but with a hope to do more -- we cannot undestroy it, if and once destroyed, but we can document as much as we can, and rebuild or visualise it for the generations to come. So… #bangaranga?

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On February 24, 2022, russia launched a full scale invasion into Ukraine -- an escalation of Russo-Ukrainian war started by russia back in 2014. A tiny village of Strohanivka in Melitopol raion of Zaporizhzhia Oblast was occupied almost at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. If you go to a Wikipedia article on the village in Ukrainian, you will see a 10k bytes page, describing the geography of the settlement, mentioning that the village was founded in 1861, and it had survived Holodomor, a massive man-made famine, and it has a park, and it had an old church that soviets destroyed, and now it has a new one, and its priest had to flee the village, as the russian occupiers decided to give the church to its priests. If you go to a Bulgarian version of Wikipedia, the article on Stohanivka will give you an overview of its geography, and also mention its foundation in 1861, but it will mention that it was founded by "български преселници от преминалата на румънска територия част от Южна Бесарабия" ("Bulgarian immigrants from the part of Southern Bessarabia that passed into Romanian territory") -- a fact completely missing in its Ukrainian counterpart. Come to think of it -- it is weird that it is missing -- most of the villages in Ukraine are so old, that no one knows who founded them, their foundation date is calculated from the first time they are mentioned in documents, so for a village to be founded less than 200 years ago -- more precise information can be expected to be provided.

This -- invisibility by omission -- was exactly a motivating factor to start looking into how to organise this special category, how to make sure we do not provide half-truth on Wikipedia. Sure, there are articles, books, where the village is mentioned as the one being founded by Bulgarians -- but the vast majority of people will not get to read that, they will open a Wikipedia article, or ask an AI-powered chat or tool, and both will not give them full information.

This special category dedicated to Bulgarian heritage in Ukraine, helped us to get valuable pictures, documenting the existence of a Bulgarian community there -- first of all, the cemetery, of course, as the main cultural artifact; but also residential buildings. I think it would be a very logical development of the project to have a writing campaign, dedicated to the Bulgarian villages in Ukraine, inserting pictures we now have, and also adding text, improving articles, and making the history of national minorities in Ukraine visible, and I hope we would have a chance (and volunteer resources) to do it. In both languages at least -- the Bulgarian one needs to be expanded quite a lot, and the Ukrainian one needs to be improved with this important information about who founded the village itself, and both versions need to be illustrated with pictures documenting the Bulgarian community traces there.

Bulgarian Heritage Special Category in Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine started as a pilot project in 2025, on a smaller scale, with the Bulgarian Wikimedia community supporting the effort to document and make visible monuments of Ukrainian Bulgarian communities.

The jury for the special category consisting of Bulgarian Wikimedians -- Iglika Ivanova, Nikola Kalchev, Nikola Tulechki -- looked through 339 pictures, and selected 15 works by 2 authors, representing two regions of Ukraine with a big representation of Ukrainian Bulgarians -- Odesa and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts -- but also representing different types of monuments -- cemeteries, churches, residential and other types of buildings^[2].

The 15 awarded works feature monuments from 6 settlements, five of which are currently located within temporarily occupied territories by russians. The photos are grouped by region — Zaporizhzhia and Odesa Oblasts — and by monument categories — cemeteries, churches, residential buildings, and other structures. Via this special category the Wiki Loves Monuments team decided to draw attention to the cultural heritage of Bulgarians in Ukraine, which is especially relevant, given that a significant part of the settlements founded by Bulgarian immigrants are currently temporarily occupied, there is no access to them, and there is no information about whether they have survived and in what condition.

We really hope that we will find partners to hold a full-fledged special category, not a pilot project, this year. And also that we will be able to expand the competition lists - currently they only have 58 objects.
— IrynaBoiko (WMUA), communications manager of Wikimedia Ukraine

The above mentioned Strohanivka (Строгановка) is represented by 4 pictures, all taken on August 24, 2020:

Old Bulgarian cemetery, Strohanivka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast (2020)
Old Bulgarian cemetery, Strohanivka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast (2020)
Old Bulgarian cemetery, Strohanivka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast (2020)
Old Bulgarian residential building, Strohanivka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast (2020)

Radolivka (Радоловка), Polouzivka (Палаузово), and Manuilivka (Манойловка) are represented by the pictures featuring their churches:

Old Bulgarian church, Radolivka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast (2020)
Old Bulgarian church, Radolivka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast (2020)
Old Bulgarian church, Polouzivka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast (2019)
Old Bulgarian church, Polouzivka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast (2019)

Old Bulgarian church, Manuilivka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast (2020)
Old Bulgarian church, Manuilivka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast (2020)
Old Bulgarian church, Manuilivka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast (2020)

The jury also awarded an old bridge in Troiany (Троян):

Old bridge. Troiany, Zaporizhzhia Oblast (2018)

All pictures from Zaporizhzhia raion were taken by Kostiantyn Antonets.

Another region with a long history of hosting Ukrainian Bulgarian community, Odesa Oblast, has its cultural heritage represented by three pictures of Saint George church in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi. Pictures are from 2005, taken by Volodymyr Tarasov.

Saint George church, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Odesa Oblast (2005)
Saint George church, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Odesa Oblast (2005)
Saint George church, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Odesa Oblast (2005)

The Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine awards ceremony took part on May 30, 2026, in Kyiv and online, as a hybrid event. The venue was a hall in National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War:

Bulgarian heritage special category results
Volodymyr Tarasov, one of the winners, receiving his diplomas
Offline participants at the ceremony

We are also grateful to the people who took and uploaded the photos to Commons, which we had the privilege of viewing and assessing (which was really difficult for so many reasons), and to Wikimedia Ukraine for this special edition, which fosters a sense of appreciation and encourages participation in such a life-affirming cause.
Articles about these settlements already exist on the Bulgarian Wikipedia, but there is room and now additional inspiration to expand, update, and improve them. The opportunity to increase visibility and awareness of these places and of the Bulgarian heritage in Ukraine, stemming from this initiative, is real, and we hope to make the most of it.
We share a desire to launch a campaign to improve and expand the content for the articles about all these places, which contributors to illustrate with the priceless images submitted to the contest, and to continue to foster interest in Ukraine’s cultural heritage beyond its Bulgarian roots in these parts. Memory survives unscathed by destruction (whether physical or the passage of time) only if there is someone willing to learn and tell others about it.
— Iglika Ivanova, on behalf of the Jury members of the 2025 Bulgarian Heritage in Ukraine

References

Cluj-Napoca Workshop: Students Enrich Romanian Wikipedia at the French Institute

By: MagdaBarascu (talk)

Cluj-Napoca, Romania — On May 12, the Institut français de Roumanie à Cluj became a hub for open knowledge as the Wikimedians of Romania and Moldova User Group hosted a highly productive afternoon editing workshop. The event successfully bridged the gap between passive information consumption and active community contribution, gathering local students eager to master the "alphabet" of Wikipedia editing.

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Laying the pillars of digital citizenship

Held at the French Institute’s Media Library, the workshop was led by experienced coordinators Anamaria Lupan and Vlad Popovici. The session began with an introduction to the core philosophy of Wikimedia projects, focusing on three essential areas:

The golden rules: Understanding Wikipedia's fundamental pillars, with a heavy emphasis on verifiability, neutrality, and the critical selection of reliable sources.
Combating disinformation: Discussing the vital role of free access to information and how active civic involvement on Wikipedia serves as a powerful tool against misinformation.
The art of translation: The coordinators provided practical, hands-on advice on translating encyclopedic content, ensuring that the newly created Romanian articles maintain the rigorous documentation of the original sources while remaining fluid and natural to read.

From theory to practice

The highlight of the afternoon was the edit-a-thon session. Armed with their laptops and newfound knowledge, the student participants dove straight into translating and expanding articles within their specific areas of interest.

"Every paragraph added during the workshop represents a brand-new, verified resource accessible to millions of Romanian speakers worldwide," noted the organizing team.

Strengthening community partnerships

Wikimedians of Romania and Moldova User Group extended their gratitude to the Institut français de Roumanie à Cluj for providing the perfect collaborative venue, as well as to all the participants who successfully transitioned from regular readers to active Wikipedia editors.

This successful collaboration underscores the ongoing effort within the CEE region to engage youth, foster digital literacy, and steadily enrich the quality of regional-language Wikimedia projects.

From the cradle of civilizations to Wikimedia Commons: Unveiling ancient Bactria and Khorezm

By: Miss Kamola (talk)

Why does history matter? If you ask a dozen people, you will get a dozen different answers. But at its core, history is the bridge between who we were and who we are today. The ancient monuments, legendary landscapes, and mythical figures of the world carry secrets guarded for centuries. Tragically, many of these secrets vanish before they ever reach the global stage. This spring, a small but deeply passionate team from Uzbek Wikimedians set out to change this narrative. Supported by the Wikimedia CEE Hub Microgrants Programme, we launched the project Mythological Landscapes: Documenting the Visual History of Central Asia and Turkic Myths.

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Our mission was clear but daunting: to rescue the "invisible" cultural heritage of Uzbekistan and bring the spiritual history of the Bactrian and Khorezmian civilizations into the global digital public domain. For too long, while global mythologies have enjoyed rich representation online, the deep spiritual history of Central Asia has remained a virtual "black hole" on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. We wanted to fill that void.

From May 3rd to 7th, our journey began in Surxondaryo, located in the southernmost corner of Uzbekistan, along the banks of the Amu Darya river. For independent Wikimedians, traveling this far from the capital is a massive financial and logistical hurdle. The CEE Hub Microgrant was the vital catalyst that made this expedition possible. Surxondaryo is not just a province, it is a living, open-air museum where Shamanism, Buddhism, and Islam historically intersected. Our cameras captured places that feel almost mythical:

The Zarautsoy Petroglyphs — tucked away in the mountains, these red ochre drawings date back to the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras (11th–5th millennium BCE). Standing before more than 200 ancient images of primitive hunting scenes, wild bulls, and masked figures felt like looking at humanity’s first creative heartbeat.
The Jarqoʻton Settlement — the earliest urban center on Uzbek soil and home to a Bronze Age fire temple (2nd millennium BCE).
A Living Thousand-Year-Old Tree — we documented a massive, 1,000-year-old plane tree whose hollow trunk historically served as a village school, later a library, and now holds a cozy, local museum.

Currently, almost 0% of these specific archaeological treasures had professional, high-quality documentation on Wikimedia Commons. By capturing them, we didn't just upload files—we archived the proof that this oasis is one of the cradles of human civilization.

Our second expedition, from May 22nd to 25th, took us north to the legendary sands of Khorezm — historically known as Xorasmiya. This is a land famous for its brilliant scientific minds in mathematics and astronomy, and its massive, defensive desert fortresses. Our main destination was Ichan-Kala in Khiva, a breathtaking site that became the first in Central Asia to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1990.

Walking through Khiva feels like stepping back into a medieval dream. While the visible architectural masterpieces of this intact feudal city-fortress date primarily to the 14th–19th centuries, the historical layers buried beneath its mud-brick walls are over 2,500 years old. Until now, global searches for Khorezm's mythological symbols mostly yielded low-quality tourist snapshots. Our team focused on capturing the intricate details, the grand fortresses, and the spiritual symbols that tourists often overlook.

Through this microgrant, we managed to document a vast timeline stretching from prehistoric cave art to medieval Islamic architecture. But the photographs are only half the victory. The true success of this project lies in building a sustainable, long-term precedent for cooperation between the Wikimedia movement and the specialized museums of Uzbekistan, such as the unique Termez Archaeological Museum. We are opening closed doors and showing local institutions how open knowledge can bring their hidden treasures to the world. Central Asia's ancient deities, forgotten symbols, and sacred landscapes are finally stepping out of the shadows.

Click here to explore the full gallery of images from the phototour.

82 students explored UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals on Wikipedia

By: Pavel Bednařík (WMCZ)

In the spring of 2026, the collaboration between the Wikimedia Czech Republic association and the Olomouc Region Development Aid Agency (ARPOK), which began last year, reached its culmination.

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Following a seminar for teachers from selected schools across the Czech Republic, a series of workshops was held to introduce students from selected schools (Ptení Elementary School, Opava Elementary School, Lipník nad Bečvou High School, Býšť Elementary School) to specific topics related to UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Led by experienced instructors, the workshops introduced students to the principles of Wikipedia; some classes were also able to participate in minor edits (correcting typos, uploading images) as well as creating their own entries on Pidipedia. The students focused on topics such as homelessness, ocean conservation, climate change, and poverty.

We expect that the schools and their clubs will participate in further Wikipedia activities in the future, and Wikimedia Czech Republic will provide support through consultations and, if necessary, additional seminars and training sessions.

Sound of keyboards replaces library silence: Romanian community expands in Bucharest

By: MagdaBarascu (talk)

The Romanian Wikipedia community is experiencing a vibrant period of growth, marked by grassroots initiatives that bring digital literacy and local heritage to the forefront. On May 11, the usual solemn silence of the library at the Andronache Parish in Bucharest was replaced by the energetic click of keyboards and the unmistakable effervescence of shared knowledge.

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The editing workshop brought together an inspiring, intergenerational group of participants. From curious teenagers to adults eager to digitalize their experiences, the event beautifully demonstrated a core Wikimedia value: Wikipedia is a collaborative space open to everyone.

Inside the workshop: from new accounts to local heritage

Under the patient and expert guidance of local volunteer librarians, Ioana Irinciuc and Daniel Ciobanu, newcomers were introduced to the fundamental building blocks of open knowledge.

The intensive session focused on practical, high-impact skills:

Account basics: Navigating the interface, creating an account, and configuring user preferences.
The art of editing: Mastering basic syntax, formatting, and the visual editor.
The power of verifiability: Emphasizing Wikipedia's strict sourcing policies, participants utilized the rich, physical resources of the parish library to back up their edits with reliable references.
Preserving local history: In a major win for local heritage, the historic Church of Saint George Andronache officially received its dedicated Wikipedia page, ensuring its story is accessible to millions.

A collaborative triumph

An event of this nature relies heavily on the dedication of the community. Deepest gratitude goes to Ioana Irinciuc and Daniel Ciobanu for their impeccable organization and mentorship. Special thanks are also extended to Digital Mobil Hub AYI_BMB, whose essential logistical and technical support ensured the workshop ran seamlessly. "The enthusiasm of those present confirmed that the thirst for knowledge and community storytelling is immense."

Looking ahead: A new wave of editors

This workshop is not an isolated success. The energy generated in Bucharest has provided a powerful momentum. Moving forward, Wikimedians of Romania and Moldova will continue this initiative by rolling out a dynamic series of new editing workshops to sustain this growth.

What the CEE Youth Group did during the last three months?

By: NikosLikomitros (talk) with input from Jovan and Caner

The CEE Youth Group completed the spring of 2026 with various diverse activities, indicating its increasing relevance and potential. Among others, it organised successfully the Wiki Loves Eurovision 2026 contest and the Youth Working Group began its work, looking to find the next host of the in-person meeting of the Youth Group.

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The CEE Youth Group, the group for Wikimedians in the CEE region and Central Asia, has completed various activities and projects in the last three months since the last newsletter article in March.

In 17 March, the bi-monthly meeting scheduled for March was organised, and it was decided that Nikos and Sofianna, both members of the Group from Greece, will host the May meeting of the group.

In April, the group took an important step towards recording it's history. A report of the activities of the group in the first years, and a report of 2023 activities was created by Nikos and Mari, with plans for a report of activities done in 2024 with the purpose of documenting the group's history.

The article contests task force began working actively after March and in April, Nursultan, Nikos and Caner applied for a CEE Hub microgrant to host the Wiki Loves Eurovision 2026 article writing contest in 10 May to 10 June.

This was a very significant milestone, because this is the first time that a grant is given for a CEE Youth project, the first article writing contest about Eurovision and most importantly the first editing activity organised by the Youth Group. The statistics of the contest are quite good: 31 users participated and more than 1,000 articles were written, surpassing the target of 300 articles by a big margin. The publication of the final results will be done later in June. Caner, a member of the team who organised the contest, says:

As members of the CEE Youth Group, this activity that we organised helped us, the young people, to not only become more actively involved in the movement but also develop our organizational skills.

In May, the Youth Group conducted its bi-monthly meeting, where various topics were discussed, including updates from the working groups.

In May 16th, Mari presented the activities of the Youth Group in the Russian-speaking contributors conference for a Russian-speaking audience.

Also, in May 20th, the composition of the Youth Working Group was announced. Jovan, Tadeáš and Nikos are members of the group.

As described by one of the Working Group's members, Jovan, the group has the following purpose:

The committee works on organizing the Wikimedia CEE Youth Group's in-person meeting, where young Wikimedia volunteers from across the region come together to share experiences, develop leadership skills, and build stronger international cooperation within the Wikimedia movement.

The Youth Working Group is showing also the increased autonomy and relevance of the group, as for the first time the group will handle a lot of responsibilities in hosting its meeting. Two bids were submitted, and the winner will be announced in late June.

Meanwhile, Nikos, Jan and Nal will provide a presentation in Wikimania in Paris about the lessons and activities of the Youth Group in the 3 years of its activity.

Also for the first time, the CEE Youth Group had a vote for 3 representatives to the CEE Meeting in Cluj, Romania, being the first time where seats are allocated to CEE Youth members. Nursultan, Nikos and Caner were selected after a public vote from the members of the group.

The last three months have been particularly active and show the rising importance of the CEE Youth Group in the international movement.

Women’s Month on Wikipedia 2026 has its winners

By: Hynek Kaplan (WMCZ) (talk)

Women’s Month on Wikipedia 2026 has announced its winners. The jury – composed of David Hlaváček (Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences) together with Wikipedians Regina Novotná and Miroslava Fišerová – awarded the Jury Prize to Wikipedians AlickaV, JanaJin and Meloun1212.

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The most active editor was Karelkam with 73 edits, while S.Horak1 stood out among newcomers, a user who created their account during the campaign itself. Among the 61 participants of this year’s edition, 328 new articles about women were created and 221 photographs were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. Complete results, including profiles of the winners and an overview of the uploaded photographs, are available on the Wikimedia Czech Republic blog (Czech only).

Wikimedia MKD – Spring 2026 activities and community achievements

By: Velkovski.b (talk)

The period from mid-March to mid-June 2026 was marked by a wide range of activities carried out by Wikimedia MKD in the fields of education, community development, cultural heritage, and content creation. Through trainings, workshops, editing contests, conferences, international events, and new institutional partnerships, the organization continued to promote free knowledge and strengthen the Wikimedia movement in Macedonia.

Particular emphasis was placed on educational activities involving students, teachers, and Wiki Clubs across the country, as well as on initiatives dedicated to botany, human rights, and cultural heritage. During this period, Wikimedia MKD also expanded its network through the establishment of a new Wiki Club, participated in regional and international conferences, and initiated new collaborations with educational and scientific institutions.

The following overview presents the most significant activities and achievements of Wikimedia MKD between March and June 2026.

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Training workshop for students from "Kole Nedelkovski" primary school

On 13 March 2026, a Wikipedia editing training session was held for students from the primary school “Kole Nedelkovski” in Skopje. The event had both an educational and practical character, giving students the opportunity to become familiar with the basics of editing Wikipedia and the rules for writing encyclopedic articles.

During the training, the participating students were first introduced to the fundamental principles of Wikipedia. This was followed by a practical session in which the students learned how to create and edit articles, add internal links, categories, and references, as well as how to properly translate content from the English version of Wikipedia into Macedonian.

A total of five students and one teacher from the school took part in the training, actively engaging in the process of creating new content. As a result of their work, 12 new articles were created on the Macedonian-language Wikipedia. The articles were translated and adapted from the English version of Wikipedia, with the students ensuring that the content was linguistically appropriate and encyclopedically suitable for Macedonian readers.

Activities of this kind are very important for the development of the young editing community and for enriching the free encyclopedia with new and useful information. The implementation of this training once again confirms the importance of involving students in the creation of free knowledge, as well as the potential of educational activities for the further development and improvement of the Macedonian-language Wikipedia.

You can see how it went through the photographic material uploaded on Commons, but also some of the photos are bellow:

Editing on Wikipedia
Editing on Wikipedia
Editing on Wikipedia

Wiki club Veles workshop

On 13 March 2026, an educational field workshop was organized for students from Wiki Club Veles as part of the Wikimedia MKD GLAM Program 2026, dedicated to the theme “Botany of Macedonia.” The program aims to encourage research and documentation of plant life in the country and to expand free knowledge online with information about plants and their uses.

The workshop took place in Veles, where students participated in field-based learning activities. They first visited the local market and spoke with an experienced herbalist who explained how medicinal plants are identified, collected, dried, and used in traditional medicine. Students showed great interest and asked questions about the characteristics and healing properties of different herbs.

During the visit, they also spoke with local vegetable producers who explained the process of plant cultivation—from soil preparation and planting seeds to caring for the plants and harvesting the final products. In addition, a local beekeeper introduced the students to the importance of nectar-producing plants and explained the role of bees as essential pollinators in nature.

The workshop continued with a visit to a local agricultural supply store, where students explored different fruit and vegetable seedlings as well as seeds from various crops. They learned about the conditions necessary for plant growth and how young plants are prepared for planting.

Through this field workshop, students gained practical knowledge about plant life, agriculture, and traditional uses of medicinal plants. The activity also encouraged them to document plants through photography and to create or improve botany-related content on Wikipedia.

You can see how it went through the photographic material uploaded on Commons, but also some of the photos are bellow:

The students at the bazar
The students at the bazar
The students at the bazar
The students at the bazar
The students at the bazar

Plants Around Us: Veles workshop

On March 17, 2026, Wikimedia MKD organized an edit-a-thon titled “Plants Around Us: Veles” for the Wiki Club Veles, aiming to encourage young people’s interest in natural sciences while enriching Wikipedia content related to local flora. The event was held under the mentorship of the club coordinator Lili Arsova and biology teacher Elizabeta Nikolovska, with participation from students of Kocho Racin High School in Veles, who actively engaged in all phases of the activity—from field research to creating encyclopedic content.

The first part of the marathon took place outdoors, where students explored vegetation in their natural surroundings. Through practical work and observation, they learned about plant diversity, focusing on herbaceous plants, different types of flowers, and their characteristics. They analyzed leaf shapes, plant structures, and reproduction processes, gaining a deeper understanding of biological concepts. Additional topics included coniferous trees and their specific traits, as well as creeping plants and their spread in nature, helping students connect classroom knowledge with real-life examples.

Participants were also introduced to the process of creating a herbarium, from collecting and selecting plant samples to drying and preserving them. Inspired by this, they began creating their own herbariums using materials gathered during fieldwork, developing attention to detail, systematic work habits, and environmental responsibility.

Following the practical activities, students took part in the edit-a-thon, transforming their knowledge into new Wikipedia articles. They learned how to structure encyclopedic content and contribute to free knowledge, resulting in the creation of six new articles about biographies of botanists.

You can see how it went through the photographic material uploaded on Commons, but also some of the photos are bellow:

The students
The students with the biology teacher
The students
The herbarium
The students creating articles
The students

Plants Around Us: Demir Hisar workshop

On 25 March 2026, a workshop titled “Plants Around Us: Demir Hisar” was organized for members of the Wiki Club Demir Hisar. The event aimed to foster students’ interest in botany, encourage exploration of plant life in their local environment, and actively engage them in creating free encyclopedic content.

The workshop was designed as a dynamic activity combining field-based learning with practical application. In the first part, students visited the Slepche Monastery, where they explored the rich plant life in the surrounding area while also learning about the site’s cultural and spiritual significance. The nuns introduced the history of the monastery and shared information about its importance, offering students a deeper understanding of its heritage. They also guided the participants through the monastery garden, orchard, and greenhouse, where students took part in a hands-on learning session and became familiar with different types of herbs, flowers, and vegetables, as well as basic principles of plant cultivation and care.

In the second part of the workshop, participants focused on practical work on Wikipedia. With guidance from representatives of Wikimedia MKD and the Wiki Club coordinator, the students created and edited articles about plants found in Macedonia, following encyclopedic standards. This activity helped them develop their digital literacy, as well as their skills in researching, selecting, and presenting information.

A total of 5 students took part in the workshop, producing 15 new articles in Macedonian. Through their work, they made a valuable contribution to expanding botanical content, particularly related to local natural heritage.

You can see how it went through the photographic material uploaded on Commons, but also some of the photos are bellow:

The monastery garden
The monastery garden
The monastery garden
The students writing articles
The students writing articles
The students with the coordinator of Wiki club Demir Hisar and Wikimedia MKD's executive director Snezana Strkovksa

CEE Spring 2026

An editing contest titled CEE Spring 2026 is being held on the Macedonian-language Wikipedia from April 1 to April 30, 2026. The contest aims to encourage the creation and improvement of articles related to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as part of a broader international initiative.

Participants can contribute by writing new articles or expanding existing ones on topics connected to the region, including:

History, culture, and traditions of Central and Eastern European countries
Notable people, landmarks, and geographic locations
Society, politics, and economy
Arts, literature, and cultural heritage

Participants are expected to follow Wikipedia’s core content policies, ensuring that all contributions are written in an encyclopedic style, supported by reliable and verifiable sources, and in line with editorial standards. Contributions are evaluated based on both quality and quantity, including the number of articles created or improved, their depth, structure, and overall readability.

Prizes will be awarded for the most successful participants, including recognition for top contributors, best-quality articles, and outstanding newcomers. The contest encourages active participation and sustained engagement among editors. Overall, “CEE Spring 2026” supports the expansion and improvement of content related to Central and Eastern Europe on the Macedonian Wikipedia, helping to reduce content gaps and strengthen regional coverage.

International Roma Day

Every year, through Wikipedia-related activities, Wikimedia MKD joins in marking International Romani Day, with the aim of encouraging inclusion, visibility, and equal representation of the Romani community in the digital space.

So, on April 7, 2026, in cooperation with USS UKIM, the training session “Become a Wikipedia Editor: Training for Writing Articles in the Macedonian Language” was successfully carried out, intended for all those interested in creating and editing content on Wikipedia in Macedonian. During the training, the ten participants had the opportunity to become familiar with the proper structure and method of writing articles, as well as the standards and rules that should be followed when editing them. Special emphasis was placed on adapting content into the Macedonian language. The participants gained practical skills and knowledge through which they can actively contribute to enriching Wikipedia with high-quality and relevant content. As part of the training, 19 new articles were created, dedicated to topics related to "International Roma Day" further marking this important day and enriching encyclopedic content in the Macedonian language.

Additionally, as every year, Wikimedia MKD actively joined the international call to mark "International Roma day by organizing an edit-a-thon. These initiatives represent an important platform for encouraging collective participation, knowledge exchange, and increasing the visibility of topics related to the Romani community on Wikipedia. Through such events, both new and existing editors are encouraged to contribute high-quality, neutral, and well-sourced content.

This year, 17 participants of different age groups and varying levels of experience took part, working together on creating and editing articles. Their engagement resulted in 29 new articles on Wikipedia in Macedonian, significantly enriching content related to Romani history, culture, and contemporary creativity.

You can see how it went through the photographic material uploaded on Commons, but also some of the photos are bellow:

Bosa Filipovic giving a speech
The students listening a lecture
Editing on Wikipedia
The students listening a lecture
Editing on Wikipedia

Editing contest “Botanists with author abbreviations”

The editing contest “Botanists with author abbreviations” is taking place from 20 April to 10 May 2026 on the Macedonian-language Wikipedia. The main goal of the contest is to support the creation of new articles about botanists who have standardized author abbreviations, which are used in the scientific naming of plants.

The contest is open to high school registered Wikipedia users aged 15–18. Participants are expected to focus on writing new articles that are missing from the Macedonian Wikipedia, as well as improving already existing ones. All contributions must be written in accordance with Wikipedia’s policies and guidelines, meaning they should follow an encyclopedic style, remain neutral, and include reliable, verifiable sources. Articles that do not meet these standards may not be considered for evaluation.

Participants are required to keep track of their contributions and list the articles they have worked on, either during the contest or after it ends. All submitted work will be evaluated by a jury composed of three experienced Wikipedia editors, who will assess the quality, completeness, sourcing, and overall presentation of the articles. The contest places a strong emphasis on quality over quantity.

The prizes for this contest are planned to be vouchers for books/materials, technical goods, or sports equipment, according to the winner’s choice. Three prizes will be awarded for the best articles each week, as well as three prizes for the best editors at the end of the three-week period. A participant may receive multiple awards, for example a prize for the best article of the week, as well as a prize for the best overall contribution.

Training workshop for students from "Josip Broz Tito" High school in Skopje

On 17 April 2026, a Wikipedia editing training session was successfully organized for students from Gymnasium “Josip Broz Tito”. The event was held at the premises of Wikimedia MKD, located within the Youth Cultural Center (MKC) in Skopje. A total of 9 students took part in the training, showing strong interest in gaining new digital skills and contributing to free knowledge.

The training began with an introduction to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia movement, followed by an overview of the key principles of editing. Participants were guided through the process of creating user accounts, navigating the editing interface, and structuring articles according to Wikipedia standards. Special attention was given to proper citation practices and avoiding common beginner mistakes.

During the practical part of the session, the students actively engaged in creating and editing articles on various topics. With the continuous support of Wikimedia MKD's team, they created 16 new articles, contributing valuable content to Wikipedia.

The training was conducted in a positive, interactive, and productive atmosphere, fostering teamwork, critical thinking, and creativity among the participants. This activity not only strengthened the students writing skills but also encouraged them to become active contributors to the free knowledge. It represents an important step in empowering young people to participate in the global Wikimedia community and to share knowledge freely with the world.

You can see how it went through the photographic material uploaded on Commons, but also some of the photos are bellow:

Editing on Wikipedia
Editing on Wikipedia
Editing on Wikipedia

Wiki club Kavadarci - the newest wiki club of Wikimedia MKD

On April 22, 2026, the Wiki Club in Kavadarci officially began its activities. This new club represents a significant step in expanding the network of Wiki Clubs across the country and opens new opportunities for the local community to engage in creating free encyclopedic content.

The Wiki Club in Kavadarci is envisioned as an inclusive space that will serve both students and adults, enabling intergenerational collaboration and learning. From the very beginning, the level of interest was considerable—14 participants took part in the opening session, including 7 students and 7 adults. This balance contributed to a dynamic and productive atmosphere, where experience and curiosity complemented each other.

The event was divided into two parts. In the first part, attendees had the opportunity to follow presentations by Snežana Štrkovska, Executive Director of Wikimedia MKD, and Bosa Filipović, Education Program Manager. They introduced participants to the mission and vision of the Wikimedia movement, the fundamental principles of Wikipedia, as well as the basics of editing and creating articles. The sessions were interactive and tailored to the participants’ varying levels of knowledge, allowing everyone to feel included and motivated.

In the second part, participants applied their newly acquired knowledge in practice by creating and editing Wikipedia articles. Through joint effort and enthusiasm, a total of 14 new articles were created. This activity not only contributed to enriching encyclopedic content but also encouraged participants to remain active in the future.

The opening of the Wiki Club in Kavadarci is yet another testament to the commitment of Wikimedia MKD to community development and the promotion of free knowledge. The club is expected to continue with regular activities, workshops, and events, attracting an even greater number of participants and becoming an important center for learning and creative expression in the region.

You can see how it went through the photographic material uploaded on Commons, but also some of the photos are bellow:

Bosa Filipovic giving a lecture
The new members of Wiki club Kavadarci listening a lecture
The new members of Wiki club Kavadarci listening a lecture
The new members of Wiki club Kavadarci listening a lecture

Training workshop “Plants Around Us“ for students from "Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi"-Skopje primary school

On April 24, 2026, the workshop “Plants Among Us” was held, intended for members of the Wiki Club at the Primary School“Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi.” The workshop was thematically focused on the plant world, with the aim of helping students gain a deeper understanding of different plant species, their characteristics, significance, and distribution, and then transform their acquired knowledge into encyclopedic articles on Wikipedia.

A total of 7 students and 1 teacher participated in the workshop, demonstrating great interest and dedication throughout the entire process. The work was organized through a combination of theoretical and practical activities. A short introductory part of the workshop included a lecture delivered by Bosa Filipović and Snežana Štrkovska. They introduced the students to the mission of Wikimedia, the importance of free knowledge, and the opportunities that Wikipedia offers as a platform for learning and sharing information. Through their presentation, they further motivated the students to actively engage in editing and creating high-quality content.

This was followed by the practical part, where students independently, but with the support of mentors, began writing and editing articles. As a result of their work, a total of 23 new articles were created, representing a valuable contribution to enriching the content of Wikipedia in the Macedonian language.

The atmosphere during the workshop was dynamic, motivating, and full of enthusiasm. Students actively collaborated, exchanged ideas, and helped one another, which further contributed to the success of the event. This hands-on learning approach proved to be very effective, as students were directly involved in the process of knowledge creation.

You can see how it went through the photographic material uploaded on Commons, but also some of the photos are bellow:

The students with Snezana Strkovska
The students listening a lecture
The students listening a lecture
The students listening a lecture
The students editing on Wikipedia
The students editing on Wikipedia

WikiExpeditions presentation at Outdoor & Travel Fair 2026

The team of Wiki Expeditions participated in the Outdoor & Travel Fair 2026, at Skopje City Mall held from 24 to 26 April 2026 in Skopje.

Throughout the three-day event, the team presented its activities and overall mission, with a focus on documenting natural and cultural heritage through Wikimedia projects. The presentation aimed to introduce visitors to the concept of Wiki Expeditions, including how field documentation is planned and carried out, as well as how collected photographs and materials are later contributed to Wikimedia platforms such as Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia. A curated selection of photographs from previous expeditions was also exhibited at the fair, visually presenting the outcomes of fieldwork and drawing the attention of attendees interested in travel, nature, and documentation.

At the official opening of the event, Toni Ristovski delivered a presentation introducing the Wiki Expeditions initiative. His talk covered the goals of the project, its development, and its contribution to expanding free and openly accessible knowledge. He also highlighted the importance of volunteer participation, collaboration, and field-based contributions in documenting lesser-known or underrepresented locations.

The participation in the fair provided an opportunity to engage with a wider and more diverse audience, including outdoor enthusiasts, travelers, and representatives of related initiatives. It also helped raise awareness about Wikimedia projects in a non-digital environment, encouraged potential new contributors, and strengthened connections within the broader community interested in exploration and documentation.

Editing contest "Mineralogy“ results

The editing contest on the topic of “Mineralogy” aimed to enrich and improve the content of the Macedonian-language Wikipedia in the field of mineralogy and related scientific disciplines. The contest was held from February 1 to February 28, 2026, and was open to all interested editors, both beginners and experienced Wikipedia users.

As part of the contest, participants could create new articles or improve existing ones related to minerals, mineralogical processes, crystallography, notable mineralogists, and other topics in the field of mineralogy. All articles had to be written in an encyclopedic style and include relevant and verifiable sources, in accordance with Wikipedia’s rules and guidelines.

To participate in the contest and be eligible for prizes, participants were required to submit their articles on the official contest page. To win any productivity prize, it was necessary to create or improve at least 25 articles with an average score of at least 2.0, as evaluated by the members of the judging committee. To win the special prize, participants needed to create or improve at least 15 mineral-related articles with an average score of at least 2.0 from the judging committee.

A total of 11 users participated, and 446 articles were created. Based on the established criteria, the most successful participants were selected and they were awarded:

First place –Tiveropolnik
Second place –Bojan9Spasovski
Third place – 19user99

In addition to the main prizes, the following awards were also given:

Best article award – “Diamond” by Tiveropolnik
Best new participant award – Pitikjp22
Special award – Bojan9Spasovski

With the successful realization of the contest, the content of the Macedonian-language Wikipedia in the field of mineralogy was significantly enriched, while also encouraging active participation within the editing community. The achieved results once again confirmed the importance of editing contests as an effective way to develop free knowledge and engage new contributors.

Wikiexpedition - Strumica basin

Wikiexpeditions logo

Тhe first wiki expedition of this year was once again focused on the Strumica Plain, continuing the documentation of villages in the Strumica Basin from the previous year. The participants arrived in Strumica on April 30, and over the following two days — May 1 and 2 — they carried out field activities across several villages in the municipalities of Bosilovo and Vasilevo.

The first day began with visits to Banica and Vodocha, where numerous churches, monasteries, monuments, and other important sites were photographed. The expedition then continued to Sekirnik and Turnovo, followed by Ilovica and Shtuka, where religious buildings and the artificial lake above the villages were also documented.

Later, the team visited Radovo, Staro Baldovci, Petralinci, and Drvosh, with special attention given to the abandoned village of Hamzali and the newly built church “St. Clement of Ohrid.” By the end of the day, Gecherlija, Saraj, and Dabille were also visited, including the new Catholic church in Saraj.

The second day included Dobrejci, Prosenikovo, Piperevo, and Vasilevo, as well as Dobroshinci, Nova Maala, Visoka Maala, and Lake Turija. A notable stop was the abandoned village of Nivichino, known for its link to the “Miss Stone Affair,” where only the village church remains.

In the final part of the expedition, Sushevo, Vladievci, and Staro Vladievci were visited, with several newly built structures also recorded.

Overall, the expedition documented 25 villages, several historical settlements, and a large number of religious, cultural, and public landmarks, while covering more than 500 kilometers throughout the Strumica region.

You can view all the photographic material from the Wikiexpedition here, but there are some pictures bellow:

St. Leontius Church of the Vodoča Monastery
St. Leontius Church of the Vodoča Monastery
The southern side of St. George Church in the village of Turnovo
A stone statue of an angel above the entrance gate of St. Demetrius Church's yard in the village of Ilovica
Remnants of a minaret in the village of Dobrošinci

Plants Around Us: Kumanovo workshop

On 1 May 2026, a workshop for members of Wiki Club Kumanovo was held under the theme “Plants Around Us: Kumanovo”. The event was dedicated to exploring plant life in the local environment, with a focus on species found in both urban and rural areas of the Kumanovo region. Its main goal was to encourage greater awareness among students about the importance of plants in everyday life and their role in maintaining ecological balance.

The workshop began with an introductory presentation by the coordinator, Stojna Arsovska Donevska, who introduced participants to basic concepts in botany and plant classification. This was followed by a discussion on the most common plant species in and around Kumanovo, highlighting their presence in parks, yards, forests, and other natural habitats. Particular attention was given to the importance of local flora as a valuable part of natural heritage that should be explored, documented, and preserved. During the theoretical segment, students actively participated in discussions and engaged in observing the natural environment around them, which helped create an interactive and collaborative learning atmosphere.

In the second part of the workshop, participants took part in a practical activity focused on editing Wikipedia articles about various plant species. Under mentorship, they applied their theoretical knowledge while developing skills in translation, selecting relevant information, and presenting content in a clear and structured way. A total of 10 students participated and created 30 new articles.

The workshop concluded with a brief group discussion, where participants shared their impressions and reflected on the knowledge gained, emphasizing the value of such activities in understanding their environment and contributing to free knowledge.

You can see how it went through the photographic material uploaded on Commons, but also some of the photos are bellow:

The students with plants
The students with plants
Editing on Wikipedia
Editing on Wikipedia
Editing on Wikipedia
The students with the coordinator of Wiki club Kumanovo

Teachers conference at "Goce Delchev" primary school in Tetovo

On 6 May 2026, a conference for teachers was held at Goce Delchev Primary School in Tetovo, organized by Wikimedia MKD. The event gathered 15 teachers, who had the opportunity to learn more about the role of Wikipedia in education and the programs offered by the organization.

The conference included presentations from four speakers, each addressing different aspects of Wikimedia MKD’s work. Nikolche Stojanoski, President of Wikimedia MKD, opened the event with an overview of the organization, its development, and its mission to promote free knowledge, with a focus on enriching content in the Macedonian language. He also emphasized the importance of cooperation with educational institutions and the role of teachers in encouraging students to contribute to Wikipedia and develop critical thinking skills.

Snezhana Shtrkovska, Executive Director, presented Wikipedia as a global platform for free knowledge, highlighting its core principles and the importance of using reliable sources, accuracy, and neutrality. Bosa Filipovikj, Education Program Manager, introduced the education program and explained how Wikipedia editing can be integrated into classroom activities, helping students build knowledge as well as skills such as critical thinking and teamwork.

The conference concluded with a presentation by Lili Arsova, Coordinator of Wiki Club Veles, who shared practical experiences from working with students and discussed the impact of wiki clubs on student motivation, engagement, and confidence.

The event ended in a positive and interactive atmosphere, with active discussion among participants. Teachers expressed strong interest in future trainings and collaboration, highlighting the value of integrating Wikipedia into education and strengthening partnerships with Wikimedia MKD.

You can see how it went through the photographic material uploaded on Commons, but also some of the photos are bellow:

Nikolche Stojanoski giving a lecture
Bosa Filipovic giving a lecture
Snezana Strkovska giving a lecture
Lili Arsova giving a lecture
The teachers listening a lecture
The teachers listening a lecture

Editing contest “Botanists with author abbreviations” results

The editing contest “Botanists with author abbreviations” was held from 20 April to 10 May 2026 on the Macedonian-language Wikipedia. The main goal of the contest was to support the creation of new articles about botanists who have standardized author abbreviations, which are used in the scientific naming of plants. Only high school students had the right to participate in the contest. 25 high school students participated in the contest and a total of 129 articles were created.

All articles had to be created in accordance with the principles and rules of Wikipedia, so all articles had to contain sources and employ an encyclopedic style. The articles were reviewed by a jury, which consisted of three Wikipedians. The jury made the final decision on the winners. The jury members reviewed all the articles and scored each one individually with points from 1 to 10. The three winners of the competition are as follows:

First place:Kirca 08 with 409 points
Second place:Erikatrpeska with 391 points
Third place:Mito999 with 357 points

In addition to these prizes, there were also prizes for the best articles for each week individually. The winners of these awards are the following:

First week best article: Kirca 08 with the article Harry Allan
Second week best article: Kirca 08 with the article Jean-Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent
Third week best article:Кирил Јовановски with the article John James Audubon

With this contest, Wikimedia MKD once again confirmed the importance of cooperation between education and digital knowledge. Through such activities, young people become part of the global Wikipedia community and contribute to the development of free knowledge in the Macedonian language. The editing contest “Botanists with author abbreviations” showed that enthusiasm, curiosity and the desire to learn can create valuable content that will serve future generations.

Coordinate Me 2026

Coordinate Me 2026 is the third international Wikidata contest dedicated to improving and creating geodata content with geographic coordinates (P625). The initiative brings together contributors from different countries with the shared goal of enriching free and open geospatial data on Wikidata.

The contest focuses on a wide range of items, including settlements, pharmacies, cultural heritage sites, public art, and natural monuments. Participants are encouraged to create new Wikidata items or improve existing ones by adding accurate geographic coordinates and related information. Through this process, the competition contributes to better data accuracy, wider geographic coverage, and improved accessibility of free knowledge. The collected data can be useful for mapping projects, educational purposes, research activities, and the development of various digital tools and applications.

The competition runs from 1 May until 31 May 2026 and includes international prizes for participants and active contributors.

Wikimedia MKD joined the initiative as a participating affiliate, supporting the international effort to improve geodata on Wikidata and encouraging local community members to contribute content related to Macedonia and other participating countries.

Wikilive 2026

From 16 to 17 May 2026, the jubilee tenth edition of the regional WikiLive conference was held in Belgrade, gathering members of Wikimedia communities, representatives of Wikimedia organizations, editors, and supporters of free knowledge from across the region. The conference program included lectures, workshops, and discussions dedicated to the future of Wikipedia, artificial intelligence, educational programs, and GLAM activities.

Wikimedia MKD was represented by Orce Nineski, Coordinator for Cooperation with Cultural Institutions, who presented the organization’s GLAM activities and collaborations with museums, libraries, archives, and other cultural institutions in Macedonia. During his presentation, he highlighted the importance of digitization and free access to cultural heritage, emphasizing how cooperation between Wikimedia MKD and cultural institutions contributes to preserving and promoting Macedonian culture through free knowledge platforms.

Nineski also presented several successful projects and activities through which photographs, documents, and various historical and cultural materials were uploaded to Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. These activities help make Macedonian cultural heritage more accessible both to the local public and to the international Wikimedia community. His presentation attracted interest among participants, especially because of the practical examples of successful institutional partnerships and the opportunities for developing new regional GLAM collaborations in the future.

The conference concluded with discussions about the future development of the Wikimedia movement and regional cooperation, once again confirming the importance of sharing experiences and strengthening connections between Wikimedia communities in the region.

You can see how it went through the photographic material bellow:

Orce Nineski giving a lecture
Orce Nineski giving a lecture
Orce Nineski giving a lecture

Zana Strkovska presentation at Wiki Conference for Russian-Speaking Contributors

Zana Strkovska had a presentation on “Good practice exchange on developing successful GLAM projects” at the Wiki Conference for Russian-Speaking Contributors. During the session, she presented the experiences and activities of Wikimedia MKD in the field of GLAM cooperation and shared examples of successful partnerships with museums, galleries, libraries, and archives in Macedonia.

The presentation highlighted the importance of collaboration between Wikimedia affiliates and cultural institutions in preserving and promoting cultural heritage through free knowledge platforms. She explained how GLAM partnerships contribute to the digitization and accessibility of valuable historical and cultural materials, allowing wider public access to content through Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata.

Special focus was placed on the process of establishing sustainable cooperation with institutions, organizing joint activities, and encouraging professionals from the cultural sector to participate in open knowledge initiatives. Different successful case studies and practical approaches used by Wikimedia MKD were presented, including content digitization projects, educational activities, edit-a-thons, and initiatives aimed at improving the representation of cultural heritage online.

The presentation also emphasized the importance of international exchange of experiences and good practices among Wikimedia communities. Participants discussed common challenges in GLAM collaborations. The session encouraged further cooperation between affiliates and provided inspiration for developing new GLAM initiatives in different countries.

Editing Week "History of Human Rights"

The editing week History of Human Rights is an initiative dedicated to enriching the Macedonian-language Wikipedia with content related to the development, protection, and significance of human rights throughout history. This week is part of the international initiative "Wiki for Human Rights, dedicated to human rights and free access to knowledge, through which volunteers and editors from different countries contribute to creating higher-quality and more accessible encyclopedic content on this topic. The editing week is taking place from 1 to 7 June 2026.

During the editing week, participants are expected to:

create new articles and improve existing ones;
add reliable external links to articles; and
add images to articles in order to make them more illustrative.

All articles must be written in accordance with the principles and rules of Wikipedia. Therefore, all articles should be written in an encyclopedic style and include references. During the editing contest or after its conclusion, all participants are required to list the articles with which they participated.

All registered users of the Macedonian-language Wikipedia are eligible to participate in the contest, and prizes are provided for the best participants.

Collaboration with the Botanical garden at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Skopje

As part of its efforts to establish new partnerships with cultural, educational, and scientific institutions, Wikimedia MKD held a working meeting with the person responsible for the Botanical Garden in Skopje at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Skopje. The meeting focused on exploring opportunities for collaboration and identifying activities that could contribute to the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of knowledge related to botany, biodiversity, and the natural heritage of Macedonia through Wikimedia projects.

During the discussion, representatives of both institutions exchanged ideas on potential joint initiatives, including content creation and improvement on Wikimedia platforms, photographic documentation of plant species and collections, as well as activities aimed at engaging volunteers and experts in sharing free knowledge. Particular attention was given to opportunities for increasing the visibility of the Botanical Garden and its valuable resources through Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia, and other Wikimedia projects.

As a result of the meeting, an agreement was reached to establish cooperation between Wikimedia MKD and the Botanical Garden. The partnership will be implemented over the coming months through a series of coordinated activities, with further planning and communication taking place as specific initiatives are developed. This collaboration represents an important step toward strengthening the connection between Wikimedia projects and scientific institutions, while supporting the broader goal of making reliable and freely accessible knowledge available to the public.

Coordinate Me 2026 event with the Tirana Business University in Albania

By: Vyolltsa (talk)

In May 2026, Wikimedians of the Albanian Language User Group participated in the Coordinate Me 2026 mass campaign.

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To contribute extensively to geodata in Albania, our User Group organized an activity with the software engineering students at Tirana Business University. A group of 11 students was introduced to Wikidata, and was showed how geographic coordinates help make information about places, museums, objects, villages, and much more.

Through practical examples in Albania, students learned how to edit Wikidata items and to add/ improve coordinate data for places, institutions, and other geographic objects. The activity connected open data, technology and free knowledge and encouraged students to contributing to this campaign.

Social media

We have a public channel on WhatsApp of Albanian Language if you want to join and discuss Wikimedia projects.

If you want to see more about our activities, you canː

Like our Facebook page, follow us on formerly Twitter or X or Instagram.

Romanian Wikipedia shines in the #1Lib1Ref summer 2026 campaign

By: MagdaBarascu (talk)

The Central and Eastern European Wikimedia community has long recognised the power of collaboration, and this summer, the Romanian Wikipedia community provided us with a masterclass in mobilisation. From May 15 to June 5, 2026, librarians, researchers, and truth-seekers united for the summer edition of the global #1Lib1Ref campaign. The mission was clear: combat misinformation and elevate the quality of public knowledge, one reliable citation at a time.

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Today, we are proud to celebrate a formidable campaign that has left the Romanian Wikipedia a safer, more documented, and deeply trustworthy space for readers worldwide.

The power of community: The final numbers

The dedication of the Romanian community over these three weeks was nothing short of spectacular. Here is how 52 passionate volunteers transformed the digital landscape:

1,230 contributions (references saved, verified, and added)
875 Wikipedia articles improved and fact-checked
52 dedicated participants who donated their time and expertise

Honouring the champions of truth

While every single edit brought the project forward, the friendly competition at the top of the leaderboard yielded truly impressive results. Congratulations to the most active contributors of the Summer 2026 edition:

I: Misha0501 from Buzău, 183
II: Danaioana88 from Sibiu, 158
III: SandaVar from Sălaj, 117
IV: Gabamii11 from Buzău, 74
V: CallistoJ from Buzău, 51

A spectacular regional mobilisation

A major highlight of this edition was the incredible energy radiating from Buzău County. Thanks to the mobilisation at the "V. Voiculescu" Buzău County Library, the region claimed three of the top five spots on the national leaderboard.

This local success story was beautifully complemented by a strong, consistent presence of dedicated editors from Sibiu and Sălaj, proving that regional libraries and local communities remain the backbone of open knowledge in the CEE region. "Each added reference is a step forward against disinformation."

A massive thank you goes out to all 52 participants. Whether you added one reference or nearly two hundred, your work ensures that Wikipedia remains a reliable beacon of facts.

Curious to see the full statistics or want to dive into the data? The complete ranking and project details can be consulted on the #1lib1ref project page.

Update from Wikimedia Ukraine's cutest project

By: AntonProtsiuk (WMUA) (talk)

Wikimedia Ukraine's “condensed milk by mail” program – our long-running tradition of sending real tins of condensed milk to the most active contributors to Ukrainian Wikipedia — wrapped up another successful year. In 2025, we sent 75 awards to 61 unique editors, including 26 newcomers, recognizing standout work across five categories: newbies, experienced editors, patrollers, bot operators, and administrators. Read on for the full breakdown and to hear from some of this year’s winners on what keeps them contributing to Ukrainian Wikipedia.

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The tradition of awarding barnstars to Wikipedia editors is almost as old as Wikipedia itself. On Ukrainian Wikipedia, volunteers adapted the custom locally – handing out virtual tins of condensed milk, a beloved sweet across Ukraine. Since 2011, Wikimedia Ukraine has taken it offline, mailing real tins (plus Wikipedia-branded souvenirs) to the most active Wikipedians each month.

The goal is to show new editors their work has been noticed, as well as remind experienced Wikipedians how much the community values them.

In 2025, we sent 75 awards to 61 unique contributors – including 26 newcomers – across five categories: most active newbies, experienced editors, patrollers, bot operators, and administrators.

A few words from recent winners on what motivates them to contribute to Wikipedia:

“I can write about what I love, translate what I find interesting, and do it as well as I can, knowing thousands of fellow Wikipedians share the same idea.” — Сілекс
“Knowledge isn’t a privilege, it’s a right. An encyclopedia in your pocket, polished by thousands of people – that’s a treasure and a real breakthrough for accessible education.” — likskyl
“I want Ukrainian Wikipedia to be a high-quality, self-sufficient resource so Ukrainian readers can learn in their own language. That matters especially in wartime, when we have to defend not only our land but our information space.” — Amane White

Successful Science on Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at the Institute of Physics of the CAS

By: Hynek Kaplan (WMCZ) (talk)

On Thursday, May 14, 2026, the main in-person edit-a-thon of the second annual Month of Science on Wikipedia challenge took place in the Library of the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (FZU).

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The edit-a-thon program kicked off with two parallel tours for participants to choose from. History enthusiasts went on a roughly one-hour tour of the Art Deco institute building and its immediate surroundings. The atmosphere was further enhanced by the local doorman, who guided the group stylishly dressed in a period suit and bowler hat.

The second group headed straight to the FZU laboratories. Here, participants attended a comprehensive lecture on the structure of photovoltaic panels, complemented by engaging visual demonstrations of raw silicon crystals and finished products.

After the tours, the group moved to the library, where the editing part began with an introductory lecture on how Wikipedia works. This was intentionally kept brief this time, as the vast majority of attendees were already familiar with the basic principles of editing. Following this, participants, armed with their laptops and sources, got down to writing and expanding articles, supported throughout by the trainers present. Over the course of the afternoon, the trainers also dedicated intensive time to complete beginners—helping them create accounts, make their first edits in both the user and main namespaces, and explaining the basics of working with sources and image copyright licenses.

Digital empowerment in action: WikiSeniors 2026 connects generations at the Onești Municipal Library

By: MagdaBarascu (talk)

The third edition of WikiSeniors project is officially in full swing, proving once again that the passion for free knowledge knows no age. Running from February to December 2026 at the "Radu Rosetti" Municipal Library in Onești, this year’s initiative continues to bridge the digital divide with the vital support of the Wikimedians of Romania and Moldova User Group.

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Building on the strong foundations laid during the 2024 and 2025 editions, WikiSeniors 2026 welcomes back veteran editors while opening its doors to eager new learners. The core mission remains clear: developing essential digital skills and critical information evaluation through practical editing on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.

A vibrant refresh at the BiblioNEXT conference

On May 8th, against the backdrop of the annual ANBPR BiblioNEXT Conference hosted by the library, seniors from Onești gathered for a special digital "refresh" session. The atmosphere was charged with collaborative energy as participants dived into the Romanian Wikipedia, guided directly by Elena Damian, representative of Wikimedians of Romania and Moldova User Group.

Rather than overwhelming participants with dense technical jargon, the workshop utilized streamlined, intuitive materials designed to spark curiosity and encourage seniors to independently explore the wider Wikipedia learning ecosystem.

What we learned

The workshop was a powerful reminder of what the Wikimedia movement gains when we engage older generations. Key takeaways from the session included:

Refreshing editing techniques: Participants practiced how to improve existing articles and properly add reliable citations—the bedrock of Wikipedia's credibility.
The value of experience: Seniors bring a unique blend of patience, life experience, and rigor to the movement, qualities that drastically improve the quality and depth of free content.
Community first: Beyond the visual editors, markup, and text lines, the seniors experienced firsthand that Wikipedia is fundamentally about a community collaborating to leave a lasting, open-access legacy.

Wikimedia Serbia - March-May 2026

By: Gorana Gomirac (VMRS) (talk)

March to May 2026 was an active and productive period for Wikimedia Serbia, marked by the expansion of educational activities, the strengthening of GLAM partnerships, several successful campaigns and competitions, and important community events such as WikiLive Conference.

Within the Education Program, Wikimedia Serbia continued cooperation with universities, secondary schools and primary schools across Serbia. Workshops were organised with students and pupils in Belgrade, Vranje, Veliko Gradište, Jagodina and other cities, while student internship activities and preparations for the Edu Wiki Camp 2026 continued. The program also achieved new articles, including articles created through activities related to education in Finland, Norwegian culture and Greek culture.

The GLAM Program was focused on the development of institutional partnerships, Wikipedian in Residence activities and international cooperation. During this period, cooperation with the Nikola Tesla Museum and the National Museum in Pančevo was especially important, resulting in the release of a significant number of files, new Wikipedia articles and Wikidata items. Wikimedia Serbia also continued its active participation in the Content Partnerships Hub and hosted the Global GLAM Call.

Within the Diversity Program, Wikimedia Serbia implemented several important community and thematic initiatives, including the WikiGap campaign, the World Roma Day edit-a-thon, the CEE Spring competition, Coordinate Me 2026, and the “Read Wikipedia” initiative. A particularly important community event was WikiLive 2026, the tenth conference of Wikipedians and Wikimedians in Serbia. The organization also launched the Digital Voices of Southeast Serbia project and organized the Women’s Wiki Camp in Pirot, continuing its work on increasing the participation and visibility of women in the digital space.

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Educational program

During the period from March to May 2026, Wikimedia Serbia implemented numerous activities within the Education Program, with a strong focus on cooperation with educational institutions, practical workshops, student internships and the preparation of new program activities.

Cooperation with educational institutions continued through workshops with students and pupils from several institutions, including the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, the Faculty of Pedagogy in Vranje, the “Miloje Vasić” Secondary School in Veliko Gradište, the “Jovan Sterija Popović” Primary School in Belgrade, the “Svetozar Marković” Gymnasium in Jagodina and the Ninth Belgrade Gymnasium “Mihailo Petrović Alas”. These activities enabled participants to learn the basics of editing Wikipedia, develop digital and research skills, and better understand the importance of free knowledge.
A significant part of the program was dedicated to working with students and young people. Five students from the Faculty of Economics completed internships within the Education Program and contributed to the finalization of the “Wikischoolar: Birds of Serbia” project, implemented with pupils from the “Jovan Sterija Popović” Primary School.
A meeting was also organised for current Wiki Ambassadors and students interested in applying for the next cycle of the Wiki Ambassador program.
The thematic activity on education in Finland was successfully completed. As a result of the workshop with students of Scandinavian Studies at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, 14 articles on Norwegian culture were written, while students of Modern Greek Studies wrote nine articles dedicated to Greek culture.
The program also included activities aimed at teachers and broader educational networking. Wikimedia Serbia presented the Education Program at the State Seminar on Teaching Mathematics and Computer Science 2026, through a presentation on integrating Wikipedia into the informatics curriculum. An accredited seminar for teachers, “Application of online wiki tools in teaching and learning”, was organized at the Šabac Gymnasium, with the aim of strengthening teachers’ digital and pedagogical competencies.
Preparations for Edu Wiki Camp 2026 also continued. The call for participants was published, and the camp will be organized in Sremski Karlovci from July 13 to 16, 2026. The camp is intended for young people interested in learning how to edit Wikipedia, critically approach information and contribute to the spread of free knowledge.

GLAM Program

During this period, Wikimedia Serbia continued the development of the GLAM Program through Wikipedian in Residence projects, new partnerships with cultural institutions, content digitization and international cooperation.

Wikimedia Serbia continued its active involvement in the global Content Partnerships Hub, an initiative that brings together Wikimedia organizations and volunteers interested in cooperation with cultural, scientific and other knowledge institutions. Through this work, the organization remained engaged in international discussions on improving access to cultural heritage and open knowledge.
Cooperation with the Nikola Tesla Museum was established through the signing of a memorandum of cooperation, followed by a one-month Wikipedian in Residence project. During the residency, the WiR worked on digitizing materials related to the life and work of Nikola Tesla, and 150 files owned by the museum were released on Wikimedia Commons.
Cooperation with the National Museum in Pančevo was also established and implemented through a one-month Wikipedian in Residence. As part of this project, 164 new articles were written on Serbian Wikipedia, 20 articles were improved, 164 new Wikidata items were created, and 571 files were released on Wikimedia Commons. In addition, discussions continued with several cultural institutions regarding future Wikipedian in Residence projects and opportunities for digitizing and opening cultural heritage through Wikimedia projects.
The GLAM Program also supported the development of content on the independent cultural scene. As part of the same initiative, a kick-off event and Wikipedia editing workshops were organized in cooperation with the Faculty of Contemporary Arts, the Information Technology School, gathering more than 200 young people interested in independent culture and Wikipedia editing.
During this period, Wikimedia Serbia also hosted the Global GLAM Call, an international online meeting that brings together participants from around the world interested in cooperation in the fields of culture, heritage and free knowledge.
The Wikidata competition marking International Museum Day was also completed in May, further contributing to the visibility of museum-related content and cultural heritage on Wikimedia projects.

Diversity Program

During this period, the Diversity Program of Wikimedia Serbia included numerous activities aimed at developing diverse content, supporting the volunteer community, strengthening regional cooperation and increasing the visibility of underrepresented groups.

In March, Wikimedia Serbia organized an edit-a-thon marking International Women’s Day within the WikiGap campaign. The campaign was implemented from March 7 to 15 in cooperation with the Wikimedia Community of the Republic of Srpska, the “Iz kruga Vojvodina” association and the “Fenomena” association.
Wikimedia Serbia and the Wikimedia Community of the Republic of Srpska also organized the seventh edit-a-thon marking World Roma Day. The campaign lasted from April 1 to 15 and included participation from eight language versions of Wikipedia.
Community support continued through the annual microgrant call. A total of 15 project proposals were submitted, four of which were selected for implementation by the end of the year.
Wikimedia Serbia also organized, together with the Wikimedia Community of the Republic of Srpska, the CEE Spring competition, which ran from March 21 to May 31 and focused on topics related to Central and Eastern Europe.
A major community event during this period was WikiLive 2026, the tenth conference of Wikipedians and Wikimedians in Serbia, held on May 16 and 17 at the Serbian-Korean Information Access Center in Belgrade. The event gathered around 50 participants, including Wikimedians, partners, speakers and volunteers from Serbia and the region. The program covered topics such as artificial intelligence, community development, free knowledge, cultural heritage and the future of the Wikimedia movement.
Wikimedia Serbia also joined the Coordinate Me 2026 competition, organized by Wikimedia Austria with the support of the CEE Hub and other affiliates. The competition took place from May 1 to 31 and focused on improving Wikidata by adding geographic coordinates.
In May, the “Read Wikipedia” initiative was launched with the aim of making Serbian Wikipedia articles more accessible to blind and visually impaired people. Through this activity, volunteers were invited to record audio versions of Serbian Wikipedia articles by June 20.
As part of the Digital Voices of Southeast Serbia project, supported by the CIVICUS Digital Democracy Initiative, Wikimedia Serbia organized the Women’s Wiki Camp from May 28 to 31 in Pirot. The camp gathered 11 girls from Southeast Serbia motivated to contribute to Wikimedia projects. After the camp, a dedicated working group will continue editing Wikipedia and promoting the digital visibility of women, with ongoing mentoring support from the Wikimedia Serbia team.

Russian-Italian collaboration

By: Mark Ekimov, Lvova (talk)

Isolated systems cannot exist; otherwise a perpetual motion machine would be possible. For this reason, we, the North-West Russia Wiki-Historians User Group, actively seek cooperation within the Wikimedia movement. Following agreements reached during CEEM 2025, we held a joint contest with Italian Wikipedians.

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The contest took place from 20 February to 20 March 2026 simultaneously in the Russian and Italian Wikipedias. Participants created new articles in Russian about Italy and Italians, and in Italian about Russians and Russia.

The fact that such contests are being held is of genuine interest, given the rapidly changing world, and the results of this edit-a-thon are undoubtedly encouraging. 31 participants in the Russian-language contest (including jury members participating outside the contest) created 312 articles. Participants wrote about works of classical painting and contemporary cinema, about landmarks and symbols of Italy, heroes of the Italian Resistance, and tough mafia figures. Finally, about athletes (and Italy is famous for more than just footballers). Based on the contest results, three winners were selected, although the work of other users is also clearly worthy of praise.

On the Italian side, 53 users took part in the contest, producing 526 articles. Italians had previously also organized an edit-a-thon with Iranians, as CEEM allows very different participants to meet and coordinate; the results of the current collaboration surpassed those of the Iranian collaboration in both the Russian and Italian Wikimedia communities, which may indicate both the growing skill of the organizers and a smaller language barrier. Italians noticeably more actively used pre-prepared wordlists compiled by the organizers, and we were particularly pleased with articles about such tasty foods as vinеgret or Leningrad cake and about such charming animals as Daurian hedgehog, although we were somewhat surprised by the lack of interest in music. 7 winners of the contest in the Italian Wikipedia receive books related to Russia as prizes.

The "Italian edit-a-thon", following the Iranian one, allows us to hope that such "country studies" marathons will not become rare and will be held more often in the Russian section, covering new topics.

Editing Wikipedia with Viktor Hygo High School in Albania

By: Vyolltsa (talk)

Back in April 2026, Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group organized a practical editing training with the students from Viktor Hygo High School in Tirana.

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In the event, we discussed Wikipedia and AI, free knowledge, and the basic ways they can contribute to different Wikipedia projects.

The training took place within this school and was organized in collaboration with students involved in writing the school newspaper. This activity was more closely connected to their daily work with writing, researching, checking information, and preparing articles.

During the session, students learned how to edit and improve articles on Wikipedia. They also learned how to use the translation tool. Through hands-on examples, they explored how to use the editing options and how to add reliable information and references.

With this activity, we wanted to encourage students to see Wikipedia not only as a place to read information but also as a platform where they can contribute, learn, and share content with a wider audience.

Social media

We have a public channel on WhatsApp of Albanian Language if you want to join and discuss Wikimedia projects.

If you want to see more about our activities, you canː

Like our Facebook page, follow us on formerly Twitter or X or Instagram.

Wikimedia Northern Europe Meeting 2026

By: Lvova (talk)

On 5–7 June in Oulu, with Wikimedia Finland, the first in-person meeting since 2019 of Wikimedians from Northern Europe took place. Around five communities involved in the CEE Hub’s work also belong to Northern Europe, and three of them - North-West Russia Wiki-Historians User Group, Wikimedia Estonia, and Wikimedians of Latvia - took part in the meeting in Oulu.

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The fluidity of regional boundaries allows individual countries and communities to fit into different regional contexts. This is useful - the Wikimedia movement is extremely large and diverse, and such bridges enable the most effective exchange of experience, possibly even more effectively than at conferences such as Wikimania, where regional boundaries do not exist at all.

The meeting was the fifth since 2018; in 2021 and 2024 the meetings were held online. The current meeting was planned as a small gathering with a flexible program, focused on exchanging knowledge about each other's work, experience from successful projects, and discussing ideas for future cooperation. The conference was organized in a highly practical manner, which further increased its usefulness. Discussion also covered how to exchange ongoing work more productively; so far, it is meetings - rather than any other channels of communication - that truly enable the creation of joint projects in the region.

Tatar Wikipedians at the "Poisk" Scientific and Practical Conference

By: Ilsina Ilgizovna (talk), Il Nur (talk)

On 25 April 2026, Kazan Federal University, one of the leading higher education institutions in Tatarstan, organized the regional scientific and practical conference for students and educators called "Poisk" (Search) at the Bolshekaibitskaya Secondary School. Held annually, this conference aims to promote scientific knowledge, career guidance, and engage students in scientific creativity, research, and extracurricular project work under the guidance of educators. Its purpose is to identify gifted children, support creativity, and develop the intellectual initiative of students by stimulating scientific and practical activities. This year, active young volunteers of Tatar Wikipedia, mentored by user Ilsina Ilgizovna, participated in the event. They had recently joined the Wikimedia movement through the "CEE Spring Women 2026" project.

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The research paper presented by the activists was titled "Tatar Wikipedia as a Tool for the Preservation and Development of the Tatar Language". The participants introduced the organizers, other attendees, and the audience to the opportunities offered by Wikimedia projects, using Tatar Wikipedia as an example. They spoke about various projects within TatWiki, as well as outreach and partner activities carried out by volunteers. Furthermore, a participant named Aliya introduced the audience to the implementation of the "Smart Region" project, which involves all segments of the region's population in contributing to the Wiki environment based on their areas of interest. Using this example, she talked about the local wiki-club "Wiki-Kaybych". "Wiki-Kaybych" is a group of Tatar Wikipedia volunteers residing in the Kaybitsky District. The club was founded back in 2021. Thanks to this Wiki-club, the district is the most thoroughly documented municipality in the Tatar language in all of Tatarstan. Participants from the Kaybitsky District are among the most active contributors to Tatar Wikipedia and represent the largest group among Tatar-speaking participants, consisting of 25 people of various ages and professions.

The young volunteers demonstrated the role of Tatar Wikipedia in preserving and developing the Tatar language as a tool for creating a digital language environment and were awarded second place at the conference. Later, the participants' work about Wikipedia was featured in the May issue of "Magarif", a monthly public-pedagogical, scientific, and methodological media outlet distributed throughout Tatarstan.

Feminism and Folklore 2026 in Minority Languages of Russia

By: Il Nur (talk)

As Wikipedia grows, people speaking the minority languages of Russia—of which there are more than a hundred—are also learning about it. By minority languages of Russia, we mean languages other than Russian, the majority of whose speakers reside within Russia. Thanks to the efforts of volunteers, 26 language editions are currently developing, with the largest being the Tatar, Chechen, Bashkir, and Chuvash Wikipedias. The language editions in Yakut (Sakha), Veps, Ossetian, and Tuvan can also be counted among the most active. Unfortunately, the number of speakers of many regional languages in Russia is declining every year; in 2009, UNESCO recognized 136 languages in Russia as endangered. Creating wiki-encyclopedias in these languages can play an important role in their preservation and development.

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As previously reported, for several years in a row, the Tatar-speaking Wikimedians community has been organizing contests not only in the Tatar Wikipedia but also in other active language editions, boosting their content. For instance, in 2025, we organized contests in the Bashkir, Chuvash, Tuvan, and Crimean Tatar languages; in November, Sakha Wikipedians joined the Wikipedia Asia Month; and in February 2026, the Chechen Wikipedia joined the Feminism and Folklore marathon for the first time. The Chechen Wikipedia itself is the first encyclopedia in the Chechen language, and Feminism and Folklore 2026 became the very first contest held within the Chechen Wikipedia.

From February 1 to March 31, 12 people participated in the Feminism and Folklore marathon in the Tatar Wikipedia, writing 146 articles, while another 12 participants wrote 90 articles in the other languages, 47 of which were written in Chechen. Encouragingly, about half of the participants were newcomers. While the Sakha Wikipedians invited new contributors via social media—bringing in volunteers speaking the Sakha language from various countries—lessons were conducted in the Tatar Wikipedia with school students from Tatarstan. Some of these students joined in editing Wikipedia and wrote about 70 articles in the Tatar and Bashkir languages. In addition to the international prizes, which have not yet been awarded to the winners, the Tatar community recognized the most active participants with local prizes and certificates signed by the Tatnet Development Foundation, the Association of Tatar Portals, and the "YASALMA" World Union of Tatar Programmers.

Wiki Loves Tirana Pride 2026 in Albania

By: Vyolltsa (talk)

On May 30th, during the Tirana Pride Parade and within the atmosphere of the Wiki Loves Pride 2026 campaign, the Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group organized a local event to improve the LGBT+ content on Wikimedia projects.

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This event was organized with the support of Pro LGBT Albania organization in Tirana. The main focus of it was to document the Tirana Pride Parades through years and other LGBT+ events in Albania by uploading photos to Wikimedia Commons while also working on improving and editing articles on Wikipedia.

This local activity was part of the broader Wiki Loves Pride 2026 campaign, which supports and encourages communities to improve LGBT+ representation on Wikimedia platforms.

Social media

We have a public channel on WhatsApp of Albanian Language if you want to join and discuss Wikimedia projects.

If you want to see more about our activities, you canː

Like our Facebook page, follow us on formerly Twitter or X or Instagram.

Polish Heritage in Ukraine: results of the 2025 campaign

By: アンタナナ, a member of Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine organising team

Almost 4600 photos by more than 100 authors were submitted during the second campaign dedicated to Polish Heritage in a Ukrainian edition of Wiki Loves Monuments international photo contest. This special category was a joint project of Wikimedia Polska and Wikimedia Ukraine. You can read more about the results, and see winning works below.

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Wikimedia Ukraine has been organising Wiki Loves Monuments since 2012, with a goal to collect photos of all cultural heritage monuments of Ukraine on Wikimedia Commons, notably for use on Wikimedia projects. One of the main problems we have encountered early on was that our official state lists are biased, especially regarding communist heritage, which was the main reason to have monuments protected or not back when Ukraine under the Soviet rule. And it really matters, as participants are more likely to upload pictures of monument they associate themselves with.
So we started to organise special categories for less represented monuments of national minorities in Ukraine as early as 2013 -- Armenian, Greek, later Crimean Tatar, Jewish, German, Polish, and the most recent one, Bulgarian. It does require more work from us, as we also need to find information about monuments that are not listed officially, or read additional sources to add this or that object to the special categories lists. But it helps us to expand the database of the cultural heritage, make it less biased. And it helps us to increase awareness, and motivate veteran participants to continue taking part in the contest, and attract new participants, either interested in the multicultural past of Ukraine, or being a part of those national minorities themselves.
The Polish Heritage in Ukraine campaign was conducted for the second time, and we are very pleased with the results -- almost 4600 pictures uploaded by more than 100 authors, depicting 373 monuments, and out of them -- 41 are not officially protected by the state, so they are even more endangered, as they can be not only destroyed or damaged by russian drones or rockets, but they can be demolished or repurposed with no oversight by the cultural heritage protection authorities.
The main purpose of a separate special category continues to be to draw attention to these monuments and their condition, and to document them for Wikipedia. And we are very grateful for the support of Wikimedia Polska, that made this project possible, and also to our volunteer and participants for their continued active involvement in the project
— NickK, a member of Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine organising team, Board member of Wikimedia Ukraine

The Polish Heritage in Ukraine campaign was happening alongside the main contest period for Ukraine in October 2025. Volunteers updated the lists for the special category, so as of now it is containing 1358 monuments (488 out of them with no official protective status). During the campaign itself 102 participants submitted almost 4600 photos, picturing 373 monuments (41 out of them are not registered as monuments) from 15 regions of Ukraine. 24 monuments were pictured for the first time.

Winners were chosen by a separate jury panel, which included Polish Wikimedians and partners of Wikimedia Polska:

Damian Kujawa — Wikimedian, volunteer, activist;
Julia Szablowska — photo editor, photographer, curator;
Magdalena Lachowicz — Assistant Professor at the Department of Eastern Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland;

Due to a considerable number of submitted works, there was a pre-selection round. 16 volunteers from Poland took part in reviewing the images. They reviewed 4571 images (the organising team removed images submitted by the participants with conflict of interest, like organisers and jury members), divided in such a way, that each image was viewed by 3 volunteers. Out of this round 815 photos proceeded to the next round. The organisers reviewed the images more closely, and removed the ones that were not up to the technical standards (like lower resolution), so 711 images proceeded to the main jury.

Each work was viewed by all three jury members. 120 pictures made it to the round two, where each jury member were asked to evaluate each work from 1 (minimum) to 10 (maximum) points. The guidance when evaluating pictures was:

from 0 up to 3 for technical quality (sharpness, use of light, perspective etc.);
from 0 to 3 for usefulness of the image for Wikipedia;
from 0 to 3 for originality.
1 additional point for something special in the picture.

The results are presented below, and they are grouped thematically, to showcase the breadth and depth of Polish Heritage in Ukraine, so the awarded works are from different regions of Ukraine, and are grouped by different objects depicted (churches, castles etc). No separate award for active participation -- people awarded are among active contributors.

Best photos - Churches (pol. Najlepsze fotografie - Kościoły)

The author uploaded the firs ever pictures not only of the church, but even from the village itself. And his pictures are now illustrating the article about the village on Wikidata and local Wikipedias (Wielki Ostróżek in Polish Wikipedia, for example). The version in Ukrainian did not even contain the mention about the church, as it the building is not a listed monument officially.

Best photos - Palaces, Estates (pol. Najlepsze fotografie - Pałace, Majątki)

Best photos - Other Buildings (pol. Najlepsze fotografie - Inne budynki)

The building was built by a Polish architect Mikołaj Tołwiński, there is no article about the school itself on Polish Wikipedia yet. Due to the Russian occupation of Mariupol, getting new free pictures (or even up to date information about the state of the building) is not going to be a trivial task.

Former house of the Branicki estate manager (2022). Rozkishna, Kyiv Oblast © Serhii Plakhoniuk (Сергій Плахотнюк), CC BY-SA 4.0

This is also not a listed building, which makes its status to be more endangered -- it is now privately owned, and there were news about it being on sale.

Best photos - Chapels (pol. Najlepsze fotografie - Kaplice)

Best photos - Castles (pol. Najlepsze fotografie - Zamki)

Best photos - Residential buildings (pol. Najlepsze fotografie - Budynki mieszkalne)

During the First World War this house hosted a Polish bookshop, and thus was a cultural center for the Polish community in Kharkiv.

Best photos - Towers (pol. Najlepsze fotografie - Wieże)

Best photos - Cemeteries (pol. Najlepsze fotografie - Cmentarze)

A fragment of the wall with names of Polish officers and citizens murdered by the Soviet NKVD in 1940 (2025). Bykivnia graves. Kyiv © Volodymyr Tarasov (Володимир Тарасов), CC BY-SA 4.0

Detailed description of each photo in Ukrainian here.

Best video (pol. Najlepsze video)

The best video work was decided by a separate jury, consisting of:

Roman Barabakh — photographer, traveler, founder of a media project Ukrainian Travels;
Oleksandr Havryk — cameraman, editing director, Ukrainian Wikipedian;
Maksym Uvaiev — editing director, film critic^[1].

The results of the joint project and winners were celebrated at the Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine hybrid awards ceremony on May 30, 2026.

At the Awards Ceremony
Offline participants
Online participants
Special category statistics
Winners present offline
Olena Suhak, one of the winners, commenting on her works
Serhii Plakhotniuk, one of the winners, commenting on his photo
Volodymyr Tarasov, one of the winners, commenting on his contributions
Oleksandr Malyon (on screen), one of the winners

The winners absent at the event will receive their prizes by post.

This is the second time we are organising the “Polish Heritage” special category in the Ukrainian edition of the Wiki Lobes Monuments contest. The request to organise a separate category for Polish sites has been repeatedly expressed by the participants themselves, because many such sites are now falling into disrepair and simply collapsing in the absence of an active community to care for them.
The main focus of the special category was churches, Polish cemeteries, castles and fortresses, but the jury also paid attention to residential and other buildings. Of course, the parameters of inclusion in the contest lists are quite wide, because the very idea of the “Wiki Loves Monuments” competition is to collect photos to illustrate Wikipedia articles, and in order for the article to illustrate the life of a community or a certain period, the parameters of inclusion should be quite wide. So, the special category lists contain buildings created by Polish architects for Polish activists, or buildings where Poles lived, or buildings that were important for the Polish community of a particular settlement -- like a bookstore in Kharkiv, that became a center of a local Polish community life.
My personal favorite photo, a very symbolic embodiment of what we are trying to achieve through this joint project with Wikimedia Polska, was the work of Valentyn Mahovkin, our long-time participant, which depicts the process of restoring an epitaph on a tombstone in a Polish cemetery in the village of Chornyi Ostriv in Khmelnytskyi Oblast. And, by the way, this cemetery is not officially protected, and only its gate has an official status as a cultural monument…
— Iryna Boiko, communications manager of Wikimedia Ukraine

References

↑ Найкращі відео культурної спадщини України 2025 року (in Ukainian)

CEE Women 2026 Campaign in Tatar Wikipedia

By: Il Nur (talk), Ilsina Ilgizovna (talk)

On April 26, the CEE Women 2026 campaign successfully concluded in the Tatar Wikipedia. Running since March 1 with the support of the CEE Hub, the campaign was dedicated to International Women's Day and aimed at increasing content about women, as well as encouraging broader participation of women in Wikimedia projects. Over the course of two months, we organized online lessons and offline meetings, featuring workshops on article writing, photography, and introduction to the possibilities of Wikimedia projects. More than 100 people, mostly from Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, attended and participated in the project, and some of the female and male students became new active contributors to the Tatar Wikipedia. As a result, on April 25, these newcomers independently represented Wikipedia at a regional scientific conference and won second place.

full article...

The project was implemented thanks to a team of 6 participants. Динә Абдуллина, Il Nur, and Фәрһад served as technical organizers and jury members for the article writing contest, while Blackisnewyellow, Ilsina Ilgizovna, and Engelberthumperdink conducted online events and offline meetings in the cities of Kazan and Chistopol, and in the Kaybitsky District of Tatarstan. These meetings included lessons on article writing, photography, and introducing other possibilities of Wikimedia projects. The project was also supported by the Tatnet Development Foundation, the Association of Tatar Portals, the "YASALMA" World Union of Tatar Programmers, and several local media outlets featured it in their articles.

Another joyful highlight was that the project inspired the Bashkir Wiki-Grandmas to return to Wikipedia after being inactive for about three years. They continue to write in both the Tatar and Bashkir languages. Furthermore, their multilingualism inspired our new Tatar female contributors, who in turn began practicing writing articles in the Bashkir language. In parallel, all of them also participated in other annual marathons, and we managed to personally present them with local prizes. At the beginning of May, we evaluated nearly 300 articles about women written during the CEE Women 2026 campaign, and presented prizes and certificates to all participants who wrote more than 5 articles.

Health Challenge 2026

By: KuboF Hromoslav (talk)

First year of high impact Wikipedia challenge focused on health. Health is one of the most valued things humans have, although too often it is forgotten until it's lost. As a humankind we have made great progress in curing diseases, prevention and improvments of health, especially in last decades and couple of centuries. Despite that, we are still nowhere near to curing all diseases and health problems, or even just spreading the existing diagnostics and therapies to all people that need them.

full article...

In order to help with global health and to support inovative research and development, the Wikimedia User Group Esperanto and Free Knowledge have organised the first year of the Health Challenge, inspired by similar challenges like Ukraine's Cultural Diplomacy Month and WikiGap. Beside the usual health-related topics, we especialy invite to write, translate or expand articles about "Horizon of Health" - things that are currently "on the horizon", with hight potential to significantly improve some aspect of health, which are not yet fully deployed or even developed, but also no more a pure scifi, so we possibly will see them in next years or few decades. Examples are eradication of polio, regenerative medicine, liquid biopsy, longevity escape velocity and cryonics.

The challenge runs on every Wikipedia until the end of June 2026.

This challenge is organised by the Wikimedia User Group Esperanto and Free Knowledge as part of the project “SANO” coordinated by the Universal Esperanto Association, with partners Lithuanian University of Health Sciences and Civiencia (linked to the University of Sevilla, Spain) with financial support by the European Commission's programme Erasmus+.

International Roma Day 2026 in Tirana, Albania

By: Vyolltsa (talk) (WoALUG)

Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group joined the 7th global International Roma Day editathon by organizing an event in Tirana, Albania. This was the sixth year we took part in this campaign, where contributors around the world write and improve Wikipedia articles about Roma people, their identity, history, and culture.

full article...

This year, 12 editors joined the event. We were happy to have participants from the wider community and we had experienced and new editors working together. This created a friendly space where people could learn, share ideas, and contribute to free knowledge.

During the event, participants created 21 new articles, improved 92 articles, and made 69 total edits on Wikidata. These results helped increase information about Roma communities on Albanian-speaking Wikimedia projects.

By taking part in this campaign, we continued our work to make knowledge about Roma communities more visible and accessible to everyone.

Social media

We have a public channel on WhatsApp of Albanian Language if you want to join and discuss Wikimedia projects.

If you want to see more about our activities, you canː

Like our Facebook page, follow us on formerly Twitter or X or Instagram.

Supporting Ukrainian culture through Ukraine's Cultural Diplomacy Month 2026

By: Vyolltsa (talk) (WoALUG)

As part of Ukraine’s Cultural Diplomacy Month 2026, the Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group joined this annual international campaign for the first time to help promote, translate, and improve articles about Ukrainian culture on the Albanian language Wikipedia.

full article...

Our local editathon was held on 18 April 2026 at Jeronim de Rada 9-year elementary school in Elbasan, Albania. We welcomed 17 participants, who were new and experienced contributors, coming from different schools and diverse backgrounds.

During the activity, they translated 40 articles and edited 82 articles.

This collaboration is important because it connects our local community with an international campaign and helps strengthen engagement in the global open knowledge movement. It also gave participants a chance to learn, contribute, and support the visibility of Ukrainian culture through free knowledge.

Social media

We have a public channel on WhatsApp of Albanian Language if you want to join and discuss Wikimedia projects.

If you want to see more about our activities, you canː

Like our Facebook page, follow us on formerly Twitter or X or Instagram.

WikiGap 2026 in Tirana, Albania

By: Vyolltsa (talk) (WoALUG)

This was the ninth year of celebrating the WikiGap editathon in Tirana Albania. The Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group organized it on March 4, 2026, with the collaboration and support of the Swedish Embassy in Tirana and we were glad to be welcomed by Swedish Ambassador Niklas Ström, who spoke about the importance of women in the context of March 8.

full article...

The event brought together 14 women and men to talk about women's representation in free knowledge. This year, we focused on Wikidata, continuing the work we have built over the years around Albanian and Swedish women.

We also invited 2 guest speakers, Rachele Megna from UN Women and journalist Besar Likmeta, editor of BIRN Albania, who shared thoughts on women and gender-related data, and helped start a conversation on why this kind of information matters and why it is important to improve it on the platforms of free knowledge. During the event, participants made 221 revisions on Wikidata, created 4 new Wikipedia articles, and improved 50 existing ones. Even after 9 years of celebrating WikiGap at the Swedish Embassy in Tirana, it remains a meaningful moment to continue this important collaboration and to work for better representation of women in free knowledge.

Social media

We have a public channel on WhatsApp of Albanian Language if you want to join and discuss Wikimedia projects.

If you want to see more about our activities, you canː

Like our Facebook page, follow us on formerly Twitter or X or Instagram.

Tatar Wikipedia Loves Ramadan 2026

By: Fxan (Fxan), Il Nur (talk)

From 16 February to 26 March, Tatar Wikipedia hosted its first annual educational marathon dedicated to Islamic teachings, descriptions of Muslim figures, landmarks, and cultural phenomena. The contest was supported by the Tatnet Development Foundation, the Association of Tatar Portals, the "YASALMA" World Union of Tatar Programmers, as well as Milliard.tatar — an internet project of the Tatmedia agency. The progress of the project was actively covered on the pages of Milliard.tatar.

full article...

The five-week marathon brought together authors working on articles about Islam. As a result, 126 articles were written and improved by the participants. Notably, every tenth article was created by a newcomer. At the very end of the contest, an unexpected intrigue emerged: an experienced Wiki-grandmother from Bashkortostan under the pseudonym "Banyw" (author of 35 articles) lost her lead to a young participant from Moscow, biologist Dina Abdullina (author of 60 articles).

In addition to the international prizes, the Tatar community allocated small prizes from its own funds to participants who wrote more than 4 articles; there were six such contributors. The top 3 participants in terms of the number of created/improved articles were also awarded the title of "Ramadan Ambassador to Tatar Wikipedia 2026", with the recognition published on their user pages and in the local gallery of fame of the contest.

As part of the marathon, more than 300 photos were uploaded from the Republican Iftar and Ramadan Fest 2026, which took place in Kazan.

MAKE SURE WE COVER WHAT MATTERS TO YOU — JUST ADD YOUR STORY AND START IN THE NEWSROOM.

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