Nigeria Wikimedia Community Distinguished Awards Unveils Winners


Nigeria Wikimedia Community Distinguished Awards said it had unveiled winners of its awards at its maiden edition of the award ceremony.

This was disclosed in a statement by Olushola Olaniyan, President Wikimedia User Nigeria in Lagos.

Olaniyan said the virtual event had a lot of well-wishers, various members of its community, and other friends from outside Nigeria.

He said that the event was to honor the efforts of contributors to the Wikimedia movement, who have tirelessly dedicated their time and energy to development of the Wikimedia community in Nigeria.

He said the nomination process for the awards began on Dec. 14, 2023, with over 100 members nominating credible community members for the award over the seven categories of the award.

“These categories include; the Best New Contributor Award, Best Indigenous Language Contributor Award, Editor of the Year Award, Community Builder Award, Torchbearer Award, Best Active Network/Fan Club Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award (non-voting category).

“The most ranked nominees were chosen, and then the voting started on Dec. 23. 342 registered members of the affiliate were sent ballots to vote, and after two weeks, the voting stopped, and the winners were announced on Jan. 20.

“One of the highlights of the event was the honorary member award given to Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, who expressed delight and excitement on the prestigious mention,” he said.

Olaniyan said that winners of each category include, Best New Contributor Award won by Mercy Chisom, an outstanding editor from Anambra who has created over 2000 articles on the Igbo Wikipedia since joining in March 2023.

He said others are; Best Indigenous Language Contributor Award won by Dorcas Omolade, an outstanding contributor supporting initiatives of recruiting editors to Yoruba Wikipedia through leading Yoruba wiki fan club in her university UNILAG and also at other extensions.

“Editor of the Year Award was won by Muhib Shefiu from Gombe, for his tireless contributions which focus on writing articles about Nigerian scientists and academics on the English Wikipedia.

“Community Builder Award was won by Bukola James who focuses on organizing various community outreaches.

“Torchbearer Award was given to Dr Nkem Osuigwe for her role in being supportive and being a friendly person to all.

“Best Active Network/Fan Club Award goes Anambra Network for their activeness in 2023 and executing several projects.

“Lifetime Achievement Award (non-voting category) goes to Shola Olaniyan for his role as one of the pioneers for the Wikimedia movements in Nigeria,” the president said.

He said that the lead organizer in-person of Ayokanmi Oyeyemi of the Wikimedia Usergroup Nigeria thanked everyone for making the event memorable and historic.

Olaniyan said that the Wikimedia Nigeria Community was a group of volunteers who are passionate about the Wikipedia (& the Wikimedia movement) and the development of a free and open knowledge-sharing platform.

He said the community has been active since 2015, and its goal was to increase access to knowledge for Nigerians and the rest of the world.

He said more information could be accessed online @ https://wikimedia.org.ng.