Cape Town - As heritage month begins, Wikimedia South Africa has launched Wiki Loves Monuments South Africa – a competition for aspiring photographers.
Part of an international competition, it will run throughout September in 33 countries. Members of the public are invited to submit as many photographs as they like of South African monuments and historical sites.
Organisers said they are “reasonably certain” they could be certified by Guinness World Records for the fourth year running as the largest photography competition in the world.
The objective of the competition is to “increase the number and quality of images related to historic sites that can be used on Wikipedia”.
South Africa currently has the most representation in Africa with about 16 000 articles on Wikipedia. That, according to Wikimedia South Africa director Douglas Scott, is the equivalent of what a small European country such as the Czech Republic has.
But he said South Africa is about three times larger than the Czech Republic and so should have significantly more. “In Africa we’re massive. We dominate in terms of presence within Africa,” said Scott, adding that South Africa needs to catch up to the rest of the world.
The best three photographs of sites listed by the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) will win R4 000, R6 500 or R10 000 prizes from photographic store ORMS. There is also a special category for “proposed monuments” where people can submit photographs of unofficial monuments and other sites of historical relevance, with a “justification of why the particular site is of historical importance”.The best two photographs in the category will win R1 500 or R3 000 in vouchers from ORMS.
Scott said the Gugulethu Seven monument in Gugulethu, for example, has not been officially registered by SAHRA.
Lists of suggested existing and proposed monuments, and information on how to enter can be found at http://wikilovesmonuments.co.za.
Cape Times