What better way to discover African cultures than through the eyes of the continent's schoolchildren? For its 8th edition, the WikiChallenge for African Schools, organized in partnership with Wiki in Africa, received submissions from students in 13 countries.
It's time to reveal this year's winners!
What is the WikiChallenge?
This collective writing competition is aimed at children aged 9 to 13 who attend Orange Foundation Digital Schools. This year, the following countries participated: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea Conakry, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Tunisia.
Participating youth are invited to publish articles describing their daily lives, history, traditions, and local heritage.
The 2025 edition was a record-breaker!
The WikiChallenge grows more successful every year, driven by the participants' enthusiasm and creativity. It's clear that it helps schoolchildren develop their digital literacy and writing skills. It's a formative and fulfilling experience, and the resulting articles contribute to Africa's online presence.
The figures speak for themselves: 422 African schools participated in this edition, leading to the publication of 174 articles illustrated by 696 photos and 40 videos on the Vikidia collaborative encyclopedia.
An incredibly diverse group of prize winners
The WikiChallenge is much more than just a competition. It is a pedagogical tool that helps teachers integrate digital technology and writing into their lessons while improving students' skills. Accordingly, in 2024, it received the Open Pedagogy Prize from the OEGlobal worldwide community.
Congratulations to the 2025 international winners:
- Botswana - Motshelo: a community savings system run by women.
- Mali - Traditional dances in Banimonotié: passing on local dances.
- Morocco - Fnideq railway station: a vestige of Spain's colonial past.
- Coup de Cœur - Senegal - Communication drum: an ancestral instrument for conveying messages.
Each school that won an international prize received €5,000, and 34 national schools were awarded €2,500 each to improve their infrastructure. Congratulations, everyone!
