Joy Yeboah Agyepong is a social entrepreneur, multitasked and vibrant lady who has an aim of becoming one of the most influential persons in the world. I am a Ghanaian from Obo Kwahu in the Eastern region. A graduate of University of Professional Studies, Accra and past Women's Commissioner for the Association of Business Administration Department 2014-2015 academic year. I speak Twi as my native language and English language as my lingua franca. I am also a volunteer with the Wikimedia User Group Ghana and Wikimedians for Sustainable Development User Group.
Join us to celebrate the eureka effects of the 3rd edition of Wiki Loves Folklore
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When it comes to folklore, cultures and groups become the beckon of attraction and attention. The annual photography contest which run fully in February 2021, focused on folk culture of different regions and categories, such as, but not limited to, folk festivals, folk dances, folk music, folk activities, folk games, folk cuisine, folk wear, folklore, and tradition, including ballads, folktales, fairy tales, legends, traditional song and dance, folk plays, games, seasonal events, calendar customs, folk arts, folk religion, mythology amongst others.
This year’s campaign brought together many contributors from Africa and Asian communities and the project was equally organized on Commons and Wikipedia simultaneously via the Feminism and Folklore campaign.
Participatory efforts during the pandemic
This year, amidst the ongoing pandemic and it’s risks in attending in-person gatherings for contributors and photographers across the globe, we had more than 7,734 submissions of which eighteen (18) winning images were announced in the Wiki Loves Folklore with winning images across the globe during the international photography contest.
In this edition, all entries were judged by experts from Germany, North Macedonia, Tunisia for these outstanding images represented in this article. The photographers participated from 101 countries around the globe from Mongolia, Japan, Palestine, Philippines to Zambia and many more.
The Eureka moment is here!
This photo depicts the appreciation of nature which also exhibits the strong personality of Mongolians for animals and pets, not forgetting an embracement of ornaments and rich artefacts. What’s special about this image is the way it has captured and the connection between the Mongolian man and his eagle.
The Jury shared their commendation on the photos uniqueness and background of nature in there.
Sandurot is derived from a Visayan term pakig-sandurot, which means to come together for a fellowship. The Sandurot Festival displayed in this photo is a celebration of Dumagueteños hospitality, and an honor to the city’s patroness, Sta. Catalina de Alejandria. The graceful celebration from the women displays the union during the yellow fellowship in the Philippines.
This striking joyful moment was captured during the Pintaflores Festival of San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, Philippines is a combination of Body Tattoos and Dance of Flowers and depicts their unique culture and heritage.
These are just the top three entrancing sights captured by the winners of the international Wiki Loves Folklore 2021 photography competition, whose results were announced today.
Message from our Jury!
According to the jury members, the results were remarkable and a fair decision in general. We have two photos from the Philippines under the top three, but they are from different photographers, and we have a nice distribution of different countries, themes and photographers under the top 15.
In addition, the ranking of the top 15 photos of other participants offers a good distribution for each country. The top audio and video selection is the most accurate so both are a fair result, too.
“All images reflect rich culture, diversity, tangible and intangible cultural heritages all over. It’s exciting to judge and embrace all the wow from the images, audiovisuals which leaves an indelible impression on us.”
A reflection of top uploader’s and percentage of their contributions
Next are the top fifteen consolation winners!
These winners represent regions from Japan, Nigeria, Mongolia, Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Poland, India, Morocco and Thailand.
Best Video
Na-gurnai Dance of Bodo tribe V celebration in India. Sumita Roy shot this video during the bodo traditional dance one evening in India.
We used to go for a walk at Connaught Place Delhi from our home where this Adi Mahotsav function was going on. Since we have interest in photography especially folks, I had started taking still and video of different folk dances. This dance is of Bodo community which is an indigenous inhabitant of North East India with rich cultural heritage. Bodos are the largest tribal community found in Tibet-Burma. They have their own traditional culture and language that got identification as a recognized language of India in 2000. I am happy that my video had been selected for best video.
Sumita Roy
The jury member applauds the elegance of the performance and calmness in the Video by Sumita Roy, CC BY-SA 4.0
Best Audio
The winning audio features a unique musical celebration of the Hausa’s during the Hausa festival music in Nigeria by user: Anasskoko The jury member praises this song as “a great piece of music that combines old and new elements. ” Audio by Anasskoko, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Message from the Team’s Desk!
It is an important antidote in the world of folks and tale to share by documenting the rich and diverse cultures around the world for a better open movement. We appreciate all the efforts both far and near during the 2021 campaign. Additionally, the media from institutions in Zambia, India and the like have been incredibly supportive.
We therefore urge you to start documenting all folks, tales, tangible and intangible heritage sites and activities now.
See you around next time!!
Footnotes
All the media above is available under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 license free for use with appropriate attribution to the author with the same copyright license.
Get your cameras and smartphones ready! Wiki Loves Folklore (WLF) is back with the bang with our sixth edition starting from 1 February to 31 March. This campaign allows people to share their local culture with the world and we are thrilled to invite you all to contribute to this annual media contest!
Women play crucial roles in folklore professions, often serving as storytellers, custodians of oral traditions, and keepers of cultural knowledge. Their contributions are integral to preserving and transmitting folklore across generations. Creating biographies of these women on Wikipedia not only recognizes their invaluable work but also helps combat the gender gap in historical and cultural representation.
With an amazing five years journey of making history to consistently project folklore activities from around the world, Wiki Loves Folklore (WLF), an annual international photographic competition hosted on Wikimedia Commons, a media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media, is back with a bang.