Wiki Loves Food is a global photography competition on Wikimedia Commons that celebrates the culinary diversity of the world. Each year it invites people to document their food cultures — dishes, ingredients, markets, and the traditions and people behind them, through freely-licensed images that anyone, anywhere, can reuse. In 2026 the campaign runs internationally, with local teams hosting the contest in their own countries.
Nigeria joins the campaign this year, organized locally by African & Proud (AP). African & Proud (AP) is a pan-African non-profit dedicated to documenting African culture and heritage across Wikipedia and the wider Wikimedia projects. Nigerian cuisine, from jollof rice and egusi to suya, pounded yam, and the countless regional dishes that rarely appear in open, well-documented form is exactly the kind of heritage the organization exists to preserve. Serving as national organizer for Wiki Loves Food 2026 is a natural extension of that mission.
The contest also builds on our ongoing Culture Connect Africa which has the AfroCuisine Project, through which contributors have been documenting African food recipes on Wikibooks, English Wikipedia, and indigenous-language Wikipedias, alongside images on Wikimedia Commons. Wiki Loves Food 2026 gives that work a wider stage and a sharper focus: a dedicated push to close the visual gap, so that Nigeria's food heritage is not only written down but seen.
We invite photographers, food lovers, home cooks, and everyday Nigerians to take part. Every image uploaded helps make Nigerian cuisine more visible in the world's shared, freely-licensed knowledge.
How to participate
Step 1: Don't have a Wikimedia Commons account yet? Create one – takes just a few moments! Make sure that your email address is confirmed.
Step 2: We hope, you have taken good photos of some mouth-watering food from different angles. Start uploading them.
Step 3: It is preferred to give the title of the image in the format Name of the Food - Location - State Name - Serial Number
Step 4: Write down what you've photographed in the description part to let people know about the food.
Step 5: Images should be without any signature or watermark or border.
Basic Competition rules
We try to keep the competition clean and simple to participate. There are few ground rules to participate in the contest for India. Let's quickly go through them. Every submission should:
be self taken and self uploaded;
be uploaded from --- to ---;
have proper title and description;
be set to the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, which allows others to reuse the image.;
Next to that, there are a few practical rules:
You should have a verified e-mail address on Wikimedia Commons;
If the photo gets deleted for any reason, it is automatically disqualified from the competition;
You are responsible for following the law while taking and uploading the photographs.
