Education/Newsletter/January 2015/Get a scholarship to attend Wikimania 2015 and discuss education with the worldwide movement

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By Samir Elsharbaty (WMF)

Biblioteca Vasconcelos, venue of Wikimania 2015

Snippet: Applications for scholarships to attend Wikimania 2015 in Mexico City are now open and education-related submissions for presentation are now being accepted.

Wikimania is the annual conference of the Wikimedia movement, where volunteers of Wikimedia projects from almost everywhere around the world meet to exchange experiences, discuss their issues, learn, teach and think about developing and expanding the movement. For the past 10 years, Wikimania has been held in several venues around the world starting in 2005 in Frankfurt, Germany until the most recent one in 2014 in London, UK. This year, Biblioteca Vasconcelos in Mexico City, Mexico will host Wikimania 2015, the eleventh Wikimania conference. The conference includes workshops, presentations, panels, tutorials and other collaborative sessions.

The Wikimedia Foundation offers a Wikimania scholarship program every year, which covers travel expenses, accommodation and conference registration fees for selected candidates. Active volunteer contributors to Wikimedia projects are highly encouraged to apply to receive a scholarship.

The eligibility criteria has been changed this year. "Unlike in previous years, activity within the Wikimedia movement will be the main criteria for evaluation. Participation in non-Wikimedia free knowledge, free software, collaborative or educational initiatives is a plus but is no longer a requirement." says the announcement.

The Wikipedia Education Program has been able to increase the diversity of contributors to Wikipedia with very high participation among female users that reached nearly 90% of student editors in some countries, such as Egypt.

We wish to invite the all of the heroes of the Wikipedia Education Program, especially the Wiki Women, to apply for a scholarship to attend the conference and share your experiences in narrowing the gender gap with our movement. The deadline for scholarship applications is February 16th, 2015.

Proposals to give a presentation at Wikimania 2015 are now being accepted in different categories, including Education Outreach submissions. We encourage you to add your submission to give a presentation about your education program. The deadline for presentation proposals is February 28th, 2015.

Apply for a scholarship to attend Wikimania 2015 in Mexico City here.

Submit a proposal for an Education presentation here.