Following the resounding success of the Arabic edition of the competition in 2021, the Emirates Literature Foundation and Wikimedians of the UAE User Group have launched the Kateb Maktub competition in English.
The organisers have called on all the Wikipedia editors and enthusiasts to create English articles about Arab authors before the deadline on 18th August, 2022.
The competition aims to introduce Arabic literature and Arab writers to the English-speaking global community by increasing the number of articles available on Wikipedia. Competition winners are eligible for cash prizes, with the person in first place receiving US$500, the runners-up receiving $400 and $300 for third place.
The competition is divided into two categories and will be judged by a panel of experts and certified editors from the Wikimedia community. The first category (Experts) is for Wikipedia users registered on the platform for at least four months before the start of the competition, 18th July, 2022, and have edited 500 articles within the competition duration. The second category (Beginners) is for users who are registered less than four months before the start of the competition and have edited less than 500 articles within the competition duration.
To facilitate the participants, the user group has composed a list of notable Arab authors' names such as Ahlam Basharat and Ahmed Qandil and Arabic book titles such as "Memory of the Flesh".
Contributors have 24 hours, from the time they select an author, to upload the article to Wikipedia to ensure there are no duplicates. Contributors can also choose to recreate an existing Arabic article in English.
Launched in 2020, the Kateb Maktub project is an initiative of the Emirates Literature Foundation in collaboration with the Wikimedians of UAE User group to drive a significant increase in the number of Arab author pages on Wikipedia in both Arabic and English, bringing Arabic literature the attention and appreciation it deserves. To date, Kateb Maktub has successfully increased the number of pages on Wikipedia by more than 500 percent.
News Source: Emirates News Agency
