Another Owl in the Nest: WikiUil #2 & 4th in the Writing Contest

Vera with the Illustration WikiUil 2023, a stone statuette of an owl

During Wikimedia Netherlands‘ year opening event, the Dutch Wikipedia community awarded me my second WikiUil in the “illustration” category. I was awarded one in 2020 as well. I was nominated in this category because I have uploaded more than 80,000 files to Wikimedia Commons, the media database of Wikipedia and its sister projects. That’s nearly half a terabyte! I want to thank the award organizers and everyone who voted for me.

To be clear, I have rarely done this by creating drawings. Instead, I mainly use my technical skills to import large sets of files from other sources or by photographing notable places and people. Most of the photos of the re:publica conference on Wikipedia were transferred by me from their official Flickr account, where they were available under a free license. My own photos can be found in over 3,000 Wikipedia articles in all language versions.

I also participated in the Dutch Wikipedia writing contest this year with my article about the doctor’s house of Landsmeer. I didn’t make it into the top three, but still received praise in the jury report:

The jury appreciates this fascinating, pleasantly written, and informative article about a national monument and its residents. The photos are wonderful. However, the jury also sees a few areas for improvement. For instance, there could be a clearer distinction between the description of the architectural style and the social history. Additionally, the article is sometimes quite detailed, and a bit more attention to context would have been welcome. – Jury report of the 2023 Dutch Wikipedia’s writing contest

In the writing contest, the top 10 articles are named, with only the top 3 specifically ranked. My article is among the seven that share fourth place.

I had already been planning to write this article since 2019, when I came across the history of this location while inputting data about Kinderboekenweek gift books. One of the authors of the 1969 edition, Noni Lichtveld, stayed there during World War II as a teenager with her parents. Her parents, writers Lou Lichtveld and Leni Mengelberg, were part of a large group of artists and intellectuals who went into hiding in Landsmeer. I thought it would be useful to gather all these interconnected links in one place. I would like to thank the jury for reviewing all the entries.

If you understand Dutch, I recommend checking out the top three articles: Democratic Republic of Georgia, Middelheimmuseum and Spoorzone (Delft).

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