Bangalore-based software engineer and Wikipedia volunteer, Siddharth VP, was awarded the Wikimedian of the Year award in the ‘Technical Contributor of the Year’ category, to honour his ‘Articles for Creation’ submission interface and widespread work on the MediaWiki software platform.

This is the second time an Indian has won this award, per a press release from the Wikimedia Foundation.

The award recipients were celebrated during the 19th edition of the Wikimania event that is taking place in Katowice, Poland from August 7 - 10.

“India contributes to one of the highest number of views to Wikipedia in the world, with about 1 billion page views per month. In terms of content contributions, India has the third-largest number of contributors to English Wikipedia after the US and the UK,” noted the Wikimedia Foundation.

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“Wikipedia’s wide readership is a critical factor for me, as it means that even small technical enhancements can improve the experience for countless users. I also feel motivated by the opportunities to learn new technologies along the way,” said Mr. Siddharth, who has been volunteering on Wikimedia projects for more than 10 years.

Apart from him, six other volunteers from around the world were honoured with ‘Wikimedian of the Year’ awards under different categories.

The theme of Wikimania 2024 was ‘Collaboration of the Open.’ The conference can be watched via the Wikimania website.