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From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Rivers State-born Solomon Dappa from Opobo Kingdom in Opobo-Nkoro Local Government Area of the state has been declared overall winner of the coveted National Photography Awards by Wikimedia Nigeria.
Dappa’s photo entries were chosen best ahead of over 5, 000 entries submitted by participants in two separate categories.
Dappa, a documentary photographer first won the Wiki Loves Folklore Awards, clinching the overall best prize in that category.
Saturday Sun learnt that in the Wiki Loves Folklore category, his photo was selected and adjudged the overall winner, after his entries got first, sixth, ninth, and 10th positions out of over 1,000 submissions from participating photographers across the country.
In another photography contest, which is the Wiki Loves Africa, Dappa’s photo entry also emerged the number one spot.
According to him, his entry became the best after defeating over 3,000 entries submitted by documentary photographers nationwide.
The photography contest is at the instance of Wikimedia Foundation, parent owners of the world’s famous and largest documentary platform, Wikipedia.
The initiative by Wikimedia is aimed at encouraging and promoting creativity in the art of image documentation as a way to contribute to the open source knowledge movements, preserve the African culture and tradition, and to use the art of photography as a way to tell the African story from the local perspectives and to have resources for the open knowledge movement.
On June 25, 2024, Dappa received certificates of both prestigious photography awards at the headquarters of the Wikimedia User Group in Lagos, signalling his crowning as the overall winner of the National Contest for both Wiki Loves Folklore in Nigeria 2024 and Wiki Loves Africa.
