Latvian Wikipedia Marathon
Latvian Wikipedia Marathon was a project that brought together the Latvian Wikipedia community with several private partners in joint effort with the aim of expanding the Latvian Wikipedia to activate the usability of the Latvian language in the learning process, cognition and research work. The marathon opened on 11 March 2015. The project aimed to expand the Latvian Wikipedia to 100 thousand articles by 100th Anniversary of the Latvian Republic.
The marathon was an initiative of Norvik Banka, and partners - the University of Latvia, the State Language Centre, Latvian Wikipedia editors, Radio 5, the digital language services company Tilde, information campaign supported by Delfi.lv, the best prize for writers provided by Samsung. In March 2015 Latvian Wikipedia contained around 59 thousand articles. For comparison, the Lithuanian Wikipedia has about 170 thousand and the Estonian Wikipedia 131 thousand.
Campaign
Within the period from March to August 2015 an organized campaign took place calling on broader Latvian society to engage in the expansion of Wikipedia. The campaign explained the importance of Wikipedia, as well as providing information on Wikipedia article creation. The Marathon campaign was promoted on social networks, as well as through physical advertising. A series of YouTube videos were distributed which featured the following people: biathlete Andrejs Rastorgujevs; University of Latvia Rector Mārcis Auziņš; writer Inga Žolude; draugiem.lv spokesman Jānis Palkavnieks; musician Jānis Stībelis; Wikipedia activist Edgars Lecis.Awards
A jury jointly formed by the marathon partners will evaluate the articles according to several criteria, and the end of the campaign, four authors will receive prizes. Articles are judged in the following categories:- Best Quality article with the greatest intellectual contribution
- Most valuable contribution
- Most-Read article
- Internet sympathies prize
Thematic partner weeks
| Period | Partner | Theme |
| 13.04 — 26.04 | University of Latvia | Latvian Science |
| 27.04 — 10.05 | Latvijas Radio 5 | Latvian new music |
| 11.05 — 24.05 | Delfi.lv | Latvian media |
| 25.05 — 31.05 | Latvian State Language Center | Latvian book creators: authors, translators, artists, publishers |
| 01.06 — 07.06 | Draugiem.lv | My region |
| 08.06 — 14.06 | Wikipedia editors | Latvian specially protected natural areas |