This article was originally published on the Diff Wikimedia blog as "Announcing the Wikimania 2022 Core Organizing Team" on February 24 2022. Licensed CC-BY-SA 3.0.

We are excited to announce the Core Organizing Team (COT) for Wikimania 2022! This talented group of volunteers from around the world was selected from more than 70 excellent applications. They will work with you over the next six months to organize our annual flagship event, designing a Wikimania that brings our community together and celebrates our movement. They are:

Anton Protsiuk, Antoni Mtavangu, Evelin Heidel, Houcemeddine Turki, Kayode Yussuf, NANöR, Omar David Sandoval Sida, Richard Knipel, Sandra Aceng, and Venus Lui.

Wikimania 2022 will be a virtual main event, with the option for communities across the movement to host in person events where possible. There will be grant funding for these in person events – more information to come.

In the coming weeks, the COT will be inviting your ideas and suggestions on what Wikimania 2022 should look like – what would you like to see more of? What should we keep from last year? What should be different? And of course we’ll need your contribution to the event as volunteers. More to be shared soon and do not hesitate to share your thoughts with us on the Wikimania 2022 discussion page.

Thanks and here's to a great Wikimania 2022!

Anton Protsiuk has been a Ukrainian Wikipedia editor and administrator for almost a decade now, typically devoting his time to administrative and patrolling maintenance tasks, as well as to writing occasional articles. He is also Programs Coordinator at Wikimedia Ukraine, where he is responsible for overseeing the organization’s programmatic activities, including content campaigns, diversity and editor recruitment initiatives, community events, and communications outreach.

Antoni Mtavangu is a Tanzanian Wikimedian, a co-founder of Wikimedia Community User Group Tanzania, campaigns & events organizer, trainer, projects manager, mentor, and one of the Swahili Wikipedia's administrators.

Evelin Heidel is a longtime member of the open knowledge ecosystem, now serving as the Senior Project Manager for Wikimedistas de Uruguay. She's passionate about raising awareness on how open strategies can help us communicate around climate change and environmental issues.

Houcemeddine Turki is a former member of WikiIndaba Steering Committee, a former board member of Wikimedia and Libraries User Group, the Vice-Chair of Wikimedia Tunisia User Group and the Secretary of the Affiliation Committee. He has been involved in the Programme Committee of several Wikimedia conferences such as WikiIndaba Conference (Chair in 2018, Member in 2019 and 2021) and WikiConvention Francophone (Chair in 2021).

Kayode Yussuf is the co-founder of Wikimedia Nigeria Usergroup, African Representative on the Wikimedia 2030 Design team, immediate past chair of the Creative Commons Membership Committee of the Global Network Council and he currently serves as the Country Representative on the Creative Commons Global Network Council. Kayode led the logistics for Wiki Indaba 2019, and served on the logistics team for Wiki Indaba 2021.

NANöR is an active user of Arabic Wiki Projects and Arabic communities, and a member of the Middle East and Africa grant committee. She says: “I believe in teamwork and I'm working to empower females' role in my community.”

Omar David Sandoval Sida is a computer science engineer who likes challenges; he has organized free software events, is a board member of Wikimedia Mexico, and has been co-organizer of Wikimania in 2015 and WikiConference North America 2021.

Richard Knipel comes from Wikimedia New York City, and has been part of the WikiConference North America team since 2014. He also embraces the unconference and the picnic anyone can edit.

Sandra Aceng is a Wikimedian based in Uganda. She is an organizer and contributor to major diversity and writing projects such as Wiki For Human Rights, Wiki For Refugees, and others. In 2021, Sandra was the scholarship lead for Wiki Indaba 2021 Virtual Conference. She is a mentor under WikiVibrance African Youth Month.

Venus Lui has been participating in the Wikimedia Movement for a while (more than ten years) and is interested in Open Education, GLAM, and Opendata.