Coolest Tool Award
Wiki communities around the globe have diverse use cases and technical needs. Volunteer developers are often the first to find and address those use cases. They experiment with new ideas, build local and global solutions and enhance the experience in our software.
There are incredibly many great tools out there.
It’s time to celebrate this! Nominations are now closed.
Coolest Tool Award 2025
The sixth edition of the Coolest Tool Award was an in-person event! The winners were announced at Wikimania 2025.
How to nominate tools
The nomination form is now closed.
This survey will be conducted via a third-party service, which may subject it to additional terms. For more information on privacy and data-handling, see the survey privacy statement.
You can nominate as many tools as you want by filling out the survey multiple times. Submitting multiple entries is encouraged!
The award is organized and selected by the Coolest Tool Academy. Members of the 2025 edition are: Tom Arrow, William Brown, Nat Hernández Clavijo, Sarai Sanchez, Adam Shorland, and Maryum Styles.
2025 Winners
Please watch the full video here
| Winner | Videos | Category | Category description |
|---|---|---|---|
| AbuseFilter Analyzer | 🎥 | Greatest Service to the Community | This tool relieves a significant burden, makes things easier and more efficient and maybe even fun; it’s something that improves many people’s ability to work and learn |
| Database Report | 🎥 | Most Evolved | This tool maybe started as something simple but has become much more sophisticated; or it has become a vital part of important infrastructure or workflows |
| Paulina | 🎥 | Most Innovative | This tool does something new, exciting, daring; it pushes the idea of what a tool can be |
Tell me more
What is a tool?
It’s software that:
- Makes work easier, more efficient, more fun
- Facilitates the work of volunteers, brings in new contributors, or improves wiki projects
- Some examples: gadgets, MediaWiki extensions, websites and web services, APIs, mobile applications, desktop applications, bots, notebooks, user scripts, games
But what makes a tool the coolest?
The goal of the award is to:
- Celebrate good work and appreciate developers
- Share useful tools with wider audiences
- Encourage contributors from diverse developer communities
Nomination process
The nomination survey is open for 2 weeks, to give time for people to submit nominations for their favorite tools.
Consider tools that are:
- Doing something new and exciting
- Really helping the communities
- Evolving with changing needs or building on essential workflows
Coolest Tool Academy
This group is selected with a variety of criteria ensuring continuity, previous year winners, mix of editors / developers / Wikimedia Foundation staff, mix of geography and languages. This is done to minimize bias. Folks who are interested in participating in the Academy for the next edition are invited to reach out to us.
Selection process
After the nomination process finishes, the Academy reviews the nominated tools. They then convene to discuss the nominations and assign the awards in a variety of categories.
Award ceremony
The awarded projects are announced in a dedicated award ceremony. Depending on the situation either co-located with an existing movement event, or if it is not possible, in a virtual event.
Previous editions
See a full list of winners from all years at: Coolest Tool Award/Full history.