Wikia Community Wins Grimme Online Award

Online, June 28, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Wikia Inc., the definitive online destination for people to collaboratively pursue their interests and share insights, received the Grimme Online Award on behalf of the Guttenplag Wiki, one of its most revolutionary communities with more than 4,000 pages of content.

The GuttenPlag Wiki successfully documented the plagiarism committed by then German Minister of Defense, Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg, in his PhD dissertation. In a matter of days, daily page views hit 2 million and thousands of volunteers contributed resources that shed light on the scandal: Guttenberg had copied
text from uncited sources on about 95% of all pages of the so-called original document. The Wiki's findings spurred massive media attention and public debate, so much so that
Guttenberg surrendered his PhD title and later resigned from his post.

"This award and the GuttenPlag Wiki shows that society can accomplish great things simply by sharing knowledge," says Tim Bartel, Country Manager for Wikia in Germany. "Wikis are public, easy to use, and highly visible - everyone's voice can make
an impact." To emphasize Wikia's focus on collaboration and community, Bartel carried a printed list of the 20,000+ contributors on stage as he received the trophy.

Since 2001, the Grimme Online Award is one of the most prestigious honors a website can receive in Europe. Chosen by a jury of independent journalists, media experts, and Internet professionals, GuttenPlag Wiki was one of two winners in the "Special" category.

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About Wikia:
Wikia is the definitive place for people to collaboratively pursue their interests and share their knowledge on the web. Using Wikia, anyone can form new communities around any subject they love or participate in over 200,000 existing communities by reading
or contributing new content. With more than five million pages of rich content, Wikia's communities are the most authoritative information about any topic on the Internet.
Launched in 2004 by co-founders Jimmy Wales and Angela Beesley, Wikia attracts more than 45 million global unique visitors per month and is a Top 50 Internet site according to Quantcast.

Relevant Links:
GuttenPlag wiki: http://de.guttenplag.wikia.com
"Guttenberg resigns..." NY Times coverage http://nyti.ms/lzjT1A
Tim Bartel with printed list of contributors http://bit.ly/jt0KJK