Introduction
The Write-a-thon is a WriteTech Hub initiative that gives technical writers the chance to work on real product documentation. Participants collaborate on projects from partner organisations, improve documentation quality, and gain practical experience they can showcase in their portfolios.
Background
Why We Started Write-a-thon
Many aspiring technical writers understand the theory but rarely get opportunities to work on real-world documentation. Write-a-thon addresses this gap by connecting writers with real-world projects hosted in public repositories. Participants receive expert reviews to refine their skills, while partner organisations benefit from fresh contributions and improved documentation.
How the Challenge Works
Write-a-thon runs in partnership with companies and communities that have products needing documentation. Each edition, we select one or more partners and define clear documentation tasks for participants.
Participants join the partner’s community space for technical support and the WriteTech Hub community for writing-related guidance. All submissions are made as pull requests to the WriteTech Hub GitHub repository.
The review process is twofold. First, the partner’s team reviews each submission for technical accuracy. Next, WriteTech Hub’s Content Engineering team conducts a Writing Quality Review focusing on accuracy, grammar, clarity, flow, and adherence to best writing practices.
Our Goals
Our main goals for Write-a-thon are:
- Give participants real-world experience in technical writing.
- Help them improve their skills through expert feedback.
- Build a public record of their work for portfolios.
- Support partner organisations in improving their documentation.
- Grow a community of technical writers and product teams who work together on open documentation projects.
This Edition’s Challenge
Partnership with Chimoney
For the first edition, we partnered with Chimoney, a global payment infrastructure company that lets people send payouts, gift cards, airtime, and more to over 100 countries from a single platform.
This partnership aimed to improve the Chimoney API documentation by creating developer-focused content. This gave participants the chance to work on APIs used by businesses. It also helped Chimoney get detailed feedback and updated documentation from fresh perspectives.
The partnership worked both ways. Participants gained hands-on technical writing experience while learning how Chimoney’s products work. Chimoney, in turn, received reviewed and improved documentation from contributors with different writing backgrounds.
Duration and Timeline
The challenge ran for three weeks, from July 16 to August 1, 2025. The short but focused timeline encouraged participants to work steadily and complete their submissions before the deadline. It included key activities:
- A kickoff call with Chimoney and WriteTech Hub.
- A mid-challenge AMA session.
- Submission deadline and review period.
- Announcement of winners on August 13, 2025.
Number of Entries and Participation
We had 63 sign-up responses. Out of these, 12 participants actively took part in the challenge.
The participants had different levels of experience. Some were beginners looking to work on their first portfolio project, while others had experience in technical writing and wanted to improve their skills by contributing to a live product.
This mix of skills and perspectives led to richer contributions and gave participants more examples to learn from.
Tasks for Participants
Participants worked on one Chimoney API endpoint of their choice and created three deliverables:
- Use case article – showing a real-world scenario for the chosen API endpoint.
- Tutorial guide – a step-by-step guide on how to use the endpoint in code.
- Setup guide – instructions on authentication and environment setup.
Support from Chimoney and WriteTech Hub
Participants received support from both Chimoney and WriteTech Hub throughout the challenge.
On the Chimoney side:
- The Chimoney Discord community was the main space for technical support.
- Chimoney engineers answered questions about the API.
- They reviewed pull requests from a technical perspective to ensure accuracy.
On the WriteTech Hub side:
- Participants joined our community to get feedback on writing style, structure, and clarity.
- Our technical content engineers checked pull requests for writing quality.
- We provided detailed comments to help participants understand what to improve and how to do so.
This combined support ensured that the documentation met both technical and writing standards. It also showed participants how documentation is reviewed and maintained in real-world projects.
Outcomes and Highlights
After three weeks of focused writing, collaboration, and creativity, our participants achieved remarkable results. This challenge was more than just a competition; it was an opportunity for technical writers to work on real-world documentation, learn from each other, and contribute to a live product used by global developers.
Community Growth and Engagement
This challenge also helped the WriteTech Hub community grow stronger. Participants were active in discussions, supported each other with peer reviews, and shared ideas on how to improve technical writing quality. The challenge created an environment where beginners could learn from more experienced writers while everyone improved their skills together.
Winners and Recognition
The challenge concluded with the recognition of three outstanding participants whose submissions demonstrated clarity, technical accuracy, and strong alignment with Chimoney’s documentation standards.
The top winners were:
- Emmanuel O. Eboh
- Mackenzie O’Brien
- Queendoline Akpan
These participants stood out for their commitment to producing high-quality documentation, attention to detail, and ability to deliver practical, developer-friendly content. Their work not only met the challenge objectives but also added long-term value to the Chimoney API ecosystem.
As the challenge partner, Chimoney directly coordinated with the winners to deliver their prizes.
Examples of Participant Work
Participants submitted polished, professional content that could go directly into production documentation. Below are some examples:
WriteTech Hub will continue reviewing all Pull Requests (PRs) submitted during the challenge and provide detailed feedback to help participants sharpen their skills further.
What’s Next
Plans for the Next Write-a-thon
We plan to make the Write-a-thon a recurring program, running at least twice a year. The next edition will feature clearer timelines, more diverse writing categories, and targeted resources to help participants improve their technical writing skills. We also aim to include live Q&A sessions with industry experts to make the challenge more interactive.
How to Partner With Us
We are open to partnerships with tech companies, documentation teams, and community organisations that want to support writers or provide challenge topics. Partners can contribute through sponsorship, resource sharing, or by offering real-world writing problems for participants to solve.
Ongoing Feedback and Learning Opportunities
Participants and partners will continue to have access to our feedback channels and resource library. We will also be hosting periodic workshops and mini-challenges to help writers stay engaged and sharpen their skills between Write-a-thon events.
Closing Thoughts
The Write-a-thon was more than just a challenge; it was a collaborative effort to grow the open-source documentation space. With stronger participation, better resources, and engaged partners, the next edition will make an even bigger impact.
Contact Information
For partnerships, feedback, or participation inquiries:
- Email: info@writetechhub.com
- Website: www.writetechhub.com
- Twitter/X: @writetechhub
- LinkedIn: WriteTech Hub
