Tips for getting accredited as a WikiPortraits photographer
How one WikiPortraits volunteer photographer set up her own media pass for the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January.
The 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships took place in early January, and WikiPortraits was there to cover it. In fact, Kimberly Indergand (User: SpiritedMichelle), a longtime figure skating fan, set up her own press accreditation. Here, Kimberly provides a few pointers for how other WikiPortraits volunteers.
By Kimberly Indergand
The U.S. Figure Skating (USFS) is the national governing body of figure skating in the United States and hosts the National Championships in January each. I am a huge figure skating fan, and I did not want to miss this year’s competition, especially as a WikiPortraits photographer.
And, since I am the queen of procrastination, I did not apply until the final day that applications were open, December 12. Happily, everything worked out and I got my credentials.
Here’s how:
When applying, I used WikiPortraits as my media organization, and Jenny (User:Jenny8lee) as my editor. The USFS application also requested the weekly readership of our publication and to be completely honest, I just fudged a number (Editor’s note: Currently, one out of every 200 pageviews on Wikipedia globally is now illustrated by a WikiPortraits photo).
Four days after I submitted my online application, I received an email from USFS telling me that I had been approved as a photographer! It might sound unreasonably easy, but that was it. For the next several weeks until the event I received numerous emails with additional information regarding on-side media accommodations and photographer positions.
When I arrived at the security entrance at the venue hosting the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. all I needed to provide was my driver’s license in order to confirm my identity. The staff then snapped my photo and printed out the pass right there and handed it to me.
One reason why I believe it was so easy to apply and get my application approved is that figure skating has become a lot less popular in recent years. When I was growing up (in the 1990’s and early 2000’s) figure skating was a very popular sport in the United States, especially if you were a young girl who looked up to athletes like Tara Lapiniski and Michelle Kwan. That may no longer be the case these days, although I don't have any hard evidence to back that up, but it's what I suspect.
If you’re thinking about getting accredited as a photographer for a specific event, just go to the website for whatever organization or governing body is in charge of a certain event and look for the media page, which should have information about accreditation. After that, be sure to reach out to Jenny or Kevin at WikiPortraits for help.
If you’re interested in covering skating, here is a link to the application for the upcoming synchronized upcoming championships in March:
