This is a draft of a future guideline for recent year articles. It is intended to establish a central location for guidelines as they develop for these year articles. Recent year articles (e.g. 2008, 2009 are among the most heavily edited on wikipedia. Since so many events happen in a year, not all events will be notable enough to merit inclusion on the page. Such events may be better placed on a subpage. That an event is notable to you personally is not ground for its inclusion. It must have a demonstrated, international significance within the history of the year. Also, the fact that other year articles may include events which break this set of guidelines is not a valid reason to do so for another event.

Any of the guidelines set below can be overruled by a consensus agreement.

New events added must demonstrate independent news reporting from three different continents on the event. This is a minimum requirement for inclusion. Events which are not cited at all may be removed.

Sporting events which are either annual or are not international (more than one continent) do not belong on the main year page, but on the year in sports page (e.g. 2009 in sports). Valid sporting events may include:

1. World Cup
2. Olympics
3. Terrorist attack at a sporting event or other such major disaster

Events which usually do not merit inclusion:

1. Annual championships such as the World Series, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, or NBA Championship
2. Annual World or Continental Championships in any sport, such as European or African Football tournaments
3. Any other annual contest, such as Eurovision Song Contest or American Idol.
4. World records (Unless especially notable, something akin to Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile).

Any event not covered above must gain a consensus for inclusion on the talk page before being added and may be better placed in the year's sports article.

National elections are not usually included unless they represent a significant change in the country (e.g. a nation's first election). Some elections gain international significance for other reasons and this can be demonstrated through several international news sources. Regular and ordinary shifts in power within the UN and European Union are also not sufficiently notable.

Most legislation passed in the year will not qualify unless it is of international significance.

Disasters of a global or near-global significance may be added. This can be demonstrated through various international news sources. High death counts do not necessarily merit inclusion into the article. Likewise, assassinations or other similarly serious crimes can be listed if international relevance is demonstrated. Events such as suicide-murders, kidnappings, school shootings, etc. do not necessarily qualify unless especially significant.

Deaths are only to be included if the person dead has articles about him or her on wikipedia in at least ten languages. (William Shakespeare, for example, has several foreign language articles on him, listed on the left sidebar.)

• Wikipedia:WikiProject Years
• WP:UNDUE WEIGHT