Entries open for African Fact-Checking Awards

Award Categories

• The awards have three categories, with honours going to a winner and a runner-up. The categories are:
  • Fact-Check of the Year by a Working Journalist
  • Fact-Check of the Year by a Professional Fact-Checker
  • Fact-Check of the Year by a Student Journalist

Award Information

• The winners of the working journalist and professional fact-checker categories will each get a prize of US$3,000. The runners-up will receive $1,500. The winner of the student journalist category will be awarded $2,000, and the runner-up $1,000.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible, entries for this competition must:
  • Be the original work of the individual or team identified in the entry form as the author.
  • Expose a claim on an important topic that originated in or is relevant to Africa as misleading or wrong.
  • Fact-checks can be published/broadcast in any language, but entry forms must be completed in either English or French. However, should the fact-checking report not be in English or French, a written translation must be submitted with the entry.
  • By submitting an entry, the entrant confirms that they are the authors of the work, and that in the case of any dispute about this, this is entirely the entrant’s responsibility
  • Reports published by Africa Check are not eligible for the competition.
  • Judges reserve the right to move an entry from one category to another.
  • Candidates can only enter for the awards in one category per year, but can submit more than one report if they choose.
  • Should the entrant win a prize in the awards, they will send the money to a bank account to be nominated by them.
  • At the shortlisting stage a representative of the jury may seek clarification on some points.
  • Entrants who are found to be unethical about any aspect related to their entry will be disqualified
  • Entrants must agree to do media interviews and/or reports about the awards if they win.
  • Entrants for the awards must agree to accept the judges’ decision as final.
  • Category: Fact-Check of the Year by a Working Journalist
    • Only journalists who do not work for fact-checking organisations are eligible to enter in this category.
    • The entry must have been published or broadcast for the first time by a media- or independent fact-checking organisation based in Africa on any date from 1 July 2023 to 14 July 2024.
    • The work may be published in print or online, broadcast on the radio or television, or published in a blog.
  • Category: Fact-Check of the Year by a Professional Fact-Checker
    • Journalists, fact-checkers or researchers who work for fact-checking organisations or organisations aimed at uncovering dis- or misinformation must enter in this category.
    • The entry must have been published or broadcast for the first time by a media- or independent fact-checking organisation based in Africa on any date from 1 July 2023 to 14 July 2024.
    • The work may be published in print or online, broadcast on the radio or television, or published in a blog.
  • Category: Fact-Check of the Year by a Student Journalist
    • To enter the student category, candidates must be from Africa and younger than 35 by 14 July 2014.
    • Student candidates must have been enrolled as a student at a university, college or other tertiary institution at some period from 1 July 2023 to 14 July 2024.
    • This category excludes part-time students who are working as professional fact-checkers or journalists. Such candidates must enter one of the other two categories.
    • The entry must be an original piece of fact-checking journalism, produced as course work or first published or broadcast on any date from 1 July 2023 to 14 July 2024.
    • The work may be published in a blog, student publication or by a media- or independent fact-checking organisation based in Africa.
    • Judges reserve the right to move an entry from one category to another.
    • Candidates can only enter for the awards in one category per year, but can submit more than one report if they choose.

Evaluation Criteria

• Entries are judged based on the following criteria:
  • Significance: The significance for wider society of the claim/statement investigated. How much does the topic matter to society at large and how serious could the consequences be if the claim wasn’t fact-checked?
  • Testing: How was the claim tested against the available evidence? Fact-checkers must take a long, hard look at the claim/statement that was made. Fact-checking entails rigorously sifting through the publicly available evidence for and against the claim. This should be done in a way that is fair to the person or institution who made the claim and strict in assessing the evidence.
  • Presentation: How well does the piece present the evidence for and against the claim? A good fact-checking report is structured in such a way that it’s understandable and makes the topic accessible to the widest possible public.
  • Impact: The impact that the fact-check had on public debate on the topic. Did it lead to a correction, did it have significant reach, or was it shared by other organisations or members of the media, for instance?

For more information, visit Africa Check.