Apply for the African Fact-Checking Awards

DEADLINE: AUGUST 22, 2020 ― Interested applicants can now apply for the 2020 edition of the annual African Fact-Checking Awards.

African Fact-Checking Awards which is in its seventh edition is the only programme that recognises and honours Africa-based fact-checkers.

Organisers of the awards, Africa Check noted that it received not less 153 applications from over 20 countries including Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt, South Africa and Zimbabwe, a great improvement from the about 40 journalists from 10 countries who applied for the awards in 2014 when it started.

Africa Check notes that the entries must have been first published or broadcast August 1, 2019, and July 22, 2020, adding that such entry must have exposed a claim on an important topic made by a public figure or institution in Africa as misleading or wrong.

Africa Check notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has ushered a flood of dangerous false information across the globe, adding that the pandemic has raised the stakes even higher in the fight against misinformation, requiring that the media play an even more active role in sifting the facts from the fiction.

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Noko Makgato, executive director at Africa Check said: “With health-related decisions sometimes being a matter of life or death, good fact-checking journalism is vital – now more than ever. The quality of information disseminated in public can determine the life outcomes of many and so it is the responsibility of the media to refrain from being conduits of misinformation.

“Each year we are seeing growing interest in fact-checking as evidenced by the number of organisations that have emerged focusing their efforts on debunking harmful claims in different parts of the continent. This, we believe, strengthens the quality of public debate and, hopefully, improves the quality of life across the continent.”

Categories for the 2020 edition are Fact-Check of the Year by a Working Journalist and Fact-Check of the Year by a Student Journalist while one runner-up in each of the two categories will also be honoured.

The winner of the award for the best fact-checking report by a working journalist will get a prize of $3,000, while the runner-up will be awarded $1,500. The winner of the award for best fact-checking report by a student journalist will get a prize of $2,000, and the runner-up $1,000.

Applications close at midnight GMT on July 22, 2020.

APPLY HERE