African Fact-checking Awards for Journalists 2018

Entries are open for the African Fact-checking Awards 2018. The African Fact-Checking Awards are the only awards that each year honour journalism by Africa-based media in the emerging field of fact-checking are now in their fifth year, and continue to grow. Working and student journalists are encouraged to apply.

This year, they have added exciting new categories.

1. Fact-check of the year & runner-up (for a single piece of work)
2. Fact-checking series of the year & runner up (for a body of work)
3. Fact-check of the year by a student & runner-up (a single piece of work done by a journalism student)
4. Fact of the year (most striking statistic first published or broadcast that year – voted for by our readers)

You can enter the awards if you publish or broadcast a report between 1 September 2017 and 15 August 2018, exposing as misleading or wrong a claim on an important topic made by a public figure or institution in Africa.

Prizes for African Fact-checking Awards

• The winners of the awards for best fact-checking report and best fact-checking series by a working journalist will each take away a prize of $2,000, with two runners-up taking away prizes of $1,000 each.
• The winner of the award for best fact-checking report by a student journalist will take away a prize of $1,000 and the runner-up scooping $500.
• The names of the winners and runners-up will be announced at a ceremony to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in October.

Eligibility for African Fact-checking Awards

• Entries must be an original piece of fact-checking journalism first published or broadcast between 1 September 2017 and 15 August 2018 by a media house based in Africa or produced as coursework.
• The work may be published in print or online, broadcast on the radio or television or published in a blog.
• Reports published by Africa Check are not eligible for the competition. Winner of the new student category, Moussa Ngom attending CESTI, Senegal.
• For the student category, the candidate must also have attended a journalism school in Africa at some period between 1 September 2017 and 15 August 2018.
• Entries can be published or broadcast in any language but for them to be considered, if they are not originally done in English or French, a translation into English or French must be provided.
• Any individual and/or team can put in a maximum of two entries each.

Criteria for African Fact-checking Awards

All entries sent into the competition before midnight on 15 August 2018 will be judged on the following four criteria.

• The significance for wider society of the claim investigated
• How the claim was tested against the available evidence
• How well the piece presented the evidence for and against the claim
• The impact that the publication had on public debate on the topic

The judges’ decision is final.

How to Apply for African Fact-checking Awards

Click here to enter.

For more information, visit Africa Check.