African Fact-Checking Awards

Terms and conditions

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.

• Be an original piece of fact-checking journalism first published or broadcast on any date from 1 July 2023 to 14 July 2024.

• Be received by the organisers before midnight GMT on 14 July 2023. Late entries will not be accepted.

• Be received by the organisers via the official entry form. No other means of sending in entries is allowed.

• 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, we 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.

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?