The awards have three categories, with honors going to a winner and a runner-up. The categories are:

1. Fact-Check of the Year by a Working Journalist
2. Fact-Check of the Year by a Professional Fact-Checker
3. Fact-Check of the Year by a Student Journalist
4. Sponsor Organisation: Africa Check

Eligibility Criteria for African Fact-Checking Awards 2025 (up to $3,000)

To be eligible, entries for this competition must:

1. Be the original work of the individual or team identified in the entry form as the author.
2. Expose a claim on an important topic that originated in or is relevant to Africa as misleading or wrong.
3. Be an original piece of fact-checking journalism first published or broadcast on any date from 1 May 2024 to 7 June 2025.

Judging Criteria

Entries are judged based on the following criteria:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 organizations or members of the media, for instance?

Benefits of African Fact-Checking Awards 2025 (up to $3,000)

1. 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.
2. The winner of the student journalist category will be awarded $2,000, and the runner-up $1,000.

How to Apply

1. Click on the link to the application website to apply.

View details of African Fact-Checking Awards

Apply for African Fact-Checking Awards

Application Deadline

07 June, 2025

Application Link(s)

• Apply for African Fact-Checking Awards 2025 (up to $3,000)