The People's Fact-Checking Awards intends to highlight the work being done by ordinary citizens as well as journalists championing the fight against false information, either as a hobby or a profession. Credible fact-checks require a keen eye, so the tools and processes will be big considerations to determine the success of your submissions. Applicants that are able to innovate by using less conventional fact-check processes to reveal truth will have an advantage.
Frequently Asked Questions
What
Code for Africa, or CfAfrica, is the lead organisation driving The People’s Fact-Checking Awards (PFCA). CfAfrica is not a run-of-the-mill NGO or donor organisation. It is an umbrella federation of country-based civic technology and data journalism laboratories, that use digital tools to build digital democracies. CfAfrica’s affiliates use technology to give citizens timely and unfettered access to actionable information that empowers them to make informed decisions and that strengthen civic engagement for improved public governance and accountability. In addition to PFCA, CfAfrica also runs other grant-making programmes (see details below), supports civic technology communities such as Hacks/Hackers Africa, and maintains a string of key infrastructure services that digital journalists and open data activists need to do their jobs. You can get more detailed insight about CfAfrica at http://bit.ly/CfAfricaFB
File uploads must be one of the following:
Any media, videos, links to prototypes, etc. can be included with the post using the innovateAFRICA website’s functionality. Such material is not required, however. Only the answers to the 7 questions on the form are required.
The supporting materials or attachments should be any documents you think would add valuable information about your fact-check that reviewers can use to better understand how your debunk meets the PFCA criteria. These documents can range from something as simple as a direct quote, to more complex supporting materials including sources. While this material is helpful, the focus for our assessment of your idea is your answers to the 7 questions on the application form.
Because individual situations vary, you need to consult a professional tax advisor on this issue.
Who
Our judges make the final determinations based on recommendations by the independent fact-checking jury. We also employ outside technical experts to help the jury review applications as may be appropriate. These reviewers serve as advisors only.
Yes, you can submit your application as a group or organisation.
Yes.
Yes, if you think you have made impactful/notable fact-checks within a short span of your fact-checking career, then we may consider your application on a case-by-case basis.
Yes
Who gets the prize, if more than one person enters as a team?
The award money will be an equitable distribution and the guiding principle of exact ratios will be clarified with the recipient once the award is made.
When
The deadline is November 30th, 2020 at midnight (East African Time). No exceptions or late entries will be accepted, under any circumstances. You might want to use something like World Time Buddy to make sure that you get the time right.
Winners will be announced on December 11th 2020.
The dates below are guidelines. Their intention is to give you an idea of the timeframe of the process.
Winners will receive their prize on January 22nd
Where
The application process is online. Please apply here, on the PFCA portal.
Anywhere across the African continent.
Everywhere, as long as the fact-check and fact-checker is based in Africa
Why
How
Each entrant can only apply twice, with a limit of two different category applications.
All winners will be announced on December 11th 2020. If your name and piece is not mentioned in our winners announcement, then your application did not make it to the final stage of our shortlisting process.
When you comment on an entry, do so with the understanding that you are not creating any ownership rights for yourself.
Do not give us more words than we ask for. When answering the questions, please be brief and follow the word count. We recommend you draft your answers, edit them and count the words in a document and then copy and paste them into the online application form. This allows you to have a copy in case something goes wrong and helps you count the words of your answers accurately.
We probably could. If you’re confused about something, please don’t hesitate to ask. But after you’ve decided your idea meets the PFCA focus, the absolute best way to tell whether it’s appropriate is simply to apply. We don’t want to get so specific with our guidelines that we prevent you from submitting the next great idea. So if you think the idea fits, send it in.
Feel free to ask by inboxing us at askpfca@pesacheck.org and we will respond as soon as we can.
The People's Fact-Checking Awards intends to highlight the work being done by ordinary citizens as well as journalists championing the fight against false information, either as a hobby or a profession. Credible fact-checks require a keen eye, so the tools and processes will be big considerations to determine the success of your submissions. Applicants that are able to innovate by using less conventional fact-check processes to reveal truth will have an advantage.
The People’s Fact-Checking Awards: Africa (PFCA) is a citizen-driven and focused on people working in fact-checking on the continent. The awards are funded through a seed grant from Meedan.
The awards are organised by PesaCheck, a pioneering verification initiative that is helping to kickstart fact-checking across East and West Africa. PesaCheck also helps watchdog media and NGOs establish their own standalone fact-check teams. The organization is an innovateAFRICA.fund grantee, and receives additional support from the International Budget Partnership, Code for Africa and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).