Two graduates from the ROUNDCHECK volunteer network have clinched awards at the just-concluded 10th anniversary dinner of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).
The Alfred Opubor Awards for campus journalists is aimed at celebrating student journalists who have published quality stories across journalism niches.
Emmanuel Oluwadola, a second cohort graduate of the Roundcheck Volunteer Network won the category for the best fact check report.
His story, which was published during the volunteer program, looked into a claim that MTN and AIRTEL were giving free data and airtime to Hilda Baci in celebration of her breaking the longest cooking record and becoming a Guinness World Record holder.
Fatimah Idera, another RoundCheck Volunteer Network graduate, was named first runner-up in the same category for her report on a claim published on Dubawa about asbestos ceilings causing cancer.
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While speaking, Oluwadola shared how volunteering at RoundCheck honed his fact-checking skills. He noted that he became a volunteer because of his “enthusiasm for the truth”.
“I have grown by learning how to identify claims and fake news through critical analysis and various tools for fact-checking images, videos, and websites. I have understood the types of information disorders and how to identify the actors, helping to deal with the sources of these information disorders.”
Idera recalled that her journey as a fact-checker started when she joined the second cohort of the Volunteer Network. Afterwards, she attended training from Africa Check, FactCheck Africa, and Code of Africa.
“I later got a slot to freelance with Dubawa where I wrote my award-winning fact check on the claim that asbestos ceilings are cancerous”, she said.
The Volunteer Network is a project by ROUNDCHECK created in 2022 to train youths in fact-checking and media literacy. It has since then hosted 3 cohorts and trained over 60 people.
The awards and dinner ceremony was a closing event of the Media and Development Conference (MDC 2024) which began on Monday.
ROUNDCHECK will in December open applications for the 4th cohort volunteer network.
As its tradition, volunteers will be equipped with fact-checking skills, through a series of training by industry experts.
