DUBAWA has emerged winner of the highest impact fact check at the Global Fact 10 awards.

A fact check and investigation done by the Nigeria editor of Dubawa, Kemi Busari, won the highest impact category.

The published fact check/investigation focused on a Nigerian fake ‘doctor’ cashing out on a deadly concoction that cures nothing.

Shortlisted in the highest impact fact check in the second category alongside Dubawa (Nigeria), include AFP Fact-Checking (France/USA), Myth Detector (Georgia), and Taiwan Factcheck Center (Taiwan).

At the 10th Global Fact-checking ceremony which was held in Seoul, South Korea from June 26th to 30th, Dubawa was announced the winner of the highest impact fact-check.

Speaking during the ceremony, FactCheckHub editor, Opeyemi Kehinde, discussed overcoming hurdles and how digital media literacy innovation coupled with repurposed fact-checking content generated trivia game content.

FactCheckHub and Dubawa who are part of the Nigerian Fact-checkers Coalition (NFC) were also among the organisations that received grants from the International Fact Check Network (IFCN).

Speaking with The ICIR, Kemi Busari, talked about the challenges encountered during the course of the investigative fact check.

“The investigation itself took about five months, if I even want to add the research part, is far more than that. There were a lot of challenges, we needed to source funds to do the investigation, and secondly, it was hard to get respondents who will be willing to talk about the effect of taking the herbal product.

“Apart from that, it is really a very wide field. I had to read up a lot of scientific articles, terms, and documents so I could understand and clearly interpret the outcome from the laboratory to the public,” he stated.

Reacting to the award won in the category of the highest impact fact check, Busari expressed joy at the global recognition.

“We received the best award a few weeks ago when we saw that NAFDAC immediately swung to action to ensure this product is off the market and we also see their continued effort to make sure that they sanitize the space.

“When some of these little things we do in our small closet get international recognition, it brings a lot of joy and happiness to someone like me and the entire team who worked on the story.”

He went further to advise budding fact-checkers to go beyond the basics in their reports as fact-checkers can hold the government accountable anywhere in the world.

Winners also emerged in other categories of the awards. Cek Fakta-Liputan 6 (Indonesia) won the most creative format while the most innovative collaboration was won by Esatdao Verifica, Agencia lupa, aos fatos projeto Comprova, universo online and meedan.