The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) is set to celebrate the pinnacle of investigative journalism at its annual GlobalFact conference, taking place in Vilnius, Lithuania, from June 17 to June 19. As the organization prepares to honor excellence in the fight against misinformation, it has unveiled the official finalists for its prestigious awards. These nominations recognize outstanding contributions to information integrity published between April 20, 2025, and April 21, 2026, showcasing a diverse array of global newsrooms that are holding power to account and protecting the public from digital deception.
The “Global Fact-Checking Award for Impact” highlights investigations that transcended mere reporting to produce tangible real-world outcomes. The finalists include Brazil’s Estadão Verifica, which dismantled a profitable network trafficking in medical falsehoods; Poland’s Pravda Association, whose rigorous probe into misleading health products triggered widespread institutional crackdowns; and the Taiwan FactCheck Center, which gain international acclaim for identifying and mitigating the emerging threat of AI-driven medical misinformation. These entries demonstrate how meticulous verification can shift public policy and force systemic accountability.
Innovation takes center stage in the “Global Fact-Checking Award for Creative Format,” where finalists are recognized for their mastery of multimedia storytelling and technology. India’s NewsMeter is noted for its pioneering use of social media investigations, particularly in exposing AI-manipulated videos featuring government leadership. Spain’s EFE Verifica is represented by its empathetic documentary series “Fake News, Real Victims,” which explores the human toll of conspiracy theories, while its counterpart, Newtral, is a finalist for its high-stakes, investigative deep dive into the fraudulent claims regarding a woman’s alleged abduction in Syria.
Collaboration, a cornerstone of effective modern fact-checking, is honored in the “Global Fact-Checking Award for Collaboration” category. This year’s finalists underscore the power of borderless cooperation, highlighting a joint project between Estadão Verifica (Brazil), la diaria Verifica (Uruguay), and Fast Check CL (Chile) that exposed how social media is used to distort the traumatic memory of military regimes in South America. Other notable finalists include TjekDet’s international investigation into AI-facilitated gender-based violence and online abuse, as well as Maldita.es’s sprawling global probe into a vast network of phishing scams linked to Russia and Vietnam.
Representing the “Gold Standard” of journalistic integrity, the final category recognizes the highest levels of transparency, fairness, and meticulous research. ARIJ (Jordan) is being highlighted for its investigative work tracking climate change misinformation back to oil interests, while Nigeria’s ICIR/FactCheckHub is recognized for its expose on sophisticated AI-assisted Ponzi schemes that preyed on vulnerable populations. Rounding out this category is Norway’s Faktisk.no, which successfully unmasked the shadowy online actors orchestrating political disinformation during a national education crisis in 2024, demonstrating persistent public service journalism.
The winners across these four categories will be determined by an elite international panel of experts representing media organizations and academic institutions across the globe. By vetting these entries, judges such as Louis Jacobson, Paula Todd, and Hui-An Ho are identifying the best tools and practices for navigating a landscape increasingly defined by synthetic media and bad-faith actors. As the conference convenes in Vilnius, these award finalists stand as a testament to the fact-checking community’s unwavering resolve to defend the truth in an era of unprecedented disinformation challenges.
