The Communications Commission organized the awards ceremony for the winners of the fifth edition of the media literacy contest “Truth or Fiction?” The contest, which is designed to develop critical thinking, analysis and fact-checking skills among young people, was open to 9^th, 10^th and 11^th grade pupils. The jury  selected three outstanding works among 145 submissions. The winners were awarded modern prizes. 

Due to the pandemic, only the winning participants were invited to attend the awards ceremony and present their works in person. As part of the competition, participants were required to identify fake news in Georgian media space (including the internet, television and print media) that had not yet been confirmed as inaccurate. The pupils had to explain how they identified the information, present the relevant source and establish real facts surrounding the case. 

The first prize in the competition was won by Natalia Sulukhia, whose work concerned the Georgian education system. Natalia examined the material published on the geoword.ge portal, which claimed that education in Georgia was on the same level as in Pakistan, Zambia and Libya. To verify this claim, Natalia looked at the international rankings and found out that the statement related to the U.S. state of Georgia, rather than the country. She received an iPhone 12 Pro from the Communications Commission. 

The second prize was won by Givi Rukhadze, whose work concerned the information published on Tia.ge regarding the censorship of films. Having examined the content, Givi detected signs of fake news and highlighted the headline of article, contradictions in the text, lack of sources and the article’s anonymity. He verified the accuracy of the article with the relevant authorities and established that the information was fake. Givi received a New iPad Pro. 

The third prize in the contest was won by Shmagi Burduli, who examined an article about a medical drug and found out that the sources cited in the text were either inaccurate or non-existent. Furthermore, Shmagi established that the comments of the users to the article were also fake and served to mislead the public. He received modern wireless Beats Studio 3 headphones from the Communications Commission. 

This was the fifth edition of the “Truth or Fiction?” competition organised by the Communications Commission. Four previous contests were organised for school pupils, and one for university students. All participants received respective certificates from the Commission.