The Youths Digest Campus Journalism Initiative has introduced a new Fact-Checking Category for its 2025 Campus Journalism Awards (CJA).
According to the organizers, the new category signifies the importance of verification and integrity in journalism, particularly at a time when fake news and deepfakes are on the rise.
Founder of the Campus Journalism Awards and Dialogue, Gidado Yushau Shuaib, said the introduction of the category aligns with Youths Digest’s seven-year commitment to nurturing professionalism and ethical standards among young journalists.
Shuaib urged campus journalists across the country to remain steadfast in truth, integrity, and innovation, assuring them that Youths Digest will continue to provide platforms that celebrate excellence and credibility in journalism.
He also used the announcement to celebrate the recent achievement of Uthman Samad, a former CJA winner in investigative journalism and current AFP digital investigation reporter, who won the prestigious “Fact Check of the Year” award at the Africa Facts Summit in Dakar, Senegal.
Samad was honored in the professional fact-checker category for his investigation that exposed how artificial intelligence (AI) was used to impersonate a Nigerian scientist in a deceptive advertisement promoting a fake “miracle cure” for heart disease.
Describing Samad’s recognition as a “proud moment for young journalists worldwide,” Shuaib recalled that he had won the Campus Investigative Challenge in 2020 and later served on the screening committee for the 2024 edition of the awards.
