The Communications Commission has presented awards to the three winners of the media literacy contest “Truth or Fiction?” The winning students were selected by a dedicated jury panel. The winners have received ultramodern prizes. Competition winners, as well as other participants with outstanding entries, will also be provided with career support by the Commission. They will receive training and be able to share their experience and knowledge with other students and school pupils as part of various media literacy projects. 

The first prize in the competition was won by Vakhtang Patsatsia, whose work concerned an article published by Alt-Info claiming that China was suspending natural gas deliveries to Europe and Asia due to transportation costs. He checked this information against different sources and established that while it was true that China would no longer deliver gas to Europe and Asia, the real reason was that the European reserves exceeded their needs at that point. Vakhtang Patsatsia received an iPhone 14 Pro from the Communications Commission as a gift. 

The second prize was won by Gizo Kemertelidze, whose work examined Elon Musk’s statement, published by the online platform “Georgia and the World,” about the use of nuclear weapons by Russia to defend Crimea. While studying the information, Gizo focused on the credibility of the author and source of the article, highlighted the official sources, and determined that the statement did not correspond to the truth. Gizo Kemertelidze received an HP laptop as a gift from the Communications Commission.

The third prize was won by Mariam Tvildiani, who checked the materials published by Formula regarding the spread of radiation from the Chernobyl power plant. Mariam sought information from international sources and official Twitter pages to determine that the aforementioned fact was not true. Mariam Tvildiani received an iPad as a gift. 

The Communications Commission has already held eight editions of “Truth or Fiction?” – five for school pupils and three for bachelor’s degree students. The contest is designed to develop critical thinking, analysis and fact-checking skills among teenagers. As part of the competition, participants were required to identify fake news in Georgian media space that had not yet been confirmed as inaccurate. The youngsters then had to explain how they identified the information, present the relevant source and establish real facts surrounding the case.