One year and COVID-19 is still ravaging the world. One of the reasons the virus spread faster was the rise of misinformation and disinformation around the cause, transmission and treatment of COVID-19. This led the WHO to declare an ‘infodemic’ alongside the pandemic.
With glitters of hope, the vaccines are here to the rescue. Just as with the emergence of misinformation and disinformation during the early days of COVID-19, many more have evolved around the use and components of the vaccines.
Dis- and misinformation on COVID-19 is already indeed prolific in the media landscape (https://www.poynter.org/coronavirusfactsalliance/), which threaten not only individuals but also societies as a whole. It results in citizens endangering themselves by ignoring scientific advice, amplifies distrust in policymakers and governments, as well as diverts journalists’ efforts towards reactive disproving of falsehoods instead of proactive reporting of new information.
To achieve this, Light-Up Africa Development Initiative (LADI) with support from UNESCO Abuja under the Japanese Trust in Fund (JFIT) project on Media and Information Literacy for Youth Civic Engagement is leading a series of engagements to support creatives, artists, painters, cartoonists, poets, spoken word poets and comic artists etc. to develop creative-promotional contents that address fake news, misinformation and disinformation and the dangers they pose.
Objectives
This call aims to:
- encourage young creative professionals to identify dis- and misinformation affecting their immediate communities;
- explore the creativity of youths in Nigeria to develop unconventional creative solutions to the response on issues around dis- and misinformation;
- empower a growing young and adult population with the knowledge, skills, values, and practices for better understanding and engagement in media development, access to information and knowledge for all, and freedom of expression; and
- diversity the interventions of promoting MIL, focusing solely on youth-led creative and professional solutions.
Tentative Activity Schedule
This call consists of two phases:
- Phase 1: Official launch of the call via communication channels of LADI and partners, including UNESCO (websites and social media channels).
- Phase 2: Review and rating of all entries by jury panel composed of communication and information experts where ten (10) finalists will be selected.
- Phase 3: Top 3 winners selected and announced as decided by the panel. Following official acceptance of awards, the content will be broadcast through various channels, such as community radios and satellite TV networks.
Prizes for Winners
| Position | Prizes |
| #1 | Laptop |
| #2 | Camera |
| #3 | Smart TV |
How to Enter:
- Create an entry. Entries can include jingle, cartoon, poetry (including spoken word), painting, comics, graphics, instructional video or photo story;
- Post them across social media using the hashtag #CreativeForMIL and tag UNESCO Abuja and @LADI4NGO across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
- Follow @LADI4NGO on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
Note: if sending videos or audio contents, the maximum limit should be 60 seconds
Basic Rules
- Entries can be in English, Pidgin and local languages (please indicate which local language the content is in the social media post);
- Entries from both individuals and collective groups are acceptable, but a collaborative group will be considered as one participant while reviewing and prizing;
- Entries within the framework of this call certify and warrants that his/her/their content does not violate the rights of a third party and/or any copyright.
- By submitting the jingles, the participants authorize LADI and UNESCO to use their works for purpose of public information, including but not limited to publish the results of the call in the spoken, written, and/or electronic media – with the name of the creator(s) – and to exhibit or publish any of the submitted jingles anywhere in the world.
Evaluation Criteria: (100 points in total)
- Compliance with guideline and rules of the call (10%);
- An appropriate response to fake news, hate speech, dis- and misinformation (25%);
- Clarity, catchy and memorable (15%);
- Innovation and creativity (30%);
- Social media engagement in form of likes, comment, & shares/retweets (20%)
Arbitration
By summiting your entries, you agree that you (the content creator), LADI and its partners jointly own the intellectual property of the content.
Deadline:
Entries close on Wednesday 28 April 2021
