Youth Verification Challenge

Notice:
We regret to announce that the “2023 APAC Youth Verification Challenge” is canceled.
We hope to bring back the program in 2024.

Meanwhile, if you would like to participate in the local version of the challenge in Mandarin Chinese and Bahasa Indonesia, please follow these organizations for updates on the local edition.

Take a guess, and see if you can geolocate this image!

Get ready by watching the 2022 APAC Youth Verification Challenge tutorials here.

The 2022 APAC Youth Verification Challenge ran over four chapters:

Chapter 1: Level Up

Build your skills and complete mini-quizzes during our live broadcasts, where you will establish the foundational knowledge every master detective should have.

When?

Every Monday-Thursday, 8.30PM SGT (April 18- 28, 2022)

How?

A 20-minute tutorial will be streamed on Gather to introduce fact-checking tools and how to use them. Immediately after, you’ll be presented with a live quiz that you’ll have to solve. Once the timer ends, scores will be tallied and published on our leaderboard.

If you complete 6 out of 8 live quizzes, you’ll be eligible to receive some Google giveaways.

Watch:

Chapter 1 is over. If you missed it but want to pick up fact-checking skills, watch the videos here!

Watch Now

Contest Official Rules

The Google News Initiative APAC Youth Verification Challenge Contest (“Verification Challenge”) will take place between September 14, 2022 and September 21, 2022 and is open only to individuals ages 15 to 24 with a Google account and living in the following countries:

Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Cook Islands, East Timor, Easter Island, Fiji, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos. Macau SAR, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Vietnam.

Persons who are (1) residents of US embargoed countries, (2) ordinarily residents in US embargoed countries, or (3) otherwise prohibited by applicable export controls and sanctions programs may not participate in this Verification Challenge.

To enter the Verification Challenge, you must (1) be eligible in accordance with these rules, and (2) must register by providing the information requested.

During the Verification Challenge, participants, competing in teams, will be asked to complete a series of challenges related to identifying misinformation and performing fact-checks. Participants that successfully complete challenges will be awarded points and ranked accordingly. Points previously collected in earlier chapters may be used during Chapter 3: A Detective’s Test to obtain a lifeline; provided teams fulfill the requirement. The teams that complete the challenges the fastest will be eligible to receive prizes. Google’s service provider, The MasterPlan will be responsible for judging all entries and distributing prizes. Prize values will not exceed US $100 per member of the runner-up teams. Prize values per member of the winning team will not exceed US $600. Duplicate entries from the same participant will be disqualified.

Your participation in the Verification Challenge will be subject to the Google Terms of Service (https://policies.google.com/terms). During the course of the Verification Challenge, you may be asked to use third party services and platforms in which case you may be subject to the terms of service and privacy policies of those third parties.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I qualify to register for this?

Participants ages 15-24 are welcome to join! You must have a Google account to participate

Are there certificates provided for participating in this Youth Verification Challenge?

Certificates are provided by partners for the following languages:

English - Asia : DataLEADS
English - AU/NZ: Australian Associated Press (AAP)
Bahasa Indonesia : Aliansi Jurnalis Independen
Hindi : DataLEADS
Mandarin Chinese : Taiwan FactCheck Center
Thai : Cofact Thailand
Vietnamese : Centre for Media and Development Initiatives Vietnam (MDI)

Certificate of participation is only granted to those who complete Chapters 1 to 3.

Chapter 1: Participate in 6 out of 8 quizzes
Chapter 2: Participate in all 4 live sessions
Chapter 3: Participate as a team in the live verification battle

I forgot my nickname that I used to register, what do I do?

Please fill up this form and our amazing team will get back to you! Do give the team at least 2 working days for this.

I am a novice when it comes to fact-checking. Is this challenge difficult?

Not at all! This is meant for beginners who are new to fact-checking. We hope you can go on this journey to build your skills, learn from experts and work with friends as teammates to fact-check together!

I registered but missed out on the live sessions during Chapter 1 and/or Chapter 2, can I still participate?

Yes, you can! Once you register, you can participate at any time. We encourage you to participate consistently from Chapter 1 to Chapter 3 so you can accumulate scores! We keep registration open from Chapters 1 to 3 so it’s ok if you join us in the later chapters.

Do I need to join this challenge from Chapter 1 with teammates?

Chapters 1 and 2 are individual challenges, but you should join with friends because when Chapter 3 comes, you can combine forces to participate as a team! Chapter 3 will be team-based since the challenges are harder and require teamwork to solve the questions in a short amount of time.

Can I join Chapter 3 with a team of only 2 persons instead of 3?

We encourage youths to join in teams of 3 members so you can foster teamwork and build a stronger friendship but if you and your friend think you can manage with just 2 people in the team that works too!

How about forming a team with more than 3 members in Chapter 3?

Unfortunately the maximum number of persons in a team will be three and we can’t accommodate more than that.

Can I join as an individual in Chapter 3?

Part of the journey of becoming a fact-checker is to forge team spirit! This is why Chapter 3 is all about teamwork after you have built your knowledge and exposure through Chapters 1 and 2. We would recommend that you find at least one friend and do this together!

What if my teammate(s) have not joined in previous chapters?

It’s ok! You can invite friends to register at verificationchallenge.com before filling up the team sign-up form. All team members must register for the challenge first prior to signing up as a team. We won’t accept incomplete team sign-ups. Only successful team sign-ups will receive a confirmation email with a join link and instructions for the live fact-check battle.

Is there swag given out?

Yes! We’ve got really cool swag to be handed out this year at every single Chapter. Not everyone gets swag though so please find out in each Chapter what are the requirements to qualify for swag. Details to be updated periodically as well as the challenge progresses!

I don’t see my name on the leaderboard. What should I do?

We are only showing the top 300 challengers on the leaderboard. If you are confident that your score is within the top 300 range but do not see your character name there please email our team at gniverificationchallenge@themasterplan.com.sg

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