Recepients of the annual “Ilija Zhupanoski” Award
For the first time, the Metamorphosis Foundation granted its annual “Ilija Zhupaonski” Award for combating disinformation during its twentieth edition of the e-Society.mk conference.
The award in the category “Best journalistic work, i.e. professional paper prepared by civil society organizations and individuals” was granted to the Institute for Media and Analytics “IMA”—Skopje for a professional paper with a series of content that is interconnected but refers to one specific topic.
It concerns the content: “’The French proposal:’ Hate speech, disinformation, media manipulation” (media analyses), the analysis “Media outlets and campaigns with disinformation and hate speech against gender and sexual equality,” “Russian and pro-Russian disinformation in North Macedonia: Analysis of propaganda narratives and case studies” and “Constitutional changes in the media: disinformation, media manipulation, hate speech” (analyses) covered in the TV show “Poligraf” to expose disinformation and fake news. The authors of the project and the script are Petrit Saracini and Zharko Trajanoski.
The award in the category “Educational multimedia content prepared by young people aged 18 to 28 years old” was granted to the journalist Ardit Ramadani for the video titled “Media hysteria about Imane Khelif’s gender rooted in Russia, media outlets fell into Russia’s trap, again.” This award is granted for content in which information and communication technologies are used in a creative and innovative way to reach young people and educate them in order to strengthen resistance against disinformation.
Vesna Kolovska, the journalist that was awarded recognition for a special contribution with the educational series “Disinformation and the spread of conspiracy theories” (educational videos), said that the fight against conspiracy theories is one of the most difficult.
The award for the first category “Best journalistic work, i.e. professional paper” is equivalent to 3000 euros in denars. The award for the second category “Educational multimedia content prepared by young people aged 18 to 28 years old” is equivalent to 1000 euros in denars.
The awards were decided by a committee made up of prominent figures from the media and public sphere: Katerina Blazhevska, Dejan Donev, Arta Tahiri, Biljana Georgievska and Nazim Rashidi.
The award is named after Ilija Zhupanoski, who was a social activist for democracy and an active fighter against disinformation and against hybrid and cyber-attacks on democracies at national and international level.
“Ilija was our collaborator, comrade, who devoted a significant part of his life to understanding the effect of disinformation and foreign influences on the democratic processes in North Macedonia. Although, unfortunately, he left us too soon, his tireless work left an indelible mark on society, and his efforts will live on through all of us who continue to fight against disinformation in defense of the truth, that is, to build a society in which freedom of speech is inviolable.” said Dance Danilovska-Bajdevska, Program Director at the Metamorphosis Foundation during the award ceremony.
