Comic book from the ARTIFAKE project wins award in European competition

The comic book "ARTI VS FAKE Part 1: News Factory" from the Internews Ukraine won in the category "Media Freedom and Responsible Reporting". The organizers praised the project's creative approach of turning comics into a tool of media literacy.

The presentation ceremony for the winners of the prestigious Emerging Europe Awards 2022 took place in Brussels on Thursday, June 23. These awards recognize projects, initiatives, and people which contribute to the development of Europe. The comic book "ARTI VS FAKE Part 1 News Factory" from the Internews Ukraine, a media and communications NGO, won in the category "Media Freedom and Responsible Reporting."

The creative comics about media manipulation are designed to develop critical thinking and media literacy. The main characters — Tina the Сat and Archie the Dog — team up in an unlikely partnership in search of high-quality news and journalistic standards. This is all done to stop manipulations and return their city to the path of critical thinking. The comic book was published in 5 languages (English, Ukrainian, Polish, Armenian, and Russian).

«In times of incredibly widespread fakes in the infospace, projects that develop media literacy must be creative. Non-standard approaches help convey the importance of conscientious media consumption to people quickly, clearly and interestingly. For our team, the Emerging Europe Awards 2022 is a sign that we are working in the right direction», — explained the Internews Ukraine Program Director Andrii Kulakov.

The comic book ARTI VS FAKE Part 1: News Factory was created as part of the international ARTIFAKE project. This is the first project to use street art to develop media literacy in three European countries: Ukraine, Poland, and Armenia. In 2021, street artists implemented nine projects — from murals to audio installations — in cities of the participating countries. In Ukraine, media literacy murals appeared in three cities in the eastern and southern regions: Tokmak in Zaporizhzhya Oblast, Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, and Kakhovka in Kherson Oblast.

Two more murals were planned for Bilyaivka, Odessa Oblast, and Rubizhne, Luhansk Oblast. Unfortunately, we had to freeze this process due to the start of the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

To support Ukrainian children during the war, the project team organized an art therapy session online. The art therapy participants' drawings became part of the video "War Through Children's Eyes." In the video, children describe what they endured during the full-scale Russian invasion. It is available in Ukrainian and English.

Contact person: Nadiia Ushchapivska, nushchapivska@internews.ua.