FactCheck.org Honored with 2020 Sigma Delta Chi Award

A project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, FactCheck.org was recognized for excellence in professional journalism.

By Annenberg Public Policy Center

view of people walking past Annenberg Public Policy Center, a modern glass building, on a sunny day

FactCheck.org has won a 2020 Sigma Delta Chi Award for fact-checking from the Society of Professional Journalists, its second consecutive annual honor from the organization. The winners of this year’s awards were announced by the SPJ on June 12, 2021.

FactCheck.org’s winning story was titled “Trump on the Stump.” In this October article, six FactCheck.org journalists enumerated and provided context for 46 of the false or misleading claims that President Donald Trump made over a five-day period prior to the 2020 election. They also published a companion piece about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s speeches over the same period.

The virtual awards ceremony praised FactCheck.org’s article on Trump’s stump speeches for including “all the necessary elements: originality, significance, depth, sourcing, logic, and clarity while also making the reader want to read on.”

A project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, FactCheck.org has been honored by SPJ for excellence in professional journalism three times in all. Prior to winning the 2020 Sigma Delta Chi award, the site was honored for an August 2019 story examining President Donald Trump’s claims about the U.S. domestic steel industry, as well as a 2010 non-deadline reporting award for independent news sites for health care reporting.

Founded in the early 1900s, SPJ’s mission states that the organization “promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.”