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In her acceptance speech for the 2025 Gabo Award for Journalistic Excellence, granted by the Gabo Foundation on its 30th anniversary, Laura Zommer — founder and CEO of Factchequeado — emphasized the ethical principles, values, and transparency that have guided her work, as well as her commitment to “constant innovation and radical collaboration.”
The Foundation’s Governing Council praised Zommer’s work as an expression of excellence, noting that she “has innovated in fact-checking with a continental vision.” The president of the Gabo Foundation, Mónica González, highlighted that Laura has been a pioneer in fact-checking in Latin America, has stood out for her emblematic against disinformation used as a weapon of mass manipulation (...) and has helped uncover who finances and produces the lie industry.”Also receiving the 2025 Excellence Award were Brazilian journalist Patricia Campos Mello and the Venezuelan media outlet Armando Info, represented by two of its founders, Joseph Poliszuk and Roberto Deniz.
Annual awards were also presented in five categories: Text, Juan Martínez D’Aubuisson; Image, Fabien Pisani; Photography, Fernanda Pineda; Audio, Bryan Avelar; and Coverage, Miriam Ramírez.
Below, we share the speech delivered by our founder in Bogotá, Colombia, during the 13th Gabo Festival:
“I am very happy and honored by this recognition, and I want to thank my teams — from Chequeado in the past and now Factchequeado — and the Gabo Foundation’s Governing Council, especially Mónica González and Rosental Alves, who have inspired my work over the last 30 years more than they probably realize.
A huge thank you to my son Fermín, my husband Nico, my lifelong friends, and my sister Miri, who have always supported my vocation to change what I don't like and aim for more, even when those choices have taken away hours of enjoyment and time together.
I will always be grateful to Jaime Abello, the juries, and the team at the Gabo Foundation, who, when they selected me as a finalist for the Innovation category in 2013, allowed me to build ties with some of the best journalists in the region and imagine the LatamChequea network. Two years later, they gave us a second chance, and with Chequeado and the expansion of fact-checking across the region, we won the Award in that same category.
In recent years, together with Maldita from Spain, we embarked on a new and daring adventure: launching Factchequeado to help fill the gap in quality information in Spanish and fight disinformation in the United States (yes, I know, what timing!).
The Award for Excellence that I accept today is for all journalists who not only wish for but work hard toward better journalism — journalism that is both rigorous and close to the people.
It’s for those who don’t settle and bet on the “it’s possible” even when the world insists on showing us signs that it isn’t.
This is an award for the bold, for those of us who make people uncomfortable because we’re not looking for flattery but for impact and to serve our communities.
It is an award for those who commit to transparency, constant innovation, and radical collaboration.
It is an award for those of us who hold non-negotiable ethical values and principles, yet remain flexible and open to changing our methods.
It is an award for those who refuse to accept that facts don't exist and reject the easy magic sold by platforms and authoritarian leaders.
It is an award for those of us who don’t buy into the false narrative that aims to intimidate us and make us believe that defending democratic values and human rights makes us opponents.
It is an award for those of us who don’t even consider giving up as an option.
Thank you, Gabo Foundation.”
