The ‘Pinóquio na Escola’ [Pinocchio at School] initiative, which has been seeking to promote critical thinking about (mis)information, is launching its second national competition, challenging lower and upper secondary students to work in pairs to produce a practical project on a case of potential disinformation in Portugal and/or Europe. Each team must provide context for the case and carry out a critical analysis, identifying the elements that justify their choice.

The projects may take the form of a written text, video, audio piece, illustration or social media posts. The pre‑selected submissions will then receive support during the development phase, with students able to rely on guidance from Polígrafo professionals, who will be available throughout the process to answer questions and deepen learning in the field of fact‑checking.

At the end, the jury will select 14 winning teams, one for each level of education and each region: lower and upper secondary/básico from the North, Centre, Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Alentejo, Algarve, and the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira.

The winners will have the opportunity to take part in training sessions on combating disinformation, held in Lisbon and supported by all project partners. As an additional prize, the school of the highest‑ranked upper secondary team at national level will be invited to take part in a trip to Strasbourg in November 2026, organised by the European Parliament Office in Portugal under the Euroscola Programme.

The initiative, born out of a partnership between the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Polígrafo, is supported organisationally and logistically by the Representation of the European Commission in Portugal, the European Parliament Office in Portugal, and the Erasmus+ Youth/Sport and European Solidarity Corps National Agency.