Congratulations to CtN_QUT, winners of Capture the Narrative 2025

The Digital Lies & Cyber Literacy Foundation congratulates Team CtN_QUT from Queensland University of Technology, winners of the inaugural Capture the Narrative competition.

Capture the Narrative takes the familiar cyber security “capture the flag” format and applies it to a very different challenge: the manipulation of information online. Across a four-week competition, university teams built and operated automated accounts inside a completely simulated social-media environment, competing to influence the outcome of a fictional election.

The competition culminated in a grand final at UNSW Sydney on 31 October 2025, where four finalist teams presented their strategies to a judging panel. CtN_QUT took first place and the $5,000 prize.

Winning by understanding the audience

What made the winning approach particularly interesting was its focus on undecided voters.

Rather than relying only on posting volume, CtN_QUT used analysis of the simulated electorate to understand which citizens remained persuadable and what issues mattered to them. In the final stages of the competition, the team combined positive and negative messaging to address concerns around credibility and social infrastructure.

Their approach demonstrated an important lesson from the experiment: online influence is not simply a matter of telling people what to think. Shaping uncertainty, trust and scepticism can be just as important.

That lesson matters well beyond the competition.

Generative AI has dramatically reduced the cost of producing persuasive content and operating automated accounts at scale. Understanding how those systems can be used to influence an information environment is becoming an important part of modern cyber literacy.

Capture the Narrative gives students a safe, controlled environment in which to examine those mechanisms first-hand — and to think critically about how we might defend against them.

Congratulations to CtN_QUT, to all of the finalists, and to every team that took part in the inaugural competition.

Read more about the 2025 winners