Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Reporting on border graveyards prompts change in wall construction

for a story on two 19th-century cemeteries that stood in the way of the president’s border wall. The Trump administration had refused to give specifics about its plans for the cemeteries, but after the story, including interviews with family members of people buried there, the administration shifted course, avoiding the graveyards in the wall construction project. https://bit.ly/2QNsxJe

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Seoul bureau avoids false reports of North Korean purge

for healthy skepticism over a South Korean newspaper’s report of a major purge in North Korea. That saved AP from the embarrassment suffered by some other media as North Korean state media began showing images of the supposedly purged officials with leader Kim Jong Un. The Seoul bureau recognized the danger signs, producing a story that acknowledged the report while also sounding a note of caution. Several South Korean media outlets noted how AP emphasized the suspect nature of the initial report. https://bit.ly/2HYvGTN

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP reveals details of shooting by Oklahoma police that wounded 3 children

for dogged reporting on the physical and emotional struggles of three children wounded when police officers opened fire on their mother’s pickup truck. Authorities had largely avoided releasing information for nearly a month after the incident, but using Oklahoma open records law, and interviews with police, lawyers and the children’s mother, the team was first to reveal details of the investigation into the shooting, and the long recovery ahead for the children. https://bit.ly/2Wmwvyx

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Dozens of compulsive gamblers interviewed on sportsbook ads

for a thoroughly reported story on the struggles that compulsive gamblers have with burgeoning sportsbook advertising. Parry’s credibility – and meticulous, grinding beatwork – helped him earn the trust of more than 50 people with gambling problems, gaining insights rarely seen in betting stories. The results not only enhanced the story on betting ads, it set AP up for future stories that the sports gambling team is working on related to broader issues of gambling addiction. https://bit.ly/2QNmhRF

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Arrest of 82-year-old in 1976 double killing stuns small Wisconsin town

for digging into the case of an 82-year-old man who was suddenly arrested in small-town Wisconsin for a 43-year-old double killing. Research and Moreno’s shoe-leather reporting put him in touch with sources and relatives to deliver the chilling tale of the neighbor who just might be a murderer. https://bit.ly/2XsijQV

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP analysis: Government’s flood buyout costs rising as storms intensify

for an AP analysis of federal data showing that the government’s costs to buy out homes in flood-prone areas have been rising over the past decade. With the data made available for localizations by major AP customers, the richly reported and photographed story centered on a small Missouri town that just happened to be in danger of flooding yet again at the time of publication. Play showed that AP’s customers were hungry for content that went beyond the spot coverage of the epic flooding inundating the country’s midsection.https://bit.ly/2wzF35R

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Survivors of sex abuse by Boy Scout leaders tell their stories

for wrenching stories from survivors of sex abuse carried out by Boy Scout leaders. Changes in statute-of-limitation laws in various states have triggered a new wave of litigation against the Boy Scouts by men who said they were abused by unit leaders decades ago. What was missing from those stories were detailed accounts from abuse survivors – a gap filled by a powerful all-formats package that received tremendous play. https://bit.ly/2EU7ekq

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP photo team scores with a fresh approach to annual Cannes festival coverage

Early in the planning stage for this year’s Cannes film festival, London-based Dejan Jankovic, deputy director of entertainment content, decided to build his photo team with a combination of experience and fresh eyes, including Athens photographer Petros Giannakouris, who had no Cannes experience, and Invision entertainment specialists Ali Kaufman and photographers Joel Ryan, Vianney le Caer and Arthur Mola

The resulting coverage visually captured the glamour and excitement of the event in new ways without sacrificing the traditional elements that have worked in the past. AP won the Cannes Photograph of the Day award five times over the two weeks, impressive recognition in a competition open to every accredited photographer there.

For showing the glamour, fashion and celebrities of Cannes in a fresh and arresting manner, Jankovic, Giannakouris, Kaufman, Ryan, le Caer and Mola earn AP’s Best of the Week award.

Best of the States

The one that got away: Survivor of serial killer adds emotion, depth to execution coverage

Execution coverage often focuses on the condemned inmate or the manner of death. So, faced with covering his eighth execution – a Florida serial killer – Tallahassee correspondent Brendan Farrington told the extraordinary personal story of a victim who escaped and helped police find the man after he raped her decades ago. That woman had chosen to witness the man’s execution.

Farrington doggedly tracked down the woman, now a sheriff’s deputy, who finally agreed to an interview on the eve of the execution. Her compelling story resonated with readers everywhere.

For his persistence and sensitivity in telling a personal and emotional victim’s story in what could have been a rote story on a serial killer’s execution, Farrington wins this week’s Best of the States award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP Europe teams dominate EU election coverage

From Paris to Bucharest, all-format teams across Europe delivered robust, speedy and ambitious coverage that captured a changing continent during the high-stakes EU election. Beforehand, they explained why the continent is at a crossroads and how it arrived there. They delivered fast, accurate breaking news when the results started to come in and strong analysis to explain what the votes meant.http://bit.ly/2QzlbZOhttps://www.apnews.com/EuropeanParliament

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Only on AP: McLaren CEO admits embarrassing details of Indy 500 failure

for explosive on-the-record quotes from the McLaren Racing CEO to show, blow by embarassing blow, how the team failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, despite having two-time world champion driver Fernando Alonso. How bad was it? For starters, the week before the first test of the car, the storied race team realized it didn’t even have a steering wheel. https://bit.ly/2MjZLkU

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Illegal killings, political opposition hobble wolf recovery

for reporting exclusively that poaching and political opposition are hobbling the return of two species of endangered wolves and undercutting government recovery efforts that have cost more than $80 million.https://bit.ly/2YY1Vb7https://bit.ly/2Z1AddU

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Exclusive: AP localizes home-buying affordability trends in metro areas

for creating an exclusive AP indicator showing the gaping disparities in home-buying affordability in key metro areas of the country. Using the tool, AP can distribute to a monthly trajectory of home-buying affordability in hundreds of markets, allowing readers to research their own areas and customers to localize coverage.https://bit.ly/2QwqOrqhttps://bit.ly/2WxdZCU

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Asia team delivers unmatched visuals of Jakarta election protest clashes

for thoughtfully deploying resources to cover multiple pockets of protest across the capital after protesters supporting losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto clashed with police. The team used Iris Bambuser and LiveU to capture unmatched images of the chaos and shot from various angles to show the scene with tear gas filling the streets and helicopters dropping water to extinguish fires.https://bit.ly/2Mkondlhttps://bit.ly/2wgY4tv

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP investigation reveals lenient pattern of punishment for serial cyberstalker

for using police and court records, and victim interviews to show that at least eight women and teenagers since 2012 contacted authorities to accuse a man of stalking or harassing them, but none of their complaints resulted in prison time for the man. The AP published its findings a day before a Utah judge sentenced the man to serve up to five years in prison. https://bit.ly/2YZMOxR

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

3 handwritten wills found in Aretha Franklin’s home​​

for a scoop that three wills purported to be written by the late “Queen of Soul” had been found in her suburban Detroit home and filed in probate court. Moody found out about the upcoming filing from a longtime source close to the family. White went to the courthouse and through a friendly clerk, got the filing five minutes before the court closed. https://bit.ly/2VEetm0

Best of the States

APNewsBreak: Military prosecutors sent tracking software to defense team, reporter

Los Angeles courts reporter Brian Melley was enjoying a Sunday afternoon when a longtime legal source reached out with a remarkable tip in the case of Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL facing a court martial on charges he murdered a teenage Islamic State fighter in Iraq in 2017.

The source told Melley that military prosecutors, frustrated by leaks in the case, planted tracking software in emails sent to defense lawyers and a reporter. The unsophisticated software was quickly discovered by the recipients.

Melley worked up the story, including an interview with a military law expert who thought the tactic was ethically, legally and intellectually dubious. His story hit the wire the next morning, quickly gaining traction online. AP was widely credited everywhere it appeared and no major media outlet matched it.

For giving AP an exclusive on an important military justice story, Melley wins this week’s Best of the States award.

Best of the Week — First Winner

Sky-high reporting and smart use of all formats puts AP ahead amid Persian Gulf tensions

As tensions between Iran, its neighbors and the United States ratcheted up last week, AP’s staff in Baghdad, Dubai and Tehran turned out aggressive, yet cautious coverage, bringing facts and unique perspectives to the tense and escalating situation in the Persian Gulf, often well ahead of the competition.

Those stories included reports of “sabotaged” oil tankers off the coast of the UAE, and AP broke the news that Iran had quadrupled its uranium enrichment.

Meanwhile, AP’s Tehran team produced an all-formats piece on the mood of people on the city’s streets that could not be matched by competitors, and AP was first to report an FAA warning that Iran could misidentify commercial flights in the region.

AP was also aggressive on related developments, ensuring that clients had video and text coverage of tweets by President Donald Trump and Iranian officials.

For smart judgment, planning and effective use of AP’s resources to break news and bring facts to a region on edge, the team of Jon Gambrell, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Mehdi Fattahi, Bassem Mroue, Nasser Karimi and Vahid Salemi wins AP's Best of the Week, with the support of their colleagues and contributors in the region.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Europe’s far right appealing to young voters

for a package of stories noting that several strikingly young candidates from far right parties were running for office -- and that those parties were making inroads with the youngest voters ahead of European elections.https://bit.ly/2JIKWFuhttps://bit.ly/2JXqYqC

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

To the moon: AP scoop on Trump plan to use college grant funding for space program

for an AP beat on President Donald Trump’s plan to divert Pell college grant funding to NASA’s program to return to the moon. Colvin confirmed the proposed source of funding and AP was alone in reporting that Pell Grant subsidies would be tapped. https://bit.ly/2Hm84XJ