for showing how a pair of Baptist churches in Georgia, one black and one white, have started trying to build a connection by confronting racism.
for discovering an error that was written into a state ballot initiative that aims to reverse severe new restrictions on medical marijuana distribution in Montana.
for keeping AP ahead of developments in the fast-changing, highly-competitive Ryan Lochte story. Among the highlights were footage and photos of two of Lochte’s teammates being detained after they were removed from an airplane, and police officials expressing their doubts about Lochte’s account to the AP a day before calling it fabricated. Text: http://summergames.ap.org/article/2-lochte-teammat... Video: http://abcn.ws/2b0ZOua
for their aggressive all-formats coverage of the historic flooding in Louisiana, which drove the news cycle each day. http://apne.ws/2bw9AZ4
for his all-formats coverage of the fire-spitting show put on by lava from the Kilauea volcano as it flowed down to the Pacific Ocean for the first time in three years. http://apne.ws/2beLVvY
for his report revealing that the GOP nominee for governor had exaggerated his humanitarian work before entering politics. http://bit.ly/2bG4gCN
for turning a tidbit from one university into a national story about the sharp increase in the number of people in the U.S. donating their bodies to science. http://abcn.ws/2aZyQCO
for using reporting and data-gathering skills to produce an exclusive story about the increase of violent or disruptive threats to schools across the U.S. http://apne.ws/2bbEItj
for being the first to report the discovery of the second-oldest known shipwreck in the Great Lakes. http://on.thestar.com/2bxSGXS
for being the first to report that misconduct in office charges against eight current and former employees in the Flint water crisis ... http://wapo.st/2bH9Z8D
for disclosing that the world governing body for track and field was weighing whether to tighten the rules that allow athletes to switch the country they represent. http://bit.ly/2bGeItU
for his interview with the new head of Australia’s Transport Safety Bureau, in which the official revealed that the team searching for the missing Malaysian airline is making plans for a new search. http://bit.ly/2bFlsqD
for being first to report that the NBA was awarding its All-Star game to New Orleans ... http://nyti.ms/2biotPI
for the first interview with the Minnesota police chief after one of his officers shot and killed a black motorist during a traffic stop. http://apne.ws/2bgNOVN
Many media were slow to respond to the historic flooding in Louisiana this month, but not The Associated Press. AP journalists provided timely, perceptive and poignant spot and enterprise stories from the very first hours of the torrential rains.
Aggressive cross-format coverage by a staff focused on stories of real people were key to covering the disaster. In text, the reporters included New Orleans administrative correspondent Rebecca Santana; Baton Rouge correspondent Melinda Deslatte; and newsmen Mike Kunzelman in Baton Rouge and Kevin McGill in New Orleans. Freelance photographer Max Becherer and video journalists John Mone of Houston, and Josh Replogle of Miami rounded out AP's team on the ground.
For 80 years, AP has organized the longest-running college football poll of its kind. Every week through each season, AP’s marquee listing tells who’s up, who’s down and most significantly, who’s No. 1. The 2016 preseason poll will start the buzz again when it comes out this Sunday.
But in this anniversary year, AP Sports wanted to do something extra: Produce a composite poll showing which 100 teams ranked highest over the full eight decades and 1,103 polls. The result – anchored by Ralph Russo, Paul Montella and Howie Rumberg – was an exclusive package that dramatically moved the needle on digital, social media and in print, while further boosting the profile of the AP Top 25 poll. It earns the Beat of the Week.
For years, Sheriff Joe Arpaio has made a name for himself as the tough-talking lawman from metro Phoenix who was unafraid of criticizing federal immigration enforcement, earning accolades not only from fellow conservatives but millions of dollars in donations from around the country.
Arizona law enforcement reporter Jacques Billeaud knew that much of Arpaio's campaign donations came from outside Arizona. That’s what his campaign had said. But exactly how much and from where was a mystery because the donations were catalogued in an unsearchable PDF format.
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, reporter, Washington, D.C., for using cost figures obtained exclusively from Medicare actuaries to describe how the program’s safeguard for consumers with high drug costs had turned into a way for pharmaceutical companies to collect billions ...
The scene was nightmarish. Women and girls fleeing fighting in South Sudan had taken refuge in a United Nations camp. As fighting subsided, they ventured out in search of food, but just outside the camp, they were dragged off by soldiers and raped. Two died of their injuries. At least one attack was said to have occurred within sight of U.N. peacekeepers.
The details in Jason Patinkin’s only-on-AP story could not have been reported without getting into the camp – but the U.N. at first blocked journalists from entering. Demanding access along with other journalists – and winning – in the midst of already challenging coverage allowed Patinkin to produce an exclusive that prompted outrage around the world. It earns Beat of the Week.
Joan Lowy, transportation reporter, Washington, D.C., and Emily Schmall, correspondent, Fort Worth, Texas, for scoring significant news beats after a hot air balloon caught fire, killing 16.
