Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Only on AP: Mexico cartel extermination site yields haunting clues

built trust with investigators, gaining exclusive all-formats access to a gruesome cartel “extermination site” in northern Mexico where a forensics team searches for the remains of some of Mexico’s nearly 100,000 missing people. After six months of work at the site in Nuevo Laredo, investigators still can’t offer an estimate of how many people disappeared there. Countless bone fragments were spread across 75,000 square feet of desert scrubland, and in a single room of a ruined house, the compacted, burnt human remains and debris were nearly 2 feet deep. Read more

Best of the States

All-formats package reveals challenges of rural education during the pandemic

On the sparsely populated fringe of the Navajo Nation, AP Report for America journalist Cedar Attanasio saw a storytelling opportunity: the bus system used by the Cuba, New Mexico, school district to solve distance-learning challenges for some of the country’s most isolated, vulnerable students during the pandemic. 

Reporting for text, photos and video, Attanasio rode one of the school buses used to transport meals, assignments and counselors to remote students, a number of whom do not have electricity, let alone internet. When the bus driver was forced to quarantine, Attanasio took to his car, chasing buses on their routes and interviewing students and their families.

For delivering an insightful multiformat package that reveals the pandemic’s impact on education in a disadvantaged community — prompting one reader to donate $1000 to the school board — Attanasio earns this week’s Best of the States award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

A child's scraped knee a life or death matter in Venezuela

for being the first to get inside access to hospitals in Caracas for a powerfully reported story about unhealthy conditions. http://apne.ws/2dGMQsa

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Exclusive: ‘Mercenary’ donor sold political influence

reported exclusively on Imaad Zuberi, a shadowy, elite political fundraiser whose reach included private meetings with then-Vice President Joe Biden and VIP access at Donald Trump’s inauguration. Zuberi funded political campaigns in the U.S. and sold the resulting political influence to the highest-bidding foreign government overseas.Suderman Mustian reviewed thousands of documents and interviewed more than 100 law enforcement officials, diplomats and businessmen on three continents who dealt with Zuberi during his globe-trotting years of political fundraising. Critically, Suderman persuaded his sources to turn over a trove of private emails that painted an unprecedented picture of Zuberi’s modus operandi.The reporting revealed vulnerabilities in the U.S. campaign finance system and uncovered the names of politicians who had benefited from Zuberi’s largess, prompting calls for reform. https://bit.ly/3okr64k

Best of the Week — First Winner

A matter of trust: Covering a remarkable funeral in the midst of the pandemic

Thousands upon thousands of funerals, many not related to COVID-19, are being held during the global pandemic. Washington photographer Jacquelyn Martin provided a very personal look at one of them. 

Martin spent weeks getting to know the family whose mother had died, gaining their trust. But the family’s plans for an elaborate funeral were interrupted by the pandemic and social distancing rules. More weeks passed before the funeral home said it could go ahead. Martin was ready, poised with her camera and notebook, given extraordinary access to a family’s very private moment.

Her moving text and photos captured the essence of the funeral and the family's grief – and its celebration of a life. “Beautiful images shown with so much dignity,” one person wrote.

For her heartfelt account and elegant images, Jacquelyn Martin receives AP’s Best of the Week honors.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

A first look at Mosul museum gutted by IS

for source work over several months that allowed the AP to get exclusive access to the museum in Mosul after it was recaptured by Iraqi troops. The Islamic State had largely destroyed the collections. http://apne.ws/2mNXOww

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP Exclusive: Deep-sea volcano a hotspot for mysterious life

for getting exclusive access to a first-ever submarine expedition to an underwater volcano 3,000 feet beneath the Pacific off Hawaii. http://apne.ws/2cUBL2J

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

When neo-Nazis have doubts, there's a number to call

for being first to gain access to a retreat for former neo-Nazis, and interviewing two members on camera using their full names. http://apne.ws/2gxJRxW

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

TNT's Craig Sager hangs tough in leukemia battle

for securing exclusive, all-formats access for AP of popular sportscaster Craig Sager undergoing a rare third bone-marrow transplant ... http://apne.ws/2c9WhuD

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

In June, California is still digging out snowy roads?

for negotiating access to a snow-removal crew in California's High Sierra and producing a widely used video and photo package that beautifully illustrated the massive snow depths still blanketing the mountain range on the eve of summer. http://apne.ws/2tzT1ld

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Butch Davis returns to coaching; FIU struggles in his debut

for getting behind-the-scenes access to former Miami Hurricanes coach Butch Davis’ return to coaching at Florida International University after a seven-year hiatus. http://bit.ly/2xbt5Bx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP9Fs6EHlsY

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Exclusive look inside South Sudan’s fragile new peace deal

for securing exclusive access to the first meeting of rival commanders under the country’s new peace deal as they now must make nice after five years of vicious fighting. https://bit.ly/2E2iRGq

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Severed heads, ripped out hearts during Brazil prison massacre underscore gang war

for getting exclusive access to a Brazil penitentiary where the country’s worst prison massacre in 25 years happened, and for obtaining the results of an investigative probe. http://apne.ws/2llQMgo

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Assaults continue at Washington state’s largest psychiatric hospital

for gaining unprecedented access to a meeting at Washington state’s troubled Western State Hospital where staff expressed safety concerns as nurses and others are assaulted by patients and inmates with severe mental issues. https://bit.ly/2CqIOjE

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Inside look at a right-wing, neo-fascist group gaining political ground in Italy

for turning exclusive access to the right-wing neo-fascist group Casapound into compelling text and video that explained why the group is gaining political ground in Italy. http://bit.ly/2xXGWJc

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP explores tense intersection of commerce, gangs, politics in Haiti

obtained rare access to members of Haiti’s wealthy elite — and to the violent gangs that threaten them — for a deep look at doing business in this failed state. Using contacts and determination and building trust, they explored how entrepreneurs continue to operate in an environment where more than 100 heavily armed gangs control access to the port, the fuel and the food supply chains. Kidnappings and killings are not uncommon in the impoverished capital, leaderless after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.During their reporting, the pair was threatened verbally by people who didn't want to be photographed and with weapons by gangsters who didn't want them there at all. After many attempts, Buenos-Aires based photographer Abd and freelance reporter Arce finally gained access to Barbecue, the leader of a coalition of gangs who presents himself as a populist fighting economic injustices, but who operates as an armed thug instilling fear in the people.The piece was among AP’s top stories in reader engagement and earned kudos from Pulitzer Center funders: “(Abd and Arce) avoided all the easy frameworks ... and did a fantastic job depicting the abject inequity that is at the root of Haiti's social/economic collapse,” wrote Executive Editor Marina Walker. https://aplink.news/wzdhttps://aplink.photos/b47

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Cyprus' rival air traffic controls increase risks to passenger safety

for gaining access to a confidential European Aviation Safety Agency report detailing the extent of risks to passenger planes posed by competing air traffic controls on the ethnically divided island of Cyprus.http://abcn.ws/2g182XZ

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Fixing a massive NYC plumbing leak – 55 stories underground

for working months to get all-formats access to the monumental work going on 55 stories underground to fix gushing leaks in one of the massive tunnels that brings water from reservoirs in the Catskills to New York City. https://bit.ly/2yXwoOE

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

In response to extremists, LGBTQ gun group hits firing line

for negotiating exclusive access to gun-training in upstate New York by an LGBTQ group that is taking up arms in response to its fears of organized extremists and white supremacists. http://bit.ly/2y84S09

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Video from eagle cam gives bird’s-eye view of melting glaciers

for securing exclusive only-on-AP access to astounding, timely video of melting glaciers in the Alps shot by a white-tailed eagle wearing a remote camera, producing a big win for AP in all formats.https://bit.ly/30VZ03zhttps://bit.ly/35ntSNB