Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

The motorcycle diary: Photos of NYC in the pandemic era

found themselves in a city that had gone to ground. Faced with the challenge of photographing the absence of life in a city normally teeming with it, they took more than a dozen motorcycle trips through a New York virtually emptied by the virus, making raw, “drive-by” images. They recorded ghostly pedestrians, lone workers, eerie post-apocalyptic streetscapes and shrouds of fog. And while the virus is unseen, the threat of it appears in the eyes of the people still on the street.https://bit.ly/2Vz99nlhttps://bit.ly/3bxhKMIhttps://bit.ly/2S2pnmuhttps://bit.ly/3bBvfen

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Exclusive audio: Black man died after beating by Louisiana trooper

exclusively obtained an audio clip from the body-camera footage of a Louisiana state trooper implicated in the death of a Black motorist last year, capturing the trooper saying, “I beat the ever-living f--- out of him.” It is the most direct evidence yet to emerge in the death last year of Ronald Greene, which troopers initially blamed on injuries from a car crash at the end of a chase. The long-simmering case has now become the subject of a federal civil rights investigation and growing calls for authorities to release the full body-cam video.

Mustian, a former investigative reporter for The New Orleans Advocate, is deeply sourced on the Louisiana State Police and has been consistently out front on this story. He broke the news that federal investigators were stepping in, and his scoop on the trooper’s 27-second audio received strong play through several busy news cycles. https://bit.ly/3d4CwoH

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP: Feds probing in-custody death of Black man in Louisiana

reported exclusively on the launch of a federal investigation into the death last year of Ronald Greene, a Black man in Louisiana, following what state troopers say was a struggle at the end of a traffic chase. It is a long-simmering case in which police have refused to release any body camera video or records. Mustian’s deep reporting also included confirmation of a separate FBI civil rights investigation and the publication of graphic death photos. The probe has raised questions that the Louisiana State Police has so far refused to answer.https://bit.ly/33Zvf58https://bit.ly/33Z1yBd

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

A year after AP report, charges against former Mississippi priest

followed up with the latest developments from his 2019 reporting that uncovered sexual assault by clergy, settled on the cheap in rural Missisippi. That reporting has now prompted sexual assault charges against a former Catholic priest.A year ago, Rezendes and AP colleagues unraveled the case of a former Franciscan friar accused of sexually assaulting three impoverished Black boys. Spurred by this reporting, Mississippi authorities convened a grand jury that handed up sexual battery charges and had the man extradited from Wisconsin. Without the original work of Rezendes, there would have been no criminal case. Said La Jarvis Love, one of the men who told his story to AP: “I’m happy that me saying something got something done.”https://bit.ly/3m7ZShhhttps://bit.ly/2FnUUMm

Best of the Week — First Winner

Viral photo captures mood, fears, threats in pandemic-dominated 2020

For many in the U.S. and around the world, 2020 has been one of the most challenging years in recent memory – and a single wildfire photo by freelance photographer Noah Berger, on assignment for the AP, captured the danger, fear and uncertainty wrought by the pandemic. 

The ironic image of a sign, surrounded by flames while urging safety, was widely interpreted as a pointed commentary on 2020. The photo went viral and was among AP’s most downloaded images of the month.

And that was just one of many photos and videos by Berger that helped put the AP ahead of the competition in recent coverage of fires in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

For his courageous and committed work, and a remarkable photo that frames much of 2020 in the context of a raging wildfire, Noah Berger wins AP’s Best of the Week award. 

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP Exclusive: WHO’s behind-the-scenes frustration to get virus info from China

China and the Trump administration had opposing narratives about the early days of the new coronavirus epidemic: China bragged about providing information quickly to the world through the World Health Organization, while the Trump administration accused China and WHO of colluding to hide information.

It took The Associated Press – drawing on recordings, documents and interviews – to tell the definitive story: Rather than colluding with China, WHO itself was being kept in the dark, praising China in public to shake loose information while expressing considerable frustration in private.

AP’s widely praised story, months in the making, was so sensitive that we did not name the two main journalists to avoid blowback in China and to prevent anyone from identifying our sources.

For in-depth reporting that drew back the curtains and punctured the preferred narratives of China, WHO and the Trump administration at the same time, the AP reporters who produced this stunning piece earn Best of the Week honors. 

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

With masks and gloves, Ukraine’s priests resume duties

teamed up for a deeply reported story on priests in Ukraine resuming religious services and visiting the sick and bereaved as the coronavirus pandemic’s grip slowly recedes.https://bit.ly/3gRBoGmhttps://bit.ly/3gURDT8

Best of the Week — First Winner

Stories of lives lost, told with photos: 2 remarkable projects share Best of the Week

As the COVID-19 pandemic raged across the world last week, and the confirmed U.S. death toll approached 100,000, AP photographers on two continents found unusual and meaningful ways to bring home the tragedy of lives lost. They were:

– Photographer David Goldman, who met with the families of COVID-19 victims at a Massachusetts soldiers’ home, literally projecting veterans’ images onto the exterior of the families’ homes for a series of arresting, ghostly and emotion-laden scenes.

– And Rodrigo Abd, who spent weeks with Venezuelan migrants collecting bodies in a poor area of Lima, Peru, showing the abject desperation of that city’s victims. Also honored is Lima reporter Franklin Briceño who accompanied Abd, documenting for text and video the funeral home workers on their grueling rounds.

Both projects had immense impact online and in print, drawing praise from readers and editors. For intrepid and creative multiformat storytelling emphasized by unforgettable images, Goldman, Abd and Briceño share AP’s Best of the Week honors. 

Best of the Week — First Winner

What went wrong: AP examines how COVID-19 swept Italy’s Lombardy region

A scathing letter sent in early April by doctors in Italy’s Lombardy region provided the first tangible inkling that something had gone terribly wrong in its fight against the coronavirus.

With Lombardy accounting for roughly half of Italy’s 27,000 deaths, chief Rome correspondent Nicole Winfield set out to document how the virus overwhelmed a medical system long considered one of Europe’s best.

Over the next three weeks, Winfield methodically collected details, conducted interviews, pored over government reports and briefings, and referenced AP’s vast reporting on the pandemic to craft the first explanatory account of the missteps and failures that allowed the virus to become so pervasive in northern Italy.

Winfield’s story quickly became one of the most-read on the AP News and was picked up by outlets globally.

For crafting a thorough, compelling and heartbreaking account of how COVID-19 got a pervasive, deadly grip on Lombardy, Winfield wins AP’s Best of the Week honors.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP: Corporations got federal funds intended for small business

teamed up to provide the first public look at large publicly traded companies getting money set aside by Congress to help small businesses. https://bit.ly/2VKZtGe

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Trump Facebook ads use models instead of actual supporters

for following up on a relatively obscure blog entry that mentioned the use of stock video footage by President Donald Trump’s campaign. Condon reported that the campaign was using stock video models to portray actual supporters in Facebook ads, and the models were not even in the United States but in France, Turkey and Brazil. Condon's story was one of AP’s most widely read of the past week.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

DC staff has to vacate bureau; doesn't miss a beat

moved at light speed with the announcement late Friday afternoon that “out of an abundance of caution,” the bureau was closing over coronavirus concerns. As desk editors coordinated staffing to keep copy moving, the technology team pulled marathon shifts through the weekend to get all radio and video staffs equipped with both the hardware and software needed to maintain their work, including retrofitting two D.C. hotel rooms into makeshift radio studios. Video staff were brought up one at a time to lock in functionality and training as that group moved to 100% remote editing and filing through tools that had still been in the trial phase. The net result: AP’s largest bureau transitioned seamlessly, maintaining coverage across all formats even as the severity of the coronavirus story was accelerating. https://bit.ly/3a4Mkg3

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP exclusives stand out in COVID-19 coverage

New York-based health and science reporter Mike Stobbe and Rome video journalist Trisha Thomas delivered two very different exclusives that stood out amid the week’s impressive range of AP coronavirus coverage.

Stobbe was the first to report that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wanted to tell a wide swath of Americans that they shouldn’t get on commercial flights because of the virus. But the agency was overruled by the White House. Instead, federal officials settled on softer, less direct language. Realizing the significance, Stobbe pressed multiple sources until he had confirmation of the White House action.

Meanwhile, continents away, Rome visual journalist Trisha Thomas was visiting Padua when she learned the Italian city was about to be locked down. After making frantic arrangements to leave by train, she turned her personal odyssey into a cross-format package, producing a first-person essay and video story that gave a human face to Italy’s virus emergency.https://bit.ly/2TUgQCohttps://bit.ly/2W6dxL8

Best of the Week — First Winner

Comprehensive impeachment coverage showcases AP’s speed, depth and reach

The world depends on The Associated Press during historic moments, and the impeachment of President Donald Trump was no exception. 

Journalists in Washington and beyond demonstrated the AP’s extraordinary power and depth to cover all angles of the story, including the monthslong footrace to tally votes ahead of proceedings, videos filed quickly of both the hearings and of Trump’s reaction, and the ground-level view of impeachment in six election battleground states.

Stellar post-vote stories included an analysis of how impeachment would affect Trump’s legacy and the 2020 campaign, as well as an interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

For impeachment coverage that consistently broke news, gave crucial context and provided customers with materials they could localize and promote, the Washington bureau and the team of journalists behind the vote tracking effort win AP’s Best of the Week.

Best of the States

‘Sundays After’: Portraits of resilience in the wake of clergy abuse

Photographer Maye-E Wong wanted to find a new way to tell the stories of those who suffered from clergy abuse, emphasizing that they were survivors, not victims. 

Her plan: She would photograph them with a Polaroid camera, then soak the prints and release the thin fragile membranes that held the images. The images were imperfect – wrinkled and distressed – but they endure, a metaphor for the survivors they portrayed.

Wong and reporter Juliet Linderman traveled the country to interview and photograph survivors, spending days with them and listening to their stories. The result was a stunning presentation that set AP viewership records and earned praise from both the subjects and the public.

For an arresting package of inspired photography and sensitive, insightful reporting, Wong and Linderman receive this week’s Best of the States award.

Best of the Week — First Winner

How tramadol, touted as the safer opioid, became a 3rd world peril

It was supposed to be the safer opioid, a way to fight pain with little risk of addiction. That promise has meant much less regulation of tramadol than other opioids. And its relatively low cost has made tramadol the drug of choice in many developing countries, becoming what the United Nations calls “the other opioid crisis.”

National writer Claire Galofaro spent months researching the issue – but how to illustrate the story from a fresh perspective?

Galofaro turned to New Delhi-based correspondent Emily Schmall, who traveled to India’s Punjab state, where she talked to people struggling with addiction, visited a treatment center and gained unprecedented access to officials trying to stem the crisis. 

The deeply reported story, one of the top-read pieces on AP News, also delved into tramadol’s heavy toll in Africa, and its trafficking among terrorist groups. 

For their work exposing an aspect of the international opioid crisis that has received far less attention, Galofaro and Schmall win AP’s Best of the Week award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Louisiana becomes new hub in immigration detention under Trump

for an all-formats package that broke news about how Immigration and Customs Enforcement under President Donald Trump has quietly converted a network of rural prisons in Louisiana into a major hub of migrant detention.https://bit.ly/35r23Ehhttps://bit.ly/2IVaTk3https://bit.ly/2nUX4ux

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

In photos: China celebrates its 70th as protests escalate

for team photo coverage in Beijing and Hong Kong, with photo editing and curation on international photo desks, showing the contrast between Beijing’s celebration of the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic founding, and the escalated violence of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests on the same day.https://bit.ly/35kqLWGhttps://bit.ly/35jtEqJ

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP photographer wounded, keeps shooting as politician fires gun during protest

Today’s Best of the Week winner is the latest reminder that AP’s photo staff is among the greatest and most committed in the world.

Port-au-Prince photographer Dieu-Nalio Chery was prepared to cover a contentious debate at Haiti’s parliament about whether to confirm a new prime minister when, in a chaotic scene outside the session, protesters confronted pro-government Sen. Ralph Fethiere and tried to pull him from his car. The lawmaker reached for his gun and began firing into the air and ground.

At least one bullet splintered into shards that lodged just beneath Chery’s chin. Despite his wound, Chery kept taking extraordinary photos of Fethiere firing his gun, so close that he captured spent cartridges flying through the air. 

Chery’s photos received heavy play, and he is expected to recover after surgery to remove the bullet fragment.

For displaying remarkable dedication and courage in a volatile situation, and for capturing an extraordinary image of the man who wounded him, Chery is recognized with AP’s Best of the Week award.

Best of the States

AP mobilizes cross-formats response to deadly mass shootings in Texas and Ohio

AP’s U.S. staff has a lot of practice in responding to mass shootings. But two major events in 24 hours tested even the most experienced staff.

They rose to the challenge.

Soon after noon Central time on Saturday, Aug. 3, reports began to surface about an active shooter at an El Paso, Texas, mall. A local news station initially reported that 18 people were shot inside a Walmart – a number which by Monday would rise to 22 dead and two dozen injured.

The quick reaction of AP staff around the country and beyond – in the office, at home and even on vacation – ensured the AP was fast, accurate and leading the way on what would become one of the biggest stories of the year. Text, photo and video staffers converged on El Paso, while colleagues around the country worked sources, contributed to the stories and managed the coverage.

Among the standout reporting was an early interview with a woman who told the heartbreaking story of her sister who died while shielding her 2-month-old son – just a small part of the terrific cross-format continuing coverage.

As the Texas team was just catching its breath, reports of another massacre emerged overnight, this time in Ohio. AP’s initial alert was followed four minutes later by the alert that a shooter killed nine people, including his own sister, before police shot him dead. The East Desk immediately dispatched Ohio staff and others to Dayton.

AP beat competitive agencies with photos and numerous live shots, as well as an incredibly compelling interview with a man who watched his father die in his arms. Elsewhere, many of the same supporting cast already working the El Paso story from afar stepped in on Ohio as well, complementing the coverage on the ground.

For its quick, nimble response, precise reporting and robust, cross-format content on two highly competitive breaking stories, the U.S. staff is recognized with this week’s Best of the States award.