for her all-formats look back at the Newark riots of 1967 that poignantly captured that watershed moment for race in America and its similarities to racial tensions today. http://bit.ly/2tkhZnB
for a month’s worth of thoughtful all-formats coverage marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and what was believed to be the largest LGBTQ celebration in history, culminating in a Pride parade that lasted 12 1/2 hours. https://www.apnews.com/Stonewallat50
Christopher Sherman, newsperson, Mexico City; Arnulfo Franco, photographer, Panama City, and Gerardo Carrillo, videojournalist, Mexico City, for detailing abuses by Nicaraguan security forces against protesters, including a young woman arrested without charges and beaten until she lost her pregnancy. https://bit.ly/2Mjws1s
San Diego correspondent Elliot Spagat was on his way to the office when a two-word message landed in his inbox from a longtime source: “Morgan resigned.”
Spagat knew what it meant -- Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan was out of his job after just seven months. Spagat had seen this coming because the powerful union representing border agents had endorsed Trump and did not like Morgan.
But more was needed to go to the wire with the breaking news. He went back to the tipster to get details and permission to use the source in a story. He also immediately enlisted homeland security reporter Alicia Caldwell in Washington.
dominated coverage of figure skating from Beijing, reporting the top breaking news stories of the 2022 Olympics. With help from colleagues working in all formats, along with the Moscow staff and fellow staffers promoting AP’s content on social media, they covered all the angles with some of the biggest stories of the Winter Olympics, including AP’s most-read story of the month.Even before the pivotal night of the women’s competition, Skretta and the team delivered standout work, setting up the Games and the expected dominance of both the Russian women and American favorite Nathan Chen. And when a positive drug test was revealed for Russian favorite Kamila Valieva, the team kept AP well ahead of the competition.Among the highlights were Ellingworth’s definitive piece on Valieva's controversial coach, a follow-up the morning after the eventful women’s final, and fresh takes on the sport from Ho and Morrison, highlighting issues of body image, racism and the impact of the sport on such young skaters. Read more
for exclusively reporting news from the private and secret Grammy meetings, discovering that expected nominees for best new artist – Cardi B and Post Malone – became ineligible for the award, as well as learning that Post’s album was kicked out of the rap category and placed into pop after a heated debate.https://bit.ly/2yLaxXh
For nine months, AP has led all media on the story of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s controversial directive to return recovering coronavirus patients from hospitals to nursing homes during the pandemic.
Last week, reporters Bernard Condon and Jennifer Peltz added to that record. Using data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, they reported exclusively that more than 9,000 patients in New York were released under the state’s policy, amid criticism that it accelerated nursing home outbreaks. The latest AP scoop has helped put Cuomo and his administration on the defensive at home and nationally.
For keeping AP at the forefront of this accountability story for the better part of a year — including their latest break documenting the release of COVID patients into nursing homes — Condon and Peltz earn AP’s Best of the Week award.
broke news of the groundbreaking policy mandating that U.S. Olympic athletes and staff be vaccinated by Nov. 1 to use facilities of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee in advance of February’s Beijing Games.Pells, AP’s longtime Olympics beat writer, knew that the committee was exploring a new vaccine policy and had followed the story closely. When the USOPC reached its decision they forwarded a stakeholders’ letter on the policy to Pells, telling him to be ready for its public release later in the week.Armed with the letter, Pells was fully prepped with a story and link to the freshly updated team website when the announcement came Wednesday, giving AP a full-fledged scoop on one of the first sports organizations anywhere to make vaccines mandatory. https://aplink.news/9mt
teamed up to give AP a competitive advantage when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned, with a news alert and story moving seconds after the surprise announcement, as well as exclusive live video and key photos of the governor’s departure from New York City by helicopter following his announcement.AP journalists had been preparing for months in case Cuomo quit — and using flight tracking tools to monitor his state police helicopter. When it lifted off from Albany and began flying south to New York City, the team jumped into action. Photographers and videographers scrambled to Cuomo’s Manhattan office and the helipad he usually uses while reporters readied their prep for a possible resignation. When Cuomo began his live statement at 11:45 a.m., AP was poised for what would follow. The moment he announced his plan to resign, editor Sophie Rosenbaum on the East Desk moved an alert and a breaking news update, following less than two minutes later with a 900-word story by Albany reporter Marina Villeneuve that AP had been refining for weeks.The AP’s push was minutes ahead of major competitors and New York’s Jennifer Peltz handled running updates throughout the day. Video journalist Joe Frederick had a live shot of Cuomo's car pulling away from his office following the announcement and colleague David Martin had an exclusive live shot of Cuomo boarding the helicopter with his daughter and key aides. Photographers Seth Wenig and Mark Lennihan scored at least 91 front pages with their photos of Cuomo’s departure.https://aplink.news/hjchttps://aplink.video/9mi
for breaking news that the U.S. government is opening a mass facility for migrant children in Texas and considering detaining hundreds more youth at three military bases, adding up to 3,000 beds to the overtaxed system. Acting on a tip from a key source, Burke left other news organizations scrambling, and she had details no one could match, including the number of beds planned for each new facility amid a wave of new arrivals, and context about the two deaths of children inside the system. https://bit.ly/2K8NJc4
for exclusively reporting that President Donald Trump greatly exaggerated his State of the Union story about a homeless veteran who turned his life around thanks to a job at a company using Opportunity Zone tax breaks. Condon used federal records and interviews with both veteran Tony Rankins and his employer to show that although the man has recovered from poor circumstances, the central point of Trump’s story – that Rankins turned his life around because of investment in the tax incentive program – was false. Rankins does not work at a site taking advantage of the program and never has done so. https://bit.ly/2HBuF2L
for accountability journalism made possible through an open records request, reporting that New Jersey environmental regulators had failed for nearly a decade to put out a legally required annual report on water pollution that identifies the state’s worst polluters and how the state is holding them responsible. His exclusive story drew a pledge by the governor that the publication of the reports would resume, and kudos from the state’s major news outlets. https://bit.ly/2LysvUS
for his detailed look at how new, expensive voting stations heavily promoted by the voting machine industry will be used by 1 of 5 voters, despite concerns over reliability, vulnerability to hacking and political contributions by the leading manufacturer. Bajak pieced all these elements together to write a compelling story that raised questions about whether the machines were problematic for the integrity of the 2020 election. https://bit.ly/2TkE58r
for revealing that Mick Mulvaney, interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, dissolved a group of outside experts meant to act as a sounding board for the agency as it protects consumers from abuses by financial institutions. https://bit.ly/2MtIstE
for scoring numerous APNewsBreaks, including an interview with the mother and an ex-roommate of a former U.S. Army sharpshooter with a history of PTSD who plowed his car at high speed into a group of Bay Area pedestrians. https://bit.ly/2Libb85
for putting together an exclusive virtual reality tour of the Navy's next-generation nuclear aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, as it prepares for launch at Newport News Shipyard in Virginia.
http://bit.ly/2fQuZek
scored a timely and exclusive interview with the first Asian American muppet on “Sesame Street.”Phoenix-based Tang had been watching for race-related news tied to the classic children’s television show, when Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind the show, reached out about giving AP the exclusive on their first ever Asian American muppet — a 7-year-old Korean American named Ji-Young.Tang knew the story would resonate after a wave of attacks against Asian Americans and calls for greater Asian American and Pacific Islander representation, and she looked forward to writing “Ji-Young told The Associated Press.” She teamed up with New York-based video journalist Noreen Nasir, who also saw the cultural importance of the story as well as the potential to have fun telling it.Nasir interviewed both Ji-Young and longtime “Sesame Street” favorite Ernie, being careful not to show the puppeteers, and snapped photos of the muppets. Then she and Tang interviewed Kathleen Kim, the Korean American puppeteer behind Ji-Young, about the impact of portraying a groundbreaking character.Tang arranged for AP to release the text story and photos exclusively at an hour when both audiences in the U.S. and Asia could wake up to the story, followed shortly by the video, generating strong interest from customers and readers.https://aplink.news/fi2https://aplink.video/blr
for gaining exclusive all-formats access to an already endangered shorebird’s primary nesting area. The AP team documented the plight of the piping plovers being squeezed out by surging Great Lakes waters during this spring’s Midwestern flooding. The package put the birds’ story into the broader context of climate change, explaining that the rising waters result from prolonged heavy rainfall and snowmelt that some experts believe will become a “new normal,” threatening the fragile Great Lakes coastline habitat. https://bit.ly/2NhTVB4
for chasing official confirmation that Congo’s current Ebola outbreak passed 1,000 deaths. AP had anticipated the grim milestone and when Mwanamilongo confirmed the news with the minister of health, we were first with text, photos and a graphic. https://bit.ly/2Y74Gqe
Small businesses – critical to the health of the global economy – are clearly being hit hard by the pandemic. Over the next six months to a year, Associated Press journalists around the world will chronicle their fight for survival, in an ambitious series called “Small Business Struggles.”
The first piece, anchored by national writer Adam Geller with a rich digital presentation by video editor Samantha Shotzbarger, got the project off to an incredible start. With contributions in all formats from more than two dozen staffers worldwide, the story brought readers into the agonizing decisions business owners face as they try to stay afloat. The package led the AP News site and was used by digital, print and video customers around the world.
For pulling together the opening salvo in this immersive and significant global project, Geller and Shotzbarger share AP’s Best of the Week.
