Exceptional planning, nimble teamwork and multiformat expertise elevated AP’s annual Nobel Prize coverage with a string of exclusives, first interviews, live video and sharp reporting overall.
On Monday, Oct. 4, as AP filed the announcement of the first Nobel Prize, New York-based video journalist Ted Shaffrey quickly tracked down laureate David Julius, one of two U.S.-based scientists honored for their work in physiology and medicine. Shaffrey convinced Julius to join a special zoom booking that was left open for the duration of the awards to expedite interviews with the laureates.
That success was repeated on Tuesday when Istanbul-based news editor Ayse Wieting and Berlin-based newsperson Kirsten Grieshaber quickly managed a multi-format interview with German winner Hasselmann in Hamburg and got his reaction to winning the Nobel prize for physics. Across continents, Shaffrey offered an intimate interview with Japanese physics laureate Syukuro Manabe inside his home, offering Asian clients soundbites in Japanese in addition to his English-language interview.
On Wednesday, AP had outstanding all-formats coverage of the Nobel Prize for chemistry going to Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan. Netherlands chief correspondent Mike Corder found List in Amsterdam where he was vacationing. Livestreaming via Bambuser from his phone, Corder offered the exclusive and first live interview with List, capturing the laureate’s reaction to winning the prize before his return to Germany.
On Friday, Southeast Asia news director Kiko Rosario used his deep contacts in the Philippines to get the first external on-camera interview with journalist Maria Ressa, joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize with Dmitry Muratov. Ressa spoke to AP via Zoom little more than an hour after the award was announced. Rosario turned around the video edit himself and also quickly fed the text story, for which he shared a byline under a Manila dateline.
And in Russia, AP offered an exclusive live video interview with journalist Muratov. Shortly afterwards, video journalist Kostya Manenkov and senior photo editor Alexander Zemlianichenko had exclusive access as Muratov celebrated his win with champagne in front of his colleagues. AP was also live from the Paris’ headquarrters of Reporters Without Borders as the Nobel Peace Prize was shared between the two journalists. AP added to the text story with an focus piece on media freedom in the Philippines and Russia.
The output across formats was fast and accurate and the workflow smooth as Berlin-based correspondent Frank Jordans anchored the text reporting, working with specialist writers in each case. Stockholm-based video journalist David Keyton coordinated the spot coverage of the announcements and the subsequent global reactions.
Nobel laureates, from left, in October 2021 photos: Syukuro Manabe, physics; David W.C. MacMillan, chemistry; Benjamin List, chemistry; Abdulrazak Gurnah, literature; and Dmitry Muratov, co-winner peace prize.
AP Photos / Seth Wenig, John Minchillo, Martin Meissner, Frank Augstein, Alexander Zemlianichenko