Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Persistence pays off with story of bureaucrat blocking transition

wanted to know more about Emily Murphy, the little-known federal official who stalled the formal presidential transition by waiting more than two weeks to “ascertain” that Joe Biden was the apparent winner of the presidential race.Madhani reached out to every recent administrator of Muphy’s agency — the General Services Administration — as well as some lawmakers Murphy had worked for, but he wasn’t having any luck. His 10th call, a fortuitous cold call to Dave Barram, who ran the GSA during the Bush-Gore standoff in 2000, proved to be the jackpot. Madhani found Barram’s number in an online database.Barram revealed that he’d spoken with Murphy before the election to talk through how to handle ascertainment. He laid out his advice to her: “If you do the right thing, then all you have to do is live with the consequences of it.’”The call with Barram didn’t occur until late in the day, but Madhani instantly knew he had a story. He worked late to turn it around for AP’s most reader-engaged story of the day. https://bit.ly/32YG5ZQ

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP reveals constitutional challenge to ’Big Lie’ candidates

landed a scoop with impact: Voting reform groups were preparing constitutional challenges against the candidacy of GOP members of Congress who supported the Jan. 6 uprising or attempts to overturn President Joe Biden’s win.Just days after the Jan. 6 anniversary, Robertson, AP Raleigh, North Carolina, statehouse reporter, received a tip from an advocacy group that its first target would be Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., challenging his candidacy in 2022 by citing a portion of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, originally used to bar Confederates who took up arms during the Civil War. Other members of Congress who have supported efforts to overturn the 2020 election would be subject to similar challenges.Robertson conducted interviews and used his connections with a former state Supreme Court attorney to ensure he got immediate word of the complaint being filed with the State Board of Elections. His story, written in advance, moved within minutes of the confirmation, quickly amassing an impressive 176,000 social media views. It was credited in media outlets from Raleigh’s News & Observer to People magazine, and was cited in a Washington Post opinion piece.The story drew more attention after a producer for ”The Rachel Maddow Show“ emailed it to a colleague while accidentally copying Cawthorn’s office, prompting the conservative congressman to lash out at MSNBC. https://aplink.news/8xa

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Standout Oscar photos/coverage of the slap seen round the world

kept AP ahead with fast, definitive all-formats coverage of the Oscars moment that shocked the world: Will Smith’s slap of Chris Rock. As soon as Smith walked onto the stage and struck Rock over a joke about the actor’s wife, the AP Entertainment team pivoted its coverage of the otherwise generally upbeat Academy Awards ceremony, expediting remarkable photos, text and video of the confrontation — quickly but carefully. While other news outlets at first mischaracterized the incident, AP had it right from the start. Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP owns Depp-Heard verdict with planning, fast execution

teamed up for a decisive all-formats win on the ultracompetitive Johnny Depp-Amber Heard verdict with lightning-fast alerts, an insightful text story and a quickly prepared, extensively reported video package.Detailed planning across multiple formats for all the possible verdicts, and sharp, coordinated coverage as the verdict was announced ensured that AP does what it does best: owning key moments of a breaking story.The fast, sweeping coverage scored heavily: AP’s all-formats mainbar was used by nearly 1,000 outlets in the first 24 hours with high readership and social media engagement, while the video edits made AP’s top seven stories for client usage for the week.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP delivers sweeping multiformat coverage of Title IX at 50

collaborated on a comprehensive all-formats package marking the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the groundbreaking law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools or education programs.Journalists in multiple disciplines — sports, education, race and ethnicity, and others — teamed up to develop story ideas and execution, coordinating resources to address the most important topics regarding Title IX: how the law was born, the impact it has had on athletes and women in general, the challenges it faces, the progress made and where the law falls short.The package included exclusive interviews with sports legends Billie Jean King and Ann Meyers, stories on transgender athletes, campus sexual assault, inequalities in opportunities for women of color, a scoop on an NCAA report examining the current status of Title IX, an AP Poll of Americans' perception of the progress made by Title IX, and more. All delivered over the course of 10 days in a curated presentation incorporating text, video, photos and graphics.Read more

Best of the Week — First Winner

At the intersection of politics and religion, AP reports from Michael Flynn’s Christian nationalist road show

Michael Flynn’s ReAwaken America cross-country tour has attracted lots of media attention, but journalists trying to cover it have faced a hostile environment. So correspondent Michelle Smith and photographer Carolyn Kaster simply bought tickets to the tour’s stop in upstate New York.

The decision to go as attendees made all the difference: The two were fully engaged in Flynn’s world for two days, documenting an event at the heart of an ascendent Christian nationalist movement. And Washington colleague Richard Lardner added more reporting as he monitored the event on livestream.

The trio’s story, part of an AP investigation in partnership with PBS “Frontline,” detailed how Flynn and allies are using ReAwaken America to spread divisive rhetoric and conspiracy theories targeting democratic ideas and institutions while urging people to join and take action. The compelling all-formats coverage has won strong play and readership.For an up-close, insightful package on a far-right movement spearheaded by a former general close to Donald Trump, Smith, Kaster and Lardner earn AP’s Best of the Week — First Winner honors.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP: Proposal to hide import data would shield labor abuses

broke the story of a proposal backed by leading U.S. corporations to hide key import data — data vitally important to researchers and investigative journalists seeking to hold corporations accountable for the mistreatment of workers in their overseas supply chains. A tip from an industry source brought Goodman’s attention to a group of 20 major companies seeking to keep vessel manifests, and thus sourcing, confidential.AP published Goodman’s scoop as the corporate group pitched its proposal behind closed doors in Washington. The piece prompted an outcry from members of Congress and groups advocating for responsible sourcing and greater transparency in global supply chains.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

A lead prosecutor in the Hunter Biden case cut a contentious path during his time in Baltimore 

AP wrote a deeply reported, nuanced and original profile of Leo Wise, the lead prosecutor in the Hunter Biden case. Read more