Best of the Week — First Winner

AP Investigation: Moscow taking Ukrainian kids to raise them as Russians

Russia has been open about its desire to turn Ukrainian orphans into Russian citizens with Russian families — a flashpoint of the war. But whether or not they have parents, raising the children of war in another country or culture can be a marker of genocide, an attempt to erase culture and identity.

This investigative piece, reported from Ukraine, Russia and France, made AP the first news organization to show the disturbing process from beginning to end — and prove that many of the children are not orphans at all. The all-formats story led with the account of a Ukrainian mother who, against the odds, successfully retrieved six children who had been trapped in Mariupol and seized by pro-Russia forces.

The story won wide play online, was a hit on Twitter and was singled out during a State Department briefing.

For documenting a severe breach of human rights with a heart-wrenching story that resonated across audiences, Sarah El Deeb, Tanya Titova, Anastasiia Shvets, Elizaveta Tilna and Kirill Zarubin earn AP’s Best of the Week — First Winner honors.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP reporter’s intimate story of yearslong journey to coming out

marked National Coming Out Day by telling the nuanced and sometimes excruciating story of his long journey to sharing his secret — and how he tried to come out to his deceased parents in an unusual way, with mixed results.New York-based Calvan surfaced his own memories, reporting on them and framing a story that was equal parts personal and professional, deftly balancing — as not all first-person stories do — the demands of journalism with the self-disclosure of memoir.His intimate story resonated with a digital audience that is attuned to experiential stories. It also served as an example of inclusive storytelling, centering a voice that might not otherwise be heard this way in the AP report.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Standout coverage as Russia expands attacks on Ukraine

delivered competitive all-formats coverage of Russian attacks on at least 10 Ukrainian cities, two days after an explosion on the Kerch Bridge between Crimea and Russia disrupted an important Russian supply line.From Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro, AP responded with strong reporting and striking visuals supplemented by user-generated content. AP‘s photos and videos led major news websites.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP: Conservative PACs target local school board races

analyzed how national conservative groups have targeted school board races that more typically have been sleepier, civil affairs. The reporting was built on research Carr Smyth began in 2021, looking at national conservative groups’ involvement in school board recruitment and candidate training seminars around the country.By reviewing campaign finance filings, education reporter Binkley and Columbus, Ohio-based reporter Carr Smyth revealed that one group — the 1776 Project PAC — has spent millions to support conservative candidates in multiple states.The story, capturing how national money and attention has changed the tenor of many of these local races, detailed how many Republicans are seizing on “parental rights” and accusing incumbents of “grooming” and “indoctrination” as a tactic to unseat Democrats.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP finds United Methodists losing hundreds of US congregations

used sources and reporting expertise developed over many years on the religion beat to explain that while the majority of United Methodist Church congregations aren’t breaking from the church over its bans on LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriages, hundreds of congregations have already left the denomination and hundreds more are preparing to leave.Smith’s piece was one of the most approachable narratives of this slow-motion exodus, offering both the nuance and clarity to engage those close to the Methodist church and those new to the story, and was was No. 5 on AP’s list of most-viewed stories for the week.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Ahead of Social Security increase, AP anticipates reader questions

teamed up two months ago on coverage of an expected Social Security cost-of-living increase. In the current economic climate, they anticipated — correctly — the story would have strong audience appeal and would require a range of user-friendly explanatory journalism that would also capture the circumstances and voices of people across the U.S.The result was a week of in-depth all-formats coverage on the jump in benefits. From an overview of how Social Security works to the potential impact on inflation and the midterm elections to on-camera interviews with recipients, the AP team explored and explained the benefits boost from all angles.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/‘Frontline’ investigation: Russia stealing, selling Ukraine’s grain

used satellite imagery and open source video and photos, as well as ship-tracking data to document a massive operation in which Russia has been stealing Ukrainian grain and selling it to countries in the Middle East. Russia has denied the practice; AP and its partner, PBS “Frontline,” proved otherwise.While other news organizations have reported on the grain theft, the AP team first to track the smuggling operation, from silos in occupied Ukraine all the way to grocery store shelves in Turkey and Syria. The jnvestigation was also the first to name names, tracing the owners of the companies that were shipping and receiving the grain, and their ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP reports real-world impact of gerrymandering; SCOTUS hears case

teamed up on a timely package examining racial gerrymandering and how it disenfranchises thousands of Black voters in Alabama.With the U.S. Supreme Court hearing arguments in a case challenging the state’s Republican-drawn maps, and redistricting likely to factor into the 2022 midterm elections, AP journalists used on-the ground reporting, data analysis and experience at the high court to shine a light on the consequences of Alabama’s highly gerrymandered districts.The result was a timely all-formats package on how the cynical practice has largely robbed Black residents in Alabama of their political voice.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Joint reporting reveals hidden suspensions of students with disablities

set out to document ways students with disabilities are excluded from the classroom — and from learning. Their reporting led to advocates who described working with families whose children were essentially kept out of school, with none of the records that come with formal suspensions. The families claimed their schools couldn’t or wouldn’t accommodate their students’ disabilities — a violation of federal law — and said the practice had gotten worse during the pandemic.Ma, race and ethnicity reporter in Washington, partnered with Kolodner, of the nonprofit Hechinger Report, who had been pursuing the same topic. Together, they interviewed 20 families in 10 states, and a top Department of Education official. Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Standout coverage of mass shooting at rural Thailand day care center

coordinated with a cast of colleagues from Southeast Asia to Australia to London, delivering coverage impressive for its speed and scope after Thailand’s deadliest mass shooting — 36 people dead, most of them children, at a day care center in one of the county’s most remote areas. The ex-police officer responsible also killed his wife and child, and then killed himself.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP sets news agenda with Biden’s unscripted ‘Armageddon’ warning

recognized news when they heard it. The White House reporters jumped on President Joe Biden's off-the-cuff warnings about nuclear “Armageddon,” made during a sleepy fundraiser, and set the news agenda, immediately moving a news alert followed by a 200-word story that rocketed around the globe ahead of all competitors.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Story of town employee who reduced fluoride in water goes national

teamed up on a story examining the controversy over a Vermont town employee who secretively reduced the fluoride in the town’s water supply for years.Rathke reported from the town’s water commission meeting and the trio fleshed out the story with background and context on the health benefits of fluoride and some of the persistent misinformation around it.The final story — among the most-viewed on AP News last week — used the small-town flare-up to tap into the larger interest in fluoride and offered yet another example of how misinformation is impacting even at a local level. It was also a textbook example of elevating a local story to one of interest nationally.Read more

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP’s on-the-ground investigation in Ukraine uncovers Russia’s torture sites — and survivors

A trio of AP journalists had no idea exactly what they would find when they were directed to a monastery in recently liberated Izium, Ukraine.

There, correspondent Lori Hinnant, photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and video journalist Vasilisa Stepanenko found a former Ukrainian soldier in hiding, tortured three times by occupying Russian forces. His disturbing tale would supply the narrative for an exclusive investigation that uncovered 10 torture sites. The journalists gained access to five of them and spoke to more than a dozen torture survivors, and to two families whose loved ones had disappeared

The all-formats package, revealing arbitrary, widespread, routine torture of civilians and soldiers alike in Izium, immediately resonated, earning wide play and high readership.

For a gritty, deeply reported all-formats investigation that made an impact, exposing evidence of Russian war crimes and the human consequences, Hinnant, Stepanenko and Maloletka earn AP’s Best of the Week — First Winner honors.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

All-formats teamwork delivers standout AP hurricane coverage

collaborated across formats while overcoming difficult access and logistical hurdles to produce fast, distinctive, widely used coverage of the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian in South Florida and South Carolina.From breaking news to enterprise pieces to an array of compelling video and photos, AP’s sweeping coverage received extraordinary play across formats, used by major broadcast, print and online outlets.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Teamwork delivers fast, full coverage of Indonesia soccer tragedy

responded quickly Saturday night, coordinating comprehensive all-formats coverage of the Indonesia soccer tragedy that left 125 people dead after police-fired tear gas triggered a stampede for the stadium exits.Staffers in the Jakarta immediately reached out to stringers on the ground in Malang, site of the tragedy, about 750 km (470 miles) from the capital, quickly getting an alert and story out, as well as visuals, including agency-exclusive live video outside the stadium.Robust coverage continued, and when Jakarta staffers arrived, they delivered fresh multiformat reporting from the stadium, memorials and the hospital, where injured survivors recounted their experiences.Read More

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP investigation finds dysfunction in Texas AG’s office

uncovered evidence of deep dysfunction inside Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, including criminal cases dropped and seasoned lawyers quitting over practices they say aim to slant legal work, reward loyalists and drum out dissent.The investigation by Dallas-based Bleiberg, based on hundreds of pages of public and confidential records, data analysis and interviews with more than two dozen current and former employees, found numerous examples of an agency in disarray, including efforts to turn cases to political advantage, staff vacancies ballooning and, last month, a series of human trafficking and child sexual assault cases dropped after losing track of one of the victims.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP: Churches defend clergy loophole on child sex abuse reporting

joined forces to reveal how religious lobbying across the U.S. has protected a loophole that exempts clergy from reporting child abuse if the abuse is revealed in a spiritual setting. The subject had surfaced in Rezendes’ August investigation into the mishandling and coverup of child sex abuse cases by the Mormon church.The investigative reporters found similar dynamics playing out in all 33 states that have the loophole: The Catholic and Mormon churches, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses successfully defeated more than 130 bills seeking to create or amend child sex abuse reporting laws.AP’s reporting brought attention to the loophole and prompted at least one state lawmaker to say he would introduce a bill to close the exemption.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Deep sourcing puts AP way ahead on US-Venezuela prisoner swap

spent months earning the trust of prisoners’ families and senior U.S. officials, enabling them to break the story of the largest prisoner swap between the United States and a foreign government in recent years. Their scoop on the release of seven American prisoners in Venezuela, in exchange for the release by the U.S. of two relatives of President Nicolas Maduro, put AP far ahead on a hugely competitive story and on a development journalists at rival news organizations had themselves been chasing for years.The AP published a full, detailed story before any competitor had a single word and ahead of the official White House announcement.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP expands on annual report of environmental activists killed

teamed up on strong reporting from the field to elevate coverage of a global report on environmental activists killed around the world. When the non-governmental organization Global Witness reached out to AP and other organizations about its annual report — 200 environmental activists killed globally in 2021 — AP decided to go beyond the announcement itself to find a story illustrating the findings.The AP Mexico City-based team ended up telling the tragic story of Yaqui Indigenous water-rights leader Tomás Rojo, one of the 54 activists killed in 2021 in Mexico, the deadliest place in the world for environmental and land-rights defenders.While most other news outlets were content to publish just the findings of the Global Witness report, the AP team’s on-the-ground reporting produced a vivid all-formats package that added a human dimension to the sobering numbers.Read more