Best of the Week — First Winner

Cross-format team delivers a comprehensive, data-driven project on Black Americans’ experiences with health disparities

National investigative race writer Kat Stafford had wanted to create a project about lifelong health disparities Black people face for quite some time. Taking inspiration from her reporting about the toll COVID-19 exacted upon Black Americans, she sharpened her idea and embarked on reporting a five-part series.     

Driven by data and the experiences of several families, individuals and communities across five states and life stages, “From Birth to Death” examines five health crises: infant and maternal health, childhood asthma, mental health, high blood pressure, and Alzheimer’s disease.       

Stafford, who is based in Detroit, teamed up with video journalist Noreen Nasir and photojournalist Maye-E Wong, both of New York, for the comprehensive project that captures the health journey of Black people in America over a lifetime. The trio — along with national education writer Annie Ma, data journalist Angeliki Kastanis, illustrator Peter Hamlin, project site creator Linda Gorman, and graphics journalist Kevin Vineys — told the stories in a compelling and human way using an innovative presentation. They centered the project around the often-underrepresented voices and perspectives of Black Americans — and not just the main characters, but also Black medical experts, researchers and historians. The families featured said they feel seen and heard for the first time.   

In addition, an extensive social promotion plan created by Ed Medeles, Elise Ryan and Almaz Abedje enticed readers to delve into the project.

For an innovative series that gives a fuller picture of the health disparities Black people experience in a way that resonates with a broader audience, this team earns Best of the Week — First Winner.   

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Vivid storytelling, brilliant photographs showcase impact of lithium mine on Native Americans

led an all-formats team to look at the impact of the mine on Native Americans who have long lived in the area.Read more.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP only agency to capture images of North Korea’s first post-COVID sports delegation

AP’s sleuth work helped AP capture images of a North Korean international sports delegation, believed to be the first since the start of the COVID pandemic.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Grassland birds in peril, spurring efforts to save declining habitats

AP reported over several months how the 50-year-old Endangered Species Act has failed to prevent the decline of America’s grassland birds and their habitat.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP explains how drug cartels are using Ecuadorian bananas shipments to send cocaine to Europe

AP explored how bananas and cocaine end up inside the same shipping containers for transatlantic trips to European ports, why the ubiquitous fruit has become a favorite of drug traffickers, and what Ecuador’s main port city feels like as crime and violence transforms people’s lives.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP details how an American meat broker helps fuel Amazon deforestation

AP analyzed shipping records and followed a paper trail that led to a little-known American company whose activities are contributing to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Looking into the changing face of free speech on American university campuses

In a deeply reported story with historical scope, AP traced the changing flavor of free speech on the American college campus as higher education reeled from the ousters of two Ivy League university presidents over free-speech issues.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP beats rivals with in-depth coverage on major North Korean policy shift

When North Korea declared a major policy change in how it will treat South Korea, AP’s Seoul bureau beat the competition from start to finish, with both urgent spot coverage of the crucial story and with unrivaled analysis that highlighted the difference of this development from the steady drumbeat of other North Korean provocations. Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP’s deep dive on the consequences of El Salvador crackdown on gangs

overcame access problems and people’s fear to carefully report about the El Salvador government’s crackdown on gangs, giving a deep dive portrait of the Central American country. Read more.  

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP ahead with two scoops on NC election investigation

for putting AP ahead on two major stories related to the investigation of ballot fraud in a 2018 congressional race in North Carolina – first with news that election officials had pressed prosecutors after the 2016 election to charge the man at the center of fraud allegations in 2018, and then obtaining a January 2017 letter predicting that ballot fraud would happen again unless the administration pursued a criminal case.https://bit.ly/2BXS8Inhttps://bit.ly/2R3LaMe

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP and partners document Puerto Rico hurricane deaths

Colleagues,

Welcome to Best of the Week.

This officially marks a rebirth of sorts for our weekly global staff contest, which celebrates some of the best work from around the AP world.

This week’s winner celebrates a great team effort by colleagues in Latin America and beyond, as well as a really productive partnership with two other news organizations. It’s creative and insightful work that breaks news and includes great visual journalism and innovative presentation. It rose to the top of an impressive field of entries.

Today, and each Friday going forward, the weekly winner is revealed at the Global News Meeting at 9:15 a.m. ET, which all AP staff are invited to attend.

Please join me in congratulating this week’s honorees.

BC

Since the early days after Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, 2017, the debate over the death toll has raged. The Trump administration seized on initial reports that fewer than 100 people had died, but those numbers belied the scope of the devastation. The storm left the island without electricity for months, hospitals and other key infrastructure shuttered, roads unpassable and pharmacies closed.

In June, Caribbean News Director Mike Weissenstein in Havana forged a partnership with Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism and U.S.-based news site Quartz to undertake the most comprehensive list to date of Puerto Ricans who died in the wake of the storm.

For the project, Weissenstein, San Juan newswoman Danica Coto, Washington-based data journalist Larry Fenn, New York-based reporter Claudia Torrens, Miami-based reporter Gisela Salomon, Washington-based reporters Luis Alonso and Ben Fox, as well as senior Havana-based producer Chris Gillette, Havana photographer Ramon Espinosa, Santo Domingo reporter Ezequiel Lopez Blanco, Mexico-based digital producer Dario Lopez, New York-based motion graphics producer Peter Hamlin and enterprise editor Raghuram Vadarevu, based in Phoenix, share the Best of the Week award-

Best of the Week — First Winner

Global video exclusives as North Korean official travels for summit prep with Trump

The low-key, secretive trip by senior official Kim Yong Chol from North Korea to the U.S., carrying a letter for President Donald Trump, could have gone undocumented were it not for clever, enterprising work by staffers on two continents.

Senior video producer Raf Wober, based in Hong Kong, noticed high security in Beijing's airport, recognized Kim, and used his cellphone to capture video as the North Korean walked through the airport. Wober's video and his alert to the Asia Desk set off a worldwide scramble as Trump later announced that Kim was heading to the U.S. for talks about the upcoming U.S.-North Korea summit.

In New York, the team of video journalists Sara Gillesby, Joseph Frederick, Luke Sheridan, Ted Shaffrey, David Martin and Robert Bumsted picked up Wober’s efforts, using technology and street smarts to get exclusive live shots that included Kim’s plane arriving at John F. Kennedy airport, Kim walking on the tarmac to a motorcade, and his arrival at a Manhattan hotel.

All of which was unmatched by the competition, resulting in strong play in the U.S. and internationally.

For their quick and creative thinking to net AP worldwide exclusives, Wober and the New York video team share the Beat of the Week award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Unmatched live video: Pompeo’s plane returns with Americans freed by DPRK

for a daylong stakeout of a U.S. base in Japan that yielded the only live video feed of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s plane returning from North Korea with three freed American prisoners.https://bit.ly/2rQfx9E

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP exclusive with American family of pastor jailed 7 years in China

for persuading the American family of a pastor sentenced to seven years in prison in China to speak to AP exclusively about the tightening grasp of Chinese authorities over religious activity, even abroad. https://bit.ly/2r4n45b

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

The real revolution in North Korea: the rise of consumer culture

for examining the rise of a new consumer culture, a little-noticed revolution under way in North Korea. It includes buy-two-get-one-free sales and consumer loyalty cards. http://bit.ly/2v4QrrY

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Leery of North Korea, US plans first test of ICBM intercept

for getting an exclusive heads-up that the United States would conduct its first-ever test effort to shoot down an intercontinental ballistic missile. http://www.time.com/4796334/pentagon-us-north-kore...

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Prostitution, theft and security breaches ignored by American contractor in Iraq

for an exclusive look at a contractor operating in Iraq with alarming security violations and ethical lapses, based on interviews with former employees and documents. http://apne.ws/2q6CT9v

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP reports US expects N Korea missile launch hours before it happens

for reporting that U.S. officials expected North Korea to conduct a missile launch from the eastern city of Wonsan. The launch occurred hours later. http://apne.ws/2nzKL2d

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP analysis of GOP health care plan finds older people in Trump country hit hardest

The Republican health care bill landed with projections that millions of people would lose their insurance coverage. Among the key questions: Who would be hurt most by the new plan?

AP data journalist Meghan Hoyer, based in Washington, set out to explore the impact of the GOP plan by gathering and analyzing data from several government and private entities. She found that Americans 55 and older who buy private health insurance will pay more than they do under Obamacare _and many of those who'd be hit hardest live in counties nationwide that gave President Donald Trump his strongest support.

Using those findings, reporters Michael Rubinkam in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Kelli Kennedy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, searched for people — both Trump backers and Hillary Clinton supporters — to discuss how the plan would affect their finances. The work of these three reporters, blending careful data crunching and compelling shoe-leather reporting, earns the Beat of the Week.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Weather Service sensed Northeast blizzard was diminishing, but didn't tell public

for breaking the news that National Weather Service meteorologists opted not to revise their blizzard forecasts for New York and other major cities, even as their computer models showed less snow than predicted. http://apne.ws/2mRZ8yD