Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP Exclusive: New abuse suits could cost church billions

for taking a hard look at the financial reckoning of the U.S. Roman Catholic sex abuse trials, and reporting exclusively that changing laws and attitudes could translate into a flood of lawsuits with potential payouts topping $4 billion. Condon and Mustian reported on the potential impact of new laws, enacted in 15 states, that extend or suspend the statute of limitations governing claims. The pair found several attorneys who have turned their entire practices over to such cases, with TV ads and billboards seeking clients. https://bit.ly/36oRoJX

Best of the States

Dual labors of love: Documenting a Chicago neighborhood that would not die

Chicago-based national writer Martha Irvine has always been interested in stories about the city’s neighborhoods that buck stereotypes. So when she learned of a grassroots project to “reclaim” abandoned housing on the city’s South Side, Irvine began what she calls “a labor of love.” 

She spent months getting to know the people of the Chicago Lawn neighborhood and their stories. Residents – ex-cons, immigrants, members of the urban working class – were not prepared to let their neighborhood succumb to the malaise that had engulfed other areas of the city, so they came together to make Chicago Lawn a desirable place to live. 

Irvine did it all – not just writing this remarkable story, but shooting the photos and video. The package received heavy play and elicited rewarding feedback. One woman called the work “incredibly uplifting,” adding, “Loved the video, too. Inspiration station.”

For a compelling all-formats package that shed light on a Chicago neighborhood’s success story and resonated with readers, Martha Irvine earns this week’s Best of the States award.

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP all-formats crew provides unmatched coverage of Albania earthquake

Jolted out of bed by the 6.4-magnitude earthquake just before 4 a.m., correspondent Llazar Semini in Tirana knew immediately he was dealing with a major story. Communications networks were shaky, but he managed to reach colleagues in other formats by phone, triggering what would become a virtual sweep of the disaster coverage.

The quick decisions made in the early hours resulted in a compelling all-formats report and gave AP the clear advantage over competitive agencies. Nowhere was that advantage more evident than in live video – AP picked up live video within an hour of the quake, and several hours before any of the competition. 

Coverage was just as impressive in text, photo and video edits. AP’s dominance continued with drone video, and all-formats coverage of dramatic rescue efforts and anguished survivors. 

For resourceful work that powerfully conveyed the human toll and devastation while delivering a dominant competitive performance, the multinational all-formats team of Llazar Semini, Visar Kryeziu, Hektor Pustina, Amer Cohadzic, Erion Xhiabati, Florent Bajrami, Sylejman Klokkoqi and Petros Giannakouris shares AP’s Best of the Week.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

July 25 forecast: Sunny, with a cloud of impeachment

for a deeply researched reconstruction of July 25, and the events surrounding President Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s president. In a captivating narative, Benac revealed that even before daybreak on that otherwise unremarkable summer Thursday, anxiety was coursing through the White House about a coming phone call that didn’t appear on the president’s public schedule, the call that triggered only the fourth impeachment inquiry in the nation’s history. https://bit.ly/384RqIF

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Failing Alaskan ice cellars signal climate change

for a fascinating story from the far-north villages of Alaska reveals how climate change is affecting hand-built ice cellars dug deep into the permafrost, changing how people store whale and walrus meat. This unique story focused on a part of Alaska, and a Native population, that is traditionally under-covered. https://bit.ly/2rWwyTg

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

A century later, Baghdad street a front line of revolt

for beautifully capturing the arc of Iraq’s modern history with a story derived from recent headlines: As it was a century ago, Baghdad’s Rasheed Street is at the center of resistance and dissent.https://bit.ly/2OUnJm7https://bit.ly/33Si2Jq

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

How a small stretch of ocean stirred a conservation movement

for the 11th installment of the “What Can be Saved?” series, profiling a small marine sanctuary off the coast of Georgia, established nearly 40 years ago, that helped give rise to one of the most critical conservation priorities in the world: How to protect the two-thirds of our planet that is covered by ocean.https://bit.ly/2s0QAMghttps://bit.ly/33SZbOv

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

All-formats coverage of Vietnam funerals for trafficking victims

for overcoming restrictions imposed by the government to deliver compelling cross-format coverage of funeral rites and burials for some the 39 Vietnamese victims of human trafficking, whose bodies where discovered inside a truck in the England in October. Hau reported for text, captured stills and delivered live video.https://bit.ly/2OWlte9https://bit.ly/2RuutsBhttps://bit.ly/2rWCbkk

Best of the States

AP Investigation: Catholic review boards often fail sex abuse survivors

In addressing its clergy sex abuse crisis, the Catholic church has touted a key reform: independent review boards with lay people. 

But an exhaustive investigation by the AP team of Reese Dunklin, Matt Sedensky and Mitch Weiss methodically discredited that claim. 

The reporters unearthed dozens of cases nationwide in which review boards rejected complaints from survivors, only to have them later validated by secular authorities. They also found that bishops stacked the boards with their own aides and attorneys. In a few cases, board members were themselves clergy accused of sexual misconduct. 

The rock-solid reporting was brought alive by the storytelling, with revealing details down to the pink sweater one board member was knitting while listening to a survivor’s story of abuse. 

For their comprehensive investigation into the Catholic church’s deeply flawed system for addressing claims of abuse, Dunklin, Sedensky and Weiss earn this week’s Best of the States award.

Best of the Week — First Winner

As women take to the streets, an in-depth look at domestic violence in France

Kamil Zihnioglu has seen lots of protests while working as a photo stringer for The Associated Press in Paris, but these campaigns were different, focused on a dark, unreconstructed side of an otherwise progressive France.

Every time a woman is killed by her partner, hundreds of activists take to the streets under cover of night to plaster signs decrying the deaths and pleading for government action. 

But Zihnioglu wanted to tell the story behind the protests. He spent weeks gaining the activists’ trust, and he teamed up with visiting video journalist Mstyslav Chernov to tell their story. Meanwhile, reporter Claire Parker and the Paris video team of Catherine Gaschka and Oleg Cetinic produced a powerful all-format package digging into deadly domestic violence in France.

For bringing attention to an issue that is often ignored, Kamil Zihnioglu, Claire Parker, Mystslav Chernov, Catherine Gaschka and Oleg Cetinic win AP’s Best of the Week.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Secret documents reveal China’s detention camps for Muslims

for breaking news, along with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, on one of the most important human rights issues of our time: Secret documents showed, in the Chinese government’s own words, that detention camps for more than a million Muslims are not for “voluntary job training” but rather for forced ideological and behavioral re-education.https://bit.ly/2pShDJ3https://bit.ly/2r4siRo

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Exclusive: Demand grows for campus mental health care

for documenting that despite increases in campus mental health services, growing demand still outpaces the available services. Binkley and Fenn used a data set built with information obtained through Freedom of Information requests; the data was shared with members for localization. https://bit.ly/2OC2xBa

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Exclusive: Boy Scouts mortgaging iconic New Mexico scout ranch

for reporting exclusively that the Boy Scouts of America was taking a surprising step: It was putting Philmont Scout Ranch – a pristine 150,000 acre camp in New Mexico, considered the crown jewel in the organization’s network of camps – up as collateral as it deals with financial fallout over a wave of sex-abuse lawsuits. It was the latest in a series of scoops by Crary about the Boy Scouts and their financial troubles, including his recent break about the organization increasing membership fees by more than double. https://bit.ly/2qZsQbe

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

"What Can Be Saved?”: The butterfly on a bomb range

for the 10th installment of the “What Can Be Saved?” series, an in-depth package on the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The all-formats team went to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to spend time with researchers working to protect two species: a rare butterfly that receives very little money from the U.S. government, and a woodpecker that gets much more, illustrating inconsistencies in the act. The team produced a visually rich package with stunning images of the creatures and scientists, a compelling minidocumentary that pushed total views or the AP series past 1 million and an interactive that allowed readers to explore which endangered species live in their neighborhoods.https://bit.ly/35PkiTmhttps://bit.ly/2Y3782j

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Revisiting Native Americans’ Alcatraz occupation at 50

for an all-formats look at the legacy of the Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island 50 years later, including an interview with filmmaker Peter Bratt who was 7 years old when he accompanied his mother to the former prison. The 19-month occupation is widely seen as a pivotal event that prompted tribes to organize and advocate for indigenous rights. https://bit.ly/35FaJX4https://bit.ly/2OYkKrr

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP dominates with live video, photo coverage of fiery Hong Kong university siege

When heavily-armored police stormed protesters occupying Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University, AP journalists were there to comprehensively document the violent confrontation that ensued.   

The effort to retake the school and arrest protesters trapped on the campus was beamed to customers around the globe in real-time, putting AP ahead of the competition with photos and live video of a dramatic escalation in the struggle between authorities and those protesting Beijing’s tightening policies toward Hong Kong.

The scoops were the result of months of protest coverage by AP visual journalists in Hong Kong, careful planning of how to report the siege, and wise use of AP resources around the world. 

The team on the ground – photographers Vincent Yu and Kin Cheung of Hong Kong; Han Guan Ng, Beijing; and Achmad Ibrahim, Jakarta; and video journalists Raf Wober, Hong Kong; Johnson Lai, Taipei; Dake Kang, Beijing; Andi Jatmiko, Jakarta; and freelancers Katie Tam and Alice Fung – delivered days of impressive coverage around the siege.

For smart planning and outstanding execution to document a chaotic story with breathtaking speed and depth, the visuals team covering the Hong Kong protests wins AP’s Best of the Week.

Best of the States

LA photographer’s son locked down in school shooting; team coverage stands out

AP staffers displayed remarkable professionalism and composure under extraordinary circumstances in their coverage of the Nov. 14 mass shooting at Saugus High School in a Los Angeles suburb.

LA photographer Marcio Sanchez found himself in a nearly unfathomable position: He was making news photos outside a high school where a gunman had opened fire while one of his sons was locked down inside. Later, when Sanchez was safely home with his 15-year-old son Noah, his longtime LA colleague, reporter Brian Melley, did a sensitive interview with the teenager about his experience during the shooting and lockdown.

Meanwhile, veteran breaking news staffer John Antczak in the LA bureau reported the shifting numbers of casualties with careful sourcing and attribution, anchoring the coverage and avoiding the false reports put out by some media. 

AP’s full complement of all-format coverage was the product of excellent reporting and editing by staffers in the field and in the bureau. That team effort was highlighted by the remarkable work of Sanchez, Antczak and Melley, who earn this week’s Best of the States award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

First AP/Frontline collaboration explores treatment of migrant children

for breaking the news that the U.S. government held a record 69,550 infants, children and teenagers in custody over the past year, published as part of a collaboration with PBS’s “Frontline.” The story and documentary were the result of a collaboration initiated by Burke and led by international investigative editor Ron Nixon. The joint project built on years of Burke’s work with Mendoza and many colleagues on the immigration beat team and in Latin America. Together, they contniued to press for access inside shelters, interview kids who had been detained, document the trauma risks, and garner interviews with officials responsible for the situation.https://bit.ly/35oq9yBhttps://bit.ly/2O5k4kKhttps://to.pbs.org/2s3fStf

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Migrants face bleak situation in camps south of the border

for bringing new attention to a growing humanitarian crisis with a pair of powerful, complementary stories on the bleak conditions facing migrants forced to wait at the U.S.-Mexico border under Trump administration policies. Verza reported that drug cartels and gangs are profiting from the policy by robbing and extorting the migrants, while Merchant revealed the dire medical conditions at a migrant camp just feet from U.S. soil.https://bit.ly/2s0z5M8https://bit.ly/2XFDxvB

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP team perseveres for access to China’s proposed ‘Yellowstone’

for overcoming major bureaucratic and logistical hurdles to produce the ninth installment in the “What Can Be Saved” series: an immersive look at Sanjiangyuan, China’s first proposed national park, in one of the most pristine areas of the Tibetan plateau.https://bit.ly/348cPybhttps://bit.ly/2OvkGza