Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP owns Spanish front pages with Barcelona march photos

for dominating coverage of a pro-Spanish demonstration in Barcelona that was splashed across the front pages of all four of Spain’s top newspapers in a highly unusual sweep of the photo play. Several competitive international agencies shared a crane for overhead photos of the rally, but Morenatti’s photos won decisively, this following two weeks of prominent photo play in Spanish and international media for AP’s team coverage of demonstrations both for and against the Catalan independence movement. https://bit.ly/2q5ertl

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP dominates coverage of the UK’s historic withdrawal from the European Union

“So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu,” sang the lead to AP’s Jan. 31 story when, after years of divisiveness and debate, the United Kingdom finally withdrew from the European Union.

The sharp and pithy writing was a highlight of AP’s unparalleled breadth  of journalism, produced by a staff with the depth of talent, experience and knowledge in all formats that would dominate coverage of the historic withdrawal after nearly 50 years.

Video, text and photos staff were deployed to the U.K., including Scotland and Northern Ireland, and to Belgium, France, Gibraltar, Germany and beyond.

AP’s multiformat package captured the emotion and news developments on all sides – from the final lead-up to Brexit to the ceremonies, celebrations and pro-EU vigils on the night itself. And it included exclusives, like the reunion of the two miners – one French, the other British – who shook hands when they broke through to connect the Channel Tunnel nearly 30 years go.

For standout efforts in a continent-wide team effort in which there are too many to name, Jeffrey Schaeffer, Susie Blann, Jill Lawless, Raf Casert, Danica Kirka, Virginia Mayo, Martin Cleaver and Nicolas Garriga share AP’s Best of the Week honors.

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP breaks news of Soleimani killing; dominates all-formats coverage

The source’s initial tip seemed fairly run-of-the-mill for Baghdad: A late-night rocket attack hit the international airport.

But AP’s Baghdad correspondent Qassim Abdul-Zahra sensed something unusual was afoot. He alerted colleagues and kept digging, teasing out a name that set alarm bells ringing: Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top general and one of the Middle East’s most powerful protagonists, might have been in the car. 

Soon, from three sources, came confirmation that Soleimani was dead. Regional news director Zeina Karam’s AP alert reached our customers well ahead of the competition and triggered a response by teams, across the region and beyond, that would maintain AP’s edge with all-formats coverage astounding in its breadth, speed and insight.

Usage in all formats was off the charts, both by AP customers and on social channels.

For standout work in a competitive tour de force, AP’s Middle East team of Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Zeina Karam, Jon Gambrell, Nasser Karimi, Ahmed Sami and Nasser Nasser share Best of the Week honors.

Best of the States

‘Sundays After’: Portraits of resilience in the wake of clergy abuse

Photographer Maye-E Wong wanted to find a new way to tell the stories of those who suffered from clergy abuse, emphasizing that they were survivors, not victims. 

Her plan: She would photograph them with a Polaroid camera, then soak the prints and release the thin fragile membranes that held the images. The images were imperfect – wrinkled and distressed – but they endure, a metaphor for the survivors they portrayed.

Wong and reporter Juliet Linderman traveled the country to interview and photograph survivors, spending days with them and listening to their stories. The result was a stunning presentation that set AP viewership records and earned praise from both the subjects and the public.

For an arresting package of inspired photography and sensitive, insightful reporting, Wong and Linderman receive this week’s Best of the States award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Exclusive interview with Greta Thunberg after Time honors

for the only international interview with teen climate activist Greta Thunberg after Time magazine named her Person of the Year. Thunberg’s team had been turning down interviews, but Jordans called a person traveling by car with Thunberg and asked her to pass the phone to Greta. Jordans recorded audio as he spoke to the teenager for several minutes about receiving the accolade, her experience of the past years and plans for the future – a scoop that received tremendous play on one of the top stories of the day. https://bit.ly/38OB9Id

Best of the Week — First Winner

How tramadol, touted as the safer opioid, became a 3rd world peril

It was supposed to be the safer opioid, a way to fight pain with little risk of addiction. That promise has meant much less regulation of tramadol than other opioids. And its relatively low cost has made tramadol the drug of choice in many developing countries, becoming what the United Nations calls “the other opioid crisis.”

National writer Claire Galofaro spent months researching the issue – but how to illustrate the story from a fresh perspective?

Galofaro turned to New Delhi-based correspondent Emily Schmall, who traveled to India’s Punjab state, where she talked to people struggling with addiction, visited a treatment center and gained unprecedented access to officials trying to stem the crisis. 

The deeply reported story, one of the top-read pieces on AP News, also delved into tramadol’s heavy toll in Africa, and its trafficking among terrorist groups. 

For their work exposing an aspect of the international opioid crisis that has received far less attention, Galofaro and Schmall win AP’s Best of the Week award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Unparalleled coverage of a devastating fire in India

for quick and commanding coverage of India’s worst fires in decades, where dozens of workers were trapped in a makeshift factory with little ventilation and only one way out. The team’s work beat not only international news organizations but also many local media, and included a detailed portrait of the tragedy, and the only agency live video coverage.https://bit.ly/2E9DkYLhttps://bit.ly/2qLlJmI

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)

AP launches ‘misinformation team’ to expose false info

members of AP’s first misinformation beat team focusing on explaining falsehoods, propaganda and conspiracy theories while exposing the creators of this material and their techniques for dissemination. The team launched with two strong international stories – one exposing a propaganda campaign around the Turkish invasion into northern Syria, the other providing a deep look at how tech companies are grappling with the threat of online misinformation ahead of December’s UK election.https://bit.ly/2QnszJAhttps://bit.ly/378Y3sY

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP interview: FC Barcelona president preparing for post-Messi era

for an exclusive interview, after months of negotiations with the club, with Josep Bartomeu, president of FC Barcelona. The story, in which Bartomeu talks about life after Lionel Messi, was prominently picked up internationally and by Spanish media. https://bit.ly/2pp6wqY

Best of the Week — First Winner

Chance encounter, tenacious reporting reveal harassment allegations against Placido Domingo

Jocelyn Gecker’s bombshell investigation of sexual harassment allegations against opera superstar Placido Domingo started with a song.

San Francisco-based Gecker was at a party about 18 months ago when she noticed the beautiful voice of the woman next to her singing “Happy Birthday,” and complimented her. The woman was a former opera singer who confided that the industry had a dark underbelly, offering her assessment that “Placido Domingo is the Bill Cosby of the opera world.”

The discussion sparked months of work by Gecker to publicly reveal what many said had been an open secret in the opera world. In all, Gecker would find nine women who accused Domingo of sexual harassment and a half-dozen more who said the star made them uncomfortable. Getting people to go on the record proved challenging, but a breakthrough came when one of Domingo’s accusers agreed to tell her story on camera. The resulting 5,200-word story – and Domingo’s response – commanded instant attention and heavy engagement in global media.

For finding a major international story in an unlikely setting, and her care in dealing with sources while reporting tenaciously on a sensitive topic, Gecker earns AP’s Best of the Week honors.

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP investigation: Ukraine’s Zelenskiy pressured by Trump months before call

Desmond Butler and Michael Biesecker, global investigations reporters in Washington, wanted to fill out the timeline of the diplomatic scandal at the heart of House impeachment inquiry. While Biesecker worked sources in Washington, Butler traveled to Ukraine to meet with associates of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and with other sources developed over years of investigating wrongdoing in the former Soviet Union.

What they learned moved the needle on a complex narrative — associates of the Ukrainian leader said that pressure from the Trump White House started much earlier than was known previously, dating from shortly after Zelenskiy’s election in April, and before he took office as president. 

The scoop was the latest in a series of breaking stories and exclusives by the pair that have defined coverage of the impeachment investigation and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s role in it.

For meticulous work that led to a major scoop and widened the horizons of the ongoing Ukraine-Trump story, Butler and Biesecker share AP’s Best of the Week award. 

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Photographer leads dominant coverage of deadly typhoon

for delivering compelling photos and key story elements from Nagano, ground zero following Typhoon Hagibis, one of Japan’s worst typhoons in memory. Hong’s photos depicting victims coping with mass destruction in the storm’s wake dominated international play online and in print, including the front page of The Japan Times.https://bit.ly/2Pi6USKhttps://bit.ly/31I0EGq

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Billionaire governor’s farm received federal subsidy

for revisiting records compiled by the AP Data Team months earlier to reveal that the family farm of Jim Justice, the state’s billionaire governor, had been West Virginia’s largest single beneficiary of soybean subsidies under the program created by the Trump administration to help farmers hurt by the trade war with China. https://bit.ly/3639npM

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Despite challenges, strong coverage of Turkish offensive into Syria

for overcoming major obstacles to cover Turkey’s offensive into northern Syria, including disruptions of communications networks, hostility to international media and sporadic shelling. The pair provided powerful visual coverage of the military buildup on the Turkish side of the border, early scenes of troops crossing into Syria and a live shot of the border and the chaotic scene of a mortar attack in the Turkish town of Akcakale. Strong contributions from Beirut rounded out the coverage.https://bit.ly/33ehnCehttps://bit.ly/2MRpii9https://bit.ly/2nZnH1y

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

In photos: China celebrates its 70th as protests escalate

for team photo coverage in Beijing and Hong Kong, with photo editing and curation on international photo desks, showing the contrast between Beijing’s celebration of the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic founding, and the escalated violence of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests on the same day.https://bit.ly/35kqLWGhttps://bit.ly/35jtEqJ

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP team documents migrants’ life in limbo at the border

for elegant for elegant photos, reporting and writing to tell the story of what life is like for the thousands of migrants stranded for months on end at the Mexican border under Trump immigration crackdowns.https://bit.ly/2n8WrN8https://bit.ly/2nhDXdB

Best of the Week — First Winner

‘Immersive’ account of coral reef restoration leads ‘What can be saved?’ series

The first installment of “What Can Be Saved?” – a ground-breaking new series from The Associated Press – was so deeply immersive that viewers could almost smell the sea-salt of Jamaica. The island nation was the first stop in what will be 12 installments reported from five continents focusing not on the well-documented gloom of climate change, but on often unsung people around the world who are combating environmental destruction in big ways and small.

From Jamaica, the AP reporting team of photographers David Goldman and David Phillip, science writer Christina Larson and video journalist Kathy Young came back with the astounding narrative of underwater nurseries where islanders are growing coral by hand, branch by branch on underwater lines, to reverse decades of destruction to Jamaican reefs.

The series is already attracting global attention, and with 10 more episodes to come, teamwork throughout the AP has been essential in pulling together all the pieces of “What Can Be Saved?” into a seamless product that AP clients can use in whole or in part.

For their thoughtful, painstaking and visually stunning reporting that launched a mammoth team effort to approach the climate-emergency story with fresh eyes and tell it in compelling new ways, Goldman, Phillip, Larson and Young win AP’s Best of the Week honors.

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP offers compelling takes on two oft-reported crises: Migrant rescues and opioid trafficking

They are crises that have received significant attention while playing out in different parts of the world, but the efforts of a trio of AP journalists have shed new light on both the perilous journey of migrants in the Mediterranean and the opioid epidemic in America.

The work of the journalists, Renata Brito aboard the Ocean Viking humanitarian ship sailing in the Mediterranean Sea, and Lindsay Whitehurst and Claire Galofaro in the U.S., tells the respective stories with a captivating clarity that resonated with readers and earned a rare tie in the Best of the Week contest. Each story demonstrated the profound storytelling power the AP can bring to complex stories with ingenuity, smart planning and teamwork.

Barcelona-based Brito wins for a story that she’s still living, and telling, from the Ocean Viking. Embedded with a ship that last week rescued 50 migrants fleeing violence in Africa, her dispatch, “Migrant escaping Libya torture: We will go to Europe or die,” showed in stark terms the journey that for many has ended in death.

Galofaro and Whitehurst, meanwhile, share the win with a very different but no-less-gripping tale: “The rise and fall of an Eagle Scout’s deadly fentanyl empire,” about a millennial who built a million-dollar empire of mail-order fentanyl-laced pills.

For packages that brought new insight and perspective to heavily covered stories with significant global impact, Brito, Galofaro and Whitehurst win AP’s Best of the Week honors.

Best of the States

Only on AP: Singer says Domingo harassed her, grabbed her breast; more women come forward

In the weeks after Jocelyn Gecker’s bombshell investigation detailing multiple sexual harassment allegations against Placido Domingo, competitors were out in full force, trying to produce their own stories about women who had encounters with the opera superstar.

But only the AP was able to advance the story, offering the accounts of an additional 11 women who said the legend had behaved inappropriately, including one who said on the record that Domingo insisted on kissing her and later forcefully grabbed her bare breast under her robe. In addition, backstage staff told the Jocelyns – AP’s Gecker and Noveck – how they strove to keep young women from ever being alone with Domingo.

No one could match the pair’s reporting, which produced one of the most-read stories on AP’s platform and formed the basis of stories by many other media outlets. Meanwhile, more opera companies announced they were canceling or reassessing their relationship with Domingo.

For remarkable source building and reporting that continued to give AP ownership of this highly competitive story, Gecker and Noveck earn this week’s Best of the States award.