Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Only on AP: Close-ups of migrant clashes at Turkish-Greek border

captured the conflict unfolding on the Turkish-Greek border in a way that competitors couldn’t match. With gendarmes making it more and more difficult for journalists to get close to the border clashes between Greek riot police and migrants attempting to cross the border from Turkey, the pair had to blend in among migrants to avoid the attention of Turkish police. They carried food and water in plastic bags and hid their cameras inside their clothes, dropping to the ground among migrants to take cover from tear gas fired from the Greek side. Their tactics enabled them to make photos and video – unmatched by other agencies – of the chaos and desperation at the border.https://bit.ly/3aNn1z1https://bit.ly/38KWqRN

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP: As virus cases surge, PPE is again in short supply

used solid reporting and data analysis to reveal that despite federal assurances, supplies of personal protective gear (PPE) are running short again as coronavirus cases surge around the country. The analysis found that FEMA distributed a disproportion amount of PPE to mostly rural states. Montana, for example, had received 1,125 items of protective gear per case, compared with 32 items per case in Massachusetts, an early hot spot. The AP story beat a national newspaper’s PPE story by a day. https://bit.ly/3j7jC34

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

All-formats team out front on death of Seoul mayor

scored repeated beats in all formats when news broke that the Seoul mayor had gone missing amid a sexual harassment complaint. AP’s late-night news alerts on the discovery of the mayor’s body were well ahead of the competition; the print story led front pages on websites worldwide and BBC cited AP in its own copy.https://bit.ly/3h3FTNnhttps://bit.ly/391u3AIhttps://bit.ly/393YG8n

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Documenting migrant workers amid virus spike in Spain

reacted quickly to a developing story, delivering a deep, all-formats look into the plight of migrant fruit harvesters facing a coronavirus outbreak while already struggling to find work in northern Spain.AP was out first with multiformat coverage of the migrants as Spanish authorities announced that the spike in infection was forcing a lockdown in the region, Spain’s first area under restrictions since the nationwide lockdown was lifted two weeks ago. https://bit.ly/2Z5KuZ6

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP spots, tracks counterfeit N95 masks from China

spotted something unusual about the N95 mask shipment they were shown in Southern California in early April – the eagerly awaited masks matched those on the counterfeit warning page of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The pair spent the next few weeks contacting U.S. importers and distributors who were selling and giving away the same Chinese-made masks, informing them the masks were fake while reviewing shipping records, broker contacts, invoices and packaging. Their story about how one brand of counterfeits infiltrated the U.S. supply chain served as an example of how the lack of coordination amid massive shortages plunged the country’s medical system into chaos. https://bit.ly/2XgMxHU

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Profiles in courage: First responders return from COVID-19

for a character-driven story on how first responders return to work after recovering from COVID-19. They return with trepidation about surviving an “invisible bullet” of the disease. https://bit.ly/2zkV0kLhttps://bit.ly/2SKEYYy

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP finds many states failed to stockpile medical supplies

harnessed AP’s nationwide statehouse presence to report that before the coronavirus outbreak most states had failed to build their own stockpiles of medical supplies, and in many cases the supplies they did have were well past their expiration dates. https://bit.ly/2zFhU6F

Best of the Week — First Winner

What went wrong: AP examines how COVID-19 swept Italy’s Lombardy region

A scathing letter sent in early April by doctors in Italy’s Lombardy region provided the first tangible inkling that something had gone terribly wrong in its fight against the coronavirus.

With Lombardy accounting for roughly half of Italy’s 27,000 deaths, chief Rome correspondent Nicole Winfield set out to document how the virus overwhelmed a medical system long considered one of Europe’s best.

Over the next three weeks, Winfield methodically collected details, conducted interviews, pored over government reports and briefings, and referenced AP’s vast reporting on the pandemic to craft the first explanatory account of the missteps and failures that allowed the virus to become so pervasive in northern Italy.

Winfield’s story quickly became one of the most-read on the AP News and was picked up by outlets globally.

For crafting a thorough, compelling and heartbreaking account of how COVID-19 got a pervasive, deadly grip on Lombardy, Winfield wins AP’s Best of the Week honors.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Intimate photo essays tell the stories of Italian nurses, doctor

produced three moving photo essays that intimately portray the daily lives of two nurses and a doctor in northern Italy who agreed to not only let AP into their workplaces, but their homes. The team set out to capture with context and detail what a day was like for health care workers, showing their efforts – sometimes fruitless – to help patients survive the coronavirus, and the sacrifices they must make to avoid bringing the virus home to their families.https://bit.ly/3aBVgc6https://bit.ly/2zuerbfhttps://bit.ly/3eQyLUq

Best of the Week — First Winner

Italy teams lead the way on coronavirus coverage despite major obstacles

As sweeping restrictions and lockdown measures rolled out across the world in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, AP’s team of staff and freelancers in Italy set an example for how to produce compelling and competitive journalism in all formats despite major challenges affecting them both professionally and personally, including the very real risk of being placed in self-quarantine for covering stories in risk zones.

Three weeks into the Italian outbreak, AP produced some of the strongest coverage yet including multiple exclusives and beats across formats. That work included: How the northern town of Codogno greatly reduced the spread of the virus, a first-person account of the lockdown’s impact on families, overwhelmed doctors drawing parallels to war-time triage, rioting at Italian prisons, residents showing solidarity from their balconies, and more.

AP’s coverage throughout the crisis in Italy has consistently won heavy play online and in print.

For resourceful, dedicated and inspired journalism under unusually demanding circumstances, the Rome and Milan bureaus receive AP’s Best of the Week award.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP ahead of the competition in Bahamas Hurricane coverage across formats

Through smart planning, speed and considerable courage, the AP managed to be the only agency on the ground Sept. 1 as Hurricane Dorian, a powerful Category 5 storm, arrived and parked itself over the Bahamas for more than 24 hours dumping tons of water and packing sustained winds in excess of 185 MPH. Not even local broadcasters, including the government channel, were able to feed live images.

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2019-09-01/northern-bahamas-hunkers-down-as-hurricane-dorian-closes-in

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Powerful visuals of locked-down town at center of Italy’s virus outbreak

ensured AP was among the first media to get photos and video from the locked-down Northern Italian town of Codogno, the focal point of Italy’s coronavirus outbreak.https://bit.ly/32Sp69Zhttps://bit.ly/3aw4OWGhttps://bit.ly/32US5df

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 reporting reveals nonstop chaos in overburdened immigration courtrooms

Led by reporters Amy Taxin and Deepti Hajela, the AP harnessed its vast geographic reach and expertise on the topic of immigration to deliver a striking, all-formats examination of the nation’s beleaguered immigration court system. 

AP journalists fanned out to courtrooms across the U.S. to vividly illustrate chaos in the nation’s immigration courts, plagued by a 1 million case backlog. 

The reporting uncovered personal stories of immigrants entangled in the system, including an in-depth package from rural Georgia by reporter Kate Brumback and photographer David Goldman, and video by producer Noreen Nasir.

For a revealing look at a legal system struggling to cope with the influx of immigrants, and families caught up in the grinding legal process, Taxin, Hajela, Brumback, Goldman and Nasir share AP’s Best of the Week honors.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

How ‘wine cave’ found its way into a debate and your vocabulary

for reporting on a lavish wine cave fundraiser for Pete Buttigieg in Napa, California, that became a key issue during the Democratic debate on Dec. 19. His curiosity piqued after a source provided him with a copy of an invitation to an exclusive Buttigieg fundraiser, Slodysko picked up details that made it clear this wasn’t just any fundraiser. The room included a chandelier with 1,500 Swarovski crystals, an onyx banquet table and $900 bottles of cabernet. The story spoke to the issue of rich donors wielding outsized political influence and dominated the week’s presidential debate as fellow candidate Elizabeth Warren pressed Buttigieg about why he would need to hold a fundraiser in such a venue. By the end of the night, “wine cave” had entered America’s political lexicon. https://bit.ly/379yVBr

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

Best of the States

AP Investigation: At least 1,680 aging US dams pose a risk to thousands

Severe storms, extreme flooding and aging infrastructure present a rising peril throughout much of the U.S., but trying to assess the risks has been extremely difficult. The reason: The federal agency overseeing the nation’s dams has sealed off the most essential information about their condition and the potential threats to those living downstream.

Prying that information loose took the kind of dedicated, 50-state effort that the AP is uniquely positioned to pursue. Data journalist Michelle Minkoff and Northern New England correspondent Michael Casey, collaborating with state government team member David Lieb and a visual team led by video journalist Allen Breed – as well as a cast of AP state reporters, photographers and data journalists – produced a deeply reported and visually stunning package revealing the dangers of nearly 1,700 aging dams, from Hawaii to Massachusetts.

Some two years in the making, the package resulted in explosive play – more than 100,000 page views on AP News and more than 80 front pages. 

For their exhaustive efforts to unlock critical public information and relay the findings in an engaging fashion, Minkoff, Casey, Lieb and Breed win this week’s Best of the States award.

Best of the Week — First Winner

Only on AP: In his last days, al-Baghdadi sought safety in shrinking domain

The death of the Islamic State group “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was one of the most competitive stories in the world in recent weeks. Journalists scrambled to uncover details of the U.S. operation and how the Islamic State leader ended up in a hideout in Syria.

Beirut-based Middle East reporter Sarah El Deeb put the AP out front with a story based on exclusive interviews recounting al-Baghdadi’s final days, as he was shuttled furtively around Syria by a dwindling circle of confidants. 

Enhancing the narrative were dramatic details from a teenage girl who had been enslaved by al-Baghdadi as he sought refuge. El Deeb elicited the previously untold details through sensitive and dogged reporting.

The story stood out from the many accounts that simply echoed the official account of al-Baghdadi’s death, demonstrating not only the AP’s dominance on a global story but also its trusted ability to provide facts-based reporting from the ground in the region.

For outstanding source work and reporting on a story of intense interest, Sarah El Deeb wins AP’s Best of the Week award.

 

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP’s Brexit team delivers ambitious, insightful coverage during crucial week

The Brexit break-up has dominated Europe for months. Audience demands are high for each development, yet it’s hard for any news organization to stand out because so many media outlets are pursuing the same stories.

But AP’s Brexit team rose to the occasion by combining exceptional planning and reporting skills to deliver extraordinary coverage in every format during a crucial week in which the European Union and the British Parliament were set to decide the UK’s future in Europe. In the process, they dominated on a very competitive story with ambitious and comprehensive coverage from the UK to Brussels and Northern Ireland.

For collaborating in all formats to deliver lively, ambitious, insightful and comprehensive coverage of the Brexit drama and its broader implications, the team of Jill Lawless, Danica Kirka, Greg Katz, David Keyton, Raf Casert, Virginia Mayo, Sylvain Plazy, Martin Cleaver and Susie Blann earn AP’s Best of the Week honors.

Best of the States

AP investigation shines light on dark side of CBD craze

Responding to AP’s call for ambitious journalism in 2019, Holbrook “Bert” Mohr of the U.S. investigative team tossed out an idea during a brainstorming session: Authorities in Mississippi had found vapes containing fentanyl and synthetic marijuana in stores near Mohr’s home. What caught his eye was that the product was labeled as CBD. 

That led to a collaboration by the Investigations and the Health and Science teams that would offer not just the exclusive results of laboratory testing — finding cheap and illegal synthetic marijuana instead of natural CBD in vapes and edibles — but also telling details about the people who bring dangerous products to market. 

The “Spiked CBD” package broke through. It was easily the top story on AP Mobile, and Mohr’s bylined story appeared on the front page of at least 23 newspapers; it was teased on the front of nearly 100 others. 

For identifying and leading a collaborative investigative project that connected with customers and readers, Mohr receives this week’s Best of the States award.