Best of the States

Historic flooding in Louisiana

Many media were slow to respond to the historic flooding in Louisiana this month, but not The Associated Press. AP journalists provided timely, perceptive and poignant spot and enterprise stories from the very first hours of the torrential rains.

Aggressive cross-format coverage by a staff focused on stories of real people were key to covering the disaster. In text, the reporters included New Orleans administrative correspondent Rebecca Santana; Baton Rouge correspondent Melinda Deslatte; and newsmen Mike Kunzelman in Baton Rouge and Kevin McGill in New Orleans. Freelance photographer Max Becherer and video journalists John Mone of Houston, and Josh Replogle of Miami rounded out AP's team on the ground.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Historic flooding in Louisiana

for their aggressive all-formats coverage of the historic flooding in Louisiana, which drove the news cycle each day. http://apne.ws/2bw9AZ4

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Exclusive coverage of historic Mozambique peace accord

for resourceful coverage of Mozambique’s historic peace deal as other international outlets struggled to catch up. Acting on a tip, the AP team overcame logistics hurdles to set up all-formats coverage at a remote wildlife park as Mozambique’s rebel-turned-opposition group disarmed and its leader warmly embraced Mozambique’s president. AP’s exclusive content, including the photo of the hug, was widely used and left competitors scrambling. https://bit.ly/2ZBHT78

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Giving voice to Native Americans on historic Cabinet pick

produced a vignettes package that provided an unparalleled, inside look at a historic moment in Indian Country: the potential first Native American Cabinet secretary. In the days leading up to the Senate confirmation hearing for Deb Haaland, President Joe Biden’s choice to lead the Interior Department, Fonseca, AP’s correspondent based in Flagstaff, Arizona, captured what this nomination meant to Native Americans on a personal level. Interviewing people of different ages, genders and tribes across the U.S., she compiled their stories into a series of vignettes and took extra steps to arrange for each source to share a photo that represented their tale. The result was a richly layered, insightful package that brought a range of unique voices to the forefront and offered a window into an important moment in Native American history.https://bit.ly/3sPv7QJhttps://bit.ly/3e9Lvr9

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP details historic wins for LGBTQ candidates

revealed historic milestones for LGBTQ political representation in California and beyond. Well before Election Day, Thompson learned from LGBTQ groups that California lawmakers could hit a historic milestone this year: 10% representation in the state Legislature.

Read more.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP team rushes to historic Texas hotel explosion

A dash between two of Texas’ biggest cities quickly put AP at the scene of a downtown blast in all formats, coming away with widely used visuals and strong reporting.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP team delivers enterprising coverage of historic Venice floods

for creative photo and video coverage and enterprising reporting, keeping AP’s all-formats coverage fresh, even after six days of historic flooding in Venice.https://bit.ly/2O5ndkBhttps://bit.ly/2D4MEfPhttps://bit.ly/33dR2UE

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Standout coverage of historic Biden-Harris inauguration

in Washington for the 59th Presidential Inauguration excelled in all-formats despite COVID restrictions and unprecedented security just two weeks after the domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol. Video was a particular standout — hundreds of millions of viewers around the world received AP’s live coverage, and video edits were ahead of the competition by an astonishing average of 15-20 minutes. Text and photo coverage was no less impressive, vividly capturing history in the making.https://bit.ly/2MzmTfwhttps://bit.ly/2Mdq0tVhttps://bit.ly/3otR5WGhttps://bit.ly/2KXbFkFhttps://bit.ly/3psgRMvhttps://bit.ly/39pm6qyhttps://apnews.com/hub/biden-inauguration

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP explores a historic Black town vulnerable to climate change

tell the story of a historic Black town in North Carolina threatened by climate change, and its residents determined to endure and prosper.Princeville, North Carolina, the oldest town in the U.S. founded by Black Americans, has flooded many times, including two horrific disasters in recent memory: Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and Matthew in 2016. And it will flood again — likely worse under the effects of global warming.AP’s all-formats trio visited the town multiple times, talking to the people who live there and reporting on the town’s historical significance as well as its efforts to rebuild and protect. They found townspeople determined to preserve their land and legacy, seeing connections to both a shared history and a continued fight for survival.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

In all formats: Nurse battles back from COVID, lung transplant

produced a powerful and intimate narrative of one nurse’s precarious fight to survive COVID-19 — including the double lung transplant that saved her life.National writer Geller had wanted to find a health care worker recovering after being incapacitated by COVID. He started out calling hospitals around the country with lung transplant and COVID long-hauler programs, finally gettting a referral from Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital, which had performed the first and, by far, the most COVID lung transplants. They put him in touch with nurse Kari Wegg, who at one point before her transplant had been in a coma with little chance of recovery. Wegg got winded during their first phone conversation, a couple of weeks after she returned home, but she and her husband were open to telling their story. The AP trio would spend large parts of four days in the family’s Indiana home. The result was a riveting read with compelling visuals by Arbogast and Crawford, whose video was edited by multiformat journalist Allen Breed. The package won terrific online play, including the Chicago Tribune and Indiana news sites, with remarkably high reader engagement.https://bit.ly/3vtLoMDhttps://bit.ly/3gQXye6

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Historic Black communities across the US are vanishing while descendants fight to preserve them

AP built a multiformat report to show how Black descendants of formerly enslaved people across the U.S. are losing their historic communities at alarming rates, and what challenges they face to save what’s left of a quickly fading history.Read more

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Seychelles president’s historic underwater speech broadcast live by AP

for delivering a world first: exclusive live coverage of a speech by the president of the Seychelles from a depth of 124 meters (about 400 feet) in the Indian Ocean. Coverage of the historic address was matched by text and photos as President Danny Faure made a global plea for stronger protection of the “beating blue heart of our planet.” The underwater broadcast was the culmination of six weeks of work by the team, achieving multiple firsts under technical and editorial pressure – literally and figuratively.

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.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP staffers tell story of historic blizzard through the eyes of real people

worked with colleagues across the United States when a historic blizzard whipped up devastation in Buffalo, New York. They combined to get real, on-the-ground stories and visuals of survivors. Thompson was snowed in at her home, but she was able to help run the story and report the chilling number of deaths in a city so accustomed to monster snowfall.Read more.

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP photographers paint definitive portrait of epic, historic vote for House speaker

Some likened it to a Renaissance painting – and it certainly belongs in a museum. We’re talking, of course, about Andrew Harnik’s indelible images of a tussle in Congress as a historic House speaker vote threatened to stretch into another week.

As Republicans struggled through 14 fruitless rounds of voting against an internal faction of rebels to elect Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker, the longest such struggle in a century, nerves were fraying.

But AP’s photographers in the chamber remained cool as ever.

Normally, photographers’ access in the House chamber is heavily restricted by the speaker’s office – but with no speaker, the photo team was able to take full advantage of a House with no rules. Able to freely roam the chamber and capture up-close moments, the team shot more than 14,000 images for review and editing. Over the four days of voting, 1,500 images moved to AP’s audiences.

Alex Brandon captured an image of Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of the last anti-McCarthy holdouts, talking tensely with McCarthy after the 14th vote. With most cameras trained on McCarthy, Harnik captured an unbelievable-if-it-weren’t-on-camera near-brawl, as Rep. Mike Rogers started to charge toward Gaetz – only to be pulled back by Rep. Richard Hudson.

That image, which quickly became iconic, and the work of the others in the AP photo team, earns Best of the Week – First Winner honors for Harnik, Applewhite, Brandon, Cortez, Kaster, Rourke and Walsh.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP gets access to previously unseen video of Aaron’s historic 715th home run

AP got access to a previously unseen video of Hank Aaron’s historic 715th home run.Read more

Best of the Week — First Winner

Historic presidential race call followed months of prep, hours of analysis

When Election Day arrived, just about everyone in politics had assumed for weeks that Hillary Clinton would soon be the next president. All it would take was California's trove of 55 electoral votes and a series of easy wins elsewhere to push her past the 270 she would need.

Not David Pace, Stephen Ohlemacher and AP's team of race callers and decision analysts.

They had prepared for months for all contingencies _ including a race that wasn't a blowout but a collection of close races that would demand deep analysis of AP's vote count, exit polls and the history of voting patterns state by state. To call the race for president before all others, and to do so with the unfailing accuracy the world expects from the AP on Election Day, would require excellence at calling those tight races that go deep into the night.

They did just that. And their call of the assumption-shattering result earns the Beat of the Week.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

Fire causes collapse of historic high-rise in downtown Tehran, kills 30

for vividly capturing a fire that killed an estimated 30 people in a country where coverage is exceptionally difficult. http://nyti.ms/2jg4aBp

Best of the Week — First Winner

AP dominates all-formats coverage of historic release of Mueller report

The AP bulletin rocketed around the world just minutes after the release of the much-anticipated report by special counsel Robert Mueller:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mueller’s report reveals Trump's efforts to seize control of Russia probe and force the special counsel’s removal.

That set the tone for a day of dominant AP coverage in every format on the historic findings in the Mueller report.

The success was the result of planning and deep knowledge of the subject matter by AP’s Russia team – Eric Tucker, Mike Balsamo, Chad Day and Mary Clare Jalonick – along with lightning-fast speed and precision execution by White House news editor Nancy Benac and the entire Washington bureau.

As soon as they were allowed to open the report, Tucker and Balsamo called the Washington bureau and kept two open lines to the newsroom, where they fed material Day and Jalonick, while Benac began crafting the story that hit the wire right after the report was posted online.

By then, the AP was off and running with outstanding all-formats coverage, including sharp handling of photos and live video. Our speed was so impressive that clients were able to get a complete set of critical and comprehensive edits by mid-afternoon. Our interactive had unheard-of play for a non-election story, while the Trump Investigation hub on APNews more than doubled its previous high pageviews. The standout coverage also ran on front pages of newspapers around the country.

“While we were sending bulletins saying that Trump had tried to stop the investigation, everyone else was still saying, ‘We have the report, we’re reading it, we’ll get back to you,’” Executive Editor Sally Buzbee said.

For their efforts, Balsamo, Tucker, Day, Jalonick and Benac win AP’s Best of the Week.

Beat of the Week

(Honorable Mention)

AP’s Texas staff steps up for coverage of historic storm

pushed through last week’s winter storm coverage with top-notch storytelling even as many suffered hardship of their own.When deadly subfreezing temperatures, snow and ice smacked much of the southern U.S., it knocked out the power grid in Texas, the nation’s energy capital — and that was only the beginning. The bursting pipes, boil water advisories and accusations of price gouging that followed would only exacerbate the suffering for millions left shivering while nearly 80 people died.AP reporters showed in spot and enterprise stories that everything came down to a failure of government, particularly in Texas and neighboring Deep South states where infrastructure breakdowns revealed how unprepared much of the nation is for extreme weather.All this happened as many Texas staffers suffered along with their neighbors, with no power, heat or water. But they got creative and kept up the effort for a fully multiformat report, writing stories on phones when WiFi didn’t work, calling in feeds or charging electronics at colleagues’ homes. One Dallas reporter relocated to the home of an AP retiree when her own power was knocked out.https://bit.ly/2ZMQANFhttps://bit.ly/3dIKS7Dhttps://bit.ly/3r4YEWhhttps://bit.ly/3bAFQHBhttps://bit.ly/3bFHasKhttps://bit.ly/3uuAarl