for seizing upon an 11th-hour addition to New Yorkâs first-in-the-nation free college initiative _ a requirement that students who accept the support must stay in the state after graduation or pay back the benefit. http://wapo.st/2pLyo6K
for an entertaining and visually appealing package marking the 50th anniversary of the "Summer of Love." https://apnews.com/tag/SummerofLove
AP legal affairs reporter Michael Tarm witnessed 10 of the unprecedented 13 federal executions in the final months of the Trump administration, diligently taking notes on what he saw in the chamber, from the inmatesâ last words to their last breaths.
But weeks after the last execution in mid-January, something nagged at him: The executionerâs official account did not jibe with what he had observed during the execution. Tarm went back, looking through hundreds of filings and court transcripts. His reporting resulted in a stunning exclusive on how the executioners all used euphemisms like âsnoredâ and âfell asleepâ while Tarm and other witnesses saw inmatesâ stomachs dramatically shuddering and jerking in the minutes after lethal injections.
The sanitized accounts, Tarm realized, raised serious questions about whether officials misled courts to ensure the executions would be completed before Joe Biden, a death penalty foe, took office. His story — the latest exclusive in APâs coverage of the federal executions — received prominent play and reader engagement.
For backing up his own observations with rigorous reporting to hold the federal government accountable for its official accounts of the executions, Tarm earns this weekâs Best of the States award.
asked a series of smart, precise questions that helped draw out Nikki Haley, the former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor, on her views of former President Donald Trump and whether she would seek the GOP nomination in 2024 if Trump runs again.Haley hasn't given many interviews recently, but during a visit to an historically black college, Columbia-based reporter Kinnard first asked whether Trumpâs recent criticism of Mitch McConnell and Mike Pence hurt the GOP. Haley answered with essentially positive remarks about Trump. Then, when asked if she would support him if he chose to run again in 2024, Haley said yes, and if Trump does run, she said sheâd forgo a run of her own. Haleyâs comments, elicited by Kinnard, made news and sparked significant conversation on social media. https://bit.ly/3dBkn3z
David Klepper, statehouse reporter, Albany, NY, for obtaining details of a disabled man in a state group home who was twice infested with maggots near his breathing tube, offering a rare glimpse into investigations in state-regulated institutions for the disabled, addicted and mentally ill. http://abcn.ws/2w1NU1P
navigated issues of access, multiple locations and complex logistics in covering this yearâs one-of-a-kind Academy Awards ceremony, altered from top to bottom by the pandemic.The event was one of the largest photo pools AP has ever run. APâs remarkable access came as the result of years of relationship building with the film academy, which trusted AP to not only shoot photos of its marquee event, but also distribute those images to news outlets around the globe.Under the leadership of Kaufman, assistant director of photography, and with a workflow developed largely by photo editor Munoz, the team expedited some 1,500 still images to 11 members of the pool. Meanwhile, in London, Jankovic coordinated photographers and editors handling the Oscarsâ global satellite locations â from Sydney to Stockholm to Kilkenny, Ireland, and points in between. Success meant assembling a team of AP staffers, including a team of 10 editors â most off-site due to pandemic restrictions â who quickly edited, captioned and transmitted the images. In addition, at the academyâs request, video journalist Turner shot the Oscarsâ pool fashion feed â a key position that is highly valuable to clients looking for red carpet looks and unscripted moments.Bottom line: If you saw a photo from the red carpet, or a winner clutching the coveted statuette, chances are it was shot by the AP. The images were used in countless tweets, online stories and on dozens of newspaper front pages, notably above-the-fold play for shots of âNomadlandâsâ best picture winners by Pizzello, who also authored a âVirus Diaryâ with his reflecions on being an entertainment photographer during the pandemic.https://bit.ly/3vpV8HDhttps://bit.ly/3gOI1eY
Sarah Rankin and Steve Helber were covering a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia when chaos broke out. The marchers and counter protesters â Rankinâs words â ââthrew punches, screamed, set off smoke bombs. They hurled water bottles, balloons of paint, containers full of urine. They unleashed chemical sprays. Some waved Confederate flags. Others burned them.ââ
Rankin and Helber were the first of many AP colleagues to cover the story, and their initial work paid off in significant ways.
for persuading the judge in the Taylor Swift groping trial to change his mind and allow media access to jury questioning. http://bit.ly/2ujxjGq
pushed through last weekâs 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 nationâs energy capital â 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 didnât work, calling in feeds or charging electronics at colleaguesâ 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
When Chicago police released the body camera video of an officer fatally shooting a 13-year-old boy in an alley, AP staffers in Chicago and across the AP sprang into action with aggressive reporting, sharp enterprise follow-ups and thoughtful standards discussions about how to responsibly portray the gruesome incident for photo and video clients.
The end result was three days of distinctive spot and enterprise coverage on a story that resonated with audiences around the world, especially with renewed focus on police violence in the midst of the Derek Chauvin murder trial.
For comprehensive coverage providing depth, detail and context on the shooting, the all-formats team of Michael Tarm, Don Babwin, Sara Burnett, Kat Stafford, Dave Bauder, Shafkat Anowar, Robert Bumsted and Derek Karikari shares this weekâs Best of the States award.
When BuzzFeed broke the news that the longest-serving current U.S. House member had settled a sexual harassment complaint, one notable thing missing was comment from U.S. Rep. John Conyers himself. The 88-year-old Conyers rarely gives interviews anymore, deferring to his staff to issue statements or simply not responding.
Congress was on Thanksgiving break, but News Editor Roger Schneider suggested that video journalist Mike Householder and reporter Corey Williams drop by Conyersâ Detroit home. They knew it was a long shot â Corey and Mike had been to Conyersâ house before, and knew it was gated.
To their surprise, Conyers answered their ring.
Conyers answered a few questions, giving Williams and Householder a major beat: He denied settling sexual harassment claims and other allegations of inappropriate touching of staffers.
For aggressive reporting that paid off with an exclusive on one of the weekâs top stories, Williams and Householder share this weekâs Best of the States prize.
Sometimes a story doesnât come from a reporterâs beat or region, just from natural journalistic curiosity.
Atlantaâs Jeff Martin was intrigued after investigators blamed the deadly tower fire in London in part on the flammable cladding that wrapped around its exterior. Wondering what buildings in the U.S. might be using the cladding, he went to the manufacturerâs website and found a trove of information in a promotional brochure.
The brochure said the cladding was used on a terminal at the Dallas airport, the Cleveland Browns stadium, an Alaska High School and a high-rise hotel in Baltimore. Martin, Gainesville, Florida, reporter Jason Dearen, and Baltimore reporter Juliet Linderman helped coordinate a cross-country, multi-media reporting effort that wins this weekâs Best of the States.
for a story on law enforcementâs use of a practice known as âFacebook shaming,â where suspects who havenât yet been charged, tried or convicted are publicly ridiculed on social media platforms. http://abcn.ws/2u6DA6n
One of the most vulnerable senators up for re-election in 2018 â Democrat Joe Donnelly of Indiana - has staked his nearly two-decade political career on opposition to outsourcing and free-trade agreements that ship American jobs abroad.
Following up on a tip from Washington, D.C., colleague Erica Werner, Indiana Statehouse reporter Brian Slodysko pulled together public documents and customs records to reveal that Donnelly has benefited financially from the very free trade policies he has decried since his first run for Congress. As Slodysko reported in his âOnly on APâ story, Donnelly earned thousands of dollars in 2016 alone from stock in the arts and crafts business his family has owned for generations, which ships raw materials to its Mexican factory that produces ink pads and other supplies.
For shining light on something a politician would have preferred left unknown to his constituents, Slodysko wins this weekâs Best of the States award.
The Koreatown area of Los Angeles can be a challenging place to report — many residents are hesitant to speak to the press. That makes what Los Angeles-based photographer Jae Hong pulled off that much more impressive.
Hong, a Korean American who moved to LA as a teenager, had recently spent a year on assignment in Tokyo. When he returned to the U.S., he was astonished by the increased aggression he saw toward Asian Americans, who were being blamed by some for COVID-19.
After much outreach and many conversations with the local Korean community, he found a few families willing to let him into their lives. The end result — Hongâs somber photos and poignant text — is a compelling portrait of a community experiencing very real fear amid attacks targeting Asians.
For timely, revealing enterprise reporting in both text and photos, Jae Hong wins this weekâs Best of the States award.
When a Minnesota woman was preparing to meet the man who received her dead husbandâs face in a transplant operation, the hospital that performed the surgery â the Mayo Clinic â immediately recommended that The Associated Press be the news organization to tell their story.
In early 2016 AP national writer Sharon Cohen, video journalist Teresa Crawford and photographer Charlie Neibergall had been first with the tale of Andy Sandness and Calen âRudyâ Ross. The AP team's sensitive portrayal of two men who had each attempted suicide, with the one who lived (Sandness) ultimately receiving the face of the one who did not (Ross), had been well-regarded by Sandness and by Rossâ widow, Lilly.
In the months following, Mayo was besieged with requests from news outlets to cover the first meeting between Andy and Lilly, but when the pair began making plans to meet in fall 2017, they wanted only AP in the room.
For their exclusive coverage of that poignant meeting, Crawford, Neibergall and correspondent Kyle Potter win this weekâs Best of the States award.
Two of the most challenging aspects of covering the ongoing abortion story in the U.S. are getting inside abortion clinics and telling the stories of women who have decided to end their pregnancies. So it was significant when two AP journalists gained exclusive access to a pair of abortion clinics â and to a woman who allowed them to follow her through the entire abortion process.
Medical writer Lindsey Tanner used her sources to find a clinic in Ohio sending patients to Indiana, where tighter abortion restrictions were still weeks away. She and video journalist Patrick Orsagos saw both clinics in operation, and they documented âwith sensitivity and candor â patient Monica Eberhartâs experience, from her morning routine to the clinic room during her abortion. The resulting package delicately wove together Eberhartâs story with others who are navigating the ever-changing state laws on abortion.
For access and reporting that bought a rare and timely perspective to the issue of abortion, Tanner and Orsagos earn APâs Best of the Week â First Winner honors.
For three months, Associated Press photographer Jae Hong traveled Americaâs West Coast to chronicle the regionâs exploding homeless crisis and do what many try to avoid: look into the eyes of the people living on the streets, in tents or in their vehicles and get to know them.
His series of intimate portraits focused on the subjectsâ eyes and were combined with short text stories to reveal their humanity, whether it was an aging, down-on-his-luck street performer on Los Angelesâ Skid Row or a 9-year-old boy who lives with his family in a rented RV blocks from Googleâs headquarters.
The unique portraits were one part of a larger package of images that Hong and his colleagues across the West â Ted Warren, Marcio Sanchez, Chris Carlson and Greg Bull â produced for a project looking at the roots of the homeless crisis in the region and identifying potential solutions.
For their work documenting the lives of the homeless, the team wins this weekâs Beat of the Week prize.
for following a tip concerning a private contractor fired by the state two years ago for falling well short of revenue targets it promised as part of a privatization of the state's lottery; crunching numbers, she showed the state is paying the contractor millions more now. http://apne.ws/2ncMde0
Eugene Garcia, just two weeks into his job as the APâs newest full-time video journalist, and photographer Jae Hong joined forces to tell the deeply touching and heartbreaking story of often unseen and unsung heroes of the pandemic — the clergy.
The pair approached the story with sensitivity and care, maintaining distance to give the families, patients and chaplains space, but close enough to bring the story to life even as their subjects drew their last breaths. The package, complemented by John Rogersâ moving text, shed light on exhausted and emotionally drained chaplains working in situations they had never experienced before. As one put it, âWe werenât trained for this.â
For an arresting package that explores the compassionate yet crushing work of front-line chaplains, Garcia, Hong and Rogers earn this weekâs Best of the States award.
