for determining that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo broke a federal law protecting eagles when he picked up a feather during a canoe trip and kept it. https://bit.ly/2nGiwzC
for her exclusive story about how the U.S. Coast Guard and Mexican Navy were going after drug smugglers on the high seas â even as the two countries' governments sparred on trade and immigration. https://bit.ly/2q9kvNU
for disclosing that a critical and costly operation in the fight against the Islamic State group is beset with incompetence, cronyism and flawed data. http://apne.ws/2kQB4df
for getting the news out of North Koreaâs attack on U.S. negotiators, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, ahead of the competition. https://bit.ly/2ubIa2R
for breaking the news that U.S. officials had accused New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and his police security detail of violating both US and Mexican law by crossing the border on foot during a visit near El Paso, Texas. https://bit.ly/2L7vq8a
for reporting exclusively how a staunch Congressional opponent of government spending has spent more than $3 million to promote himself â at times outside of his district â as he runs for U.S Senate. http://bit.ly/2odQqMV
for mining an exclusive data set to reveal â just as heavy rains and flooding in the Southeast put several dams on the brink of failure â that hundreds of dams in the region lack required emergency action plans to help authorities and downstream residents respond to the threat. https://bit.ly/2T1x3Gx
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.
Washington-based photojournalist Pat Semansky was assigned weekend White House duty â a routine gig that meant waiting for President Donald Trumpâs overnight return from Tulsa, Oklahoma, where his much-hyped rally didnât meet expectations.
The presidentâs arrival rarely makes a memorable photo, but Semansky dutifully waited until well after 1 a.m., while many of APâs competitors didnât bother to cover. When Trump finally stepped off Marine One, Semansky proved the time well spent: His flash caught an atypically rumpled Trump crossing the South Lawn.
The photo quickly became the signature image of the night, capping days of smart AP coverage on the event itself.
For making the most of a routine assignment to create what is likely to become an iconic photo of the Trump presidency, Pat Semansky wins APâs Best of the Week award.
for being first to report that Republican Congressman Lou Barletta, an early Trump supporter, will try to win the U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Bob Casey. http://bit.ly/2uzDQI9
for scoring an APNewsBreak on one of the most important details of how Olympic leaders in the United States are handling sexual abuse cases, finding that $2.2 million in key federal funds could not be used for the most pressing need of investigating any cases, with a backlog of more than 800 to be resolved. https://bit.ly/2TbqAqE
How best to capture the story of recovering opioid users?
Chicago-based medical writer Lindsey Tanner and Atlanta-based photographer/videographer David Goldman teamed up to produce an intimate look at a diverse group of people â among them, a lawyer, a businessman and a trucker â who got caught up in the worst opioid epidemic in U.S. history.
Their illuminating package â combining Tanner's powerful text and Goldman's photos with a haunting mini-documentary â earns the Beat of the Week.
for breaking the news that after 35 years in Congress from Michigan, U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, a Democrat who chaired the House Ways and Means Committee during passage of the Affordable Care Act, would not seek re-election. http://bit.ly/2iIGOqs
for being first to report that Yale University had reached a $3 million settlement with the family of a graduate student, who was slain inside a research lab just days before her planned wedding in 2009.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/de084c9260a04d1b828...
scored an exclusive, on-the-record interview about U.S. plans to share 60 million doses of vaccine with the world.Miller, who has turned COVID reporting into a fulltime beat at the White House, repeatedly prodded officials on a matter of keen global interest â an explanation for why the U.S. wasnât sharing more of its vaccine supplies with the rest of the world. Just days after Miller had teamed up with reporters around the globe for a story on the growing calls for the U.S. to start sharing doses with poorer countries, the White House responded to Millerâs latest request with a promise: âDo we have some news to share with you.â Ninety minutes later, Miller was on the phone with COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients and his deputies who outlined plans to share millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.AP had the story exclusively, with the only on-the-record comments from Zients. Other major news organizations scrambled to match the news, some with anonymous sourcing. Millerâs scoop scored the most use by AP customers for the day. https://bit.ly/3vME9Q6
reported exclusively that a group of U.S. Catholic bishops was working to pressure President Joe Biden to stop taking Communion due to his public advocacy for abortion rights.The story came together after Crary, New York-based national writer, decided to update his reporting on the uneasy relationship between the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Biden, only the second Catholic president and the first to publicly support abortion rights in contradiction of church teaching. Early on in his reporting, Crary learned that the USCCBâs doctrine committee had been assigned to prepare a document addressing Biden. Using his contacts, Crary was able to arrange interviews with two archbishops, who made clear for the first time their goal to publicly confront Biden and urge that he refrain from receiving Communion. https://bit.ly/3elE27U
for revealing that first lady Melania Trumpâs parents became U.S. citizens using a path that their son-in-law has suggested eliminating. https://bit.ly/2AZkSDv
For many in the U.S. and around the world, 2020 has been one of the most challenging years in recent memory â and a single wildfire photo by freelance photographer Noah Berger, on assignment for the AP, captured the danger, fear and uncertainty wrought by the pandemic.
The ironic image of a sign, surrounded by flames while urging safety, was widely interpreted as a pointed commentary on 2020. The photo went viral and was among APâs most downloaded images of the month.
And that was just one of many photos and videos by Berger that helped put the AP ahead of the competition in recent coverage of fires in the San Francisco Bay Area.
For his courageous and committed work, and a remarkable photo that frames much of 2020 in the context of a raging wildfire, Noah Berger wins APâs Best of the Week award.
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 nationâs beleaguered immigration court system.
AP journalists fanned out to courtrooms across the U.S. to vividly illustrate chaos in the nationâs 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 APâs Best of the Week honors.
The extreme drought in the American West has already taken a dramatic toll. And now, near the Oregon-California border, as many as several hundred wells have dried up in the past few weeks, leaving dozens of homeowners in the parched region with no running water at all. Reporter Gillian Flaccus and freelance photographer Nathan Howard documented the residentsâ plight and the challenges facing authorities responding to the situation.
Flaccus used sources she had built in months of reporting on the dire conditions in the Klamath River Basin, convincing people to let Howard depict their hardship over water in photos and video. Digital storyteller Samantha Shotzbarger then weaved all the elements into a compelling multimedia offering. The story drew widespread play in the U.S., especially in the West.
For continuing to shine light on the effects of the drought afflicting the U.S. West, Flaccus, Howard and Shotzbarger win this weekâs Best of the States award.
