for dominating international coverage of efforts to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach missing in a flooded Thai cave, providing unrivaled live footage, faster video edits, and illuminating text and photos over many days in grueling conditions. https://bit.ly/2tVtOnghttps://bit.ly/2lTO4RH
Exclusivity and precision â both hallmarks of the AP â were on full display last week as teams of journalists covered the roiling immigration debate in the U.S. and the gripping story of the Thai boys soccer team trapped deep inside a flooded cave.
A day after Americaâs Independence Day, investigative reporters Martha Mendoza and Garance Burke revealed that some immigrant U.S. Army reservists and recruits who enlisted in the military with a promised path to citizenship were being discharged.
In Thailand days later, an AP team was first to accurately report that Thai authorities had freed four boys from the cave, rather than six as other media said. It was part of a two-week, around-the-clock multi-format effort that included unmatched live shots from the scene.
For exclusive reporting that forced readers â and customers â to take notice, Mendoza and Burke and the Thailand team of Tassanee Vejpongsa, Chris Blake, Yves Dam Van, Shonal Ganguly, Sakchai Lalit, Kaweewit Kaewjinda, Jason Corben, Grant Peck, Somphong Saisomboon and Preeyapa Khunsong share Beat of the Week prizes.
for their Health and Science accountability data project that revealed how millions is being spent to fight the opioid crisis. The AP analysis of FOIA records found that states with expanded Medicaid under âObamacareâ spent the funding more slowly than states that didnât expand the health insurance program because the Medicaid already covers nearly everyone who is poor and needs treatment for addiction. https://bit.ly/2yVcqRm
for a timely and powerful all-formats package that showed how âEl Chapoâ Guzmanâs Sinaloa cartel has been flooding the Southwest with blue âMexican oxyâ pills that are taking a deadly toll. https://bit.ly/2STs5gI
for scoring exclusive stories, photos and video from flood-ravaged Mozambique. The team had to overcome no internet and limited phone service and electricity to report on the squalid conditions in Beira and the hard-hit town of Buzi, reachable only after a three-hour ride in a rickety wooden boat.https://bit.ly/2YLkfVHhttps://bit.ly/2OOJLop
for gaining exclusive all-formats access to an already endangered shorebirdâs primary nesting area. The AP team documented the plight of the piping plovers being squeezed out by surging Great Lakes waters during this springâs Midwestern flooding. The package put the birdsâ story into the broader context of climate change, explaining that the rising waters result from prolonged heavy rainfall and snowmelt that some experts believe will become a ânew normal,â threatening the fragile Great Lakes coastline habitat. https://bit.ly/2NhTVB4
âThere are lucky journalists but no such thing as a lucky lazy journalist.â That industry adage was again proven true when the crack team of video journalist Mstyslav Chernov, photographer Felipe Dana and science writer Seth Borenstein captured global attention by squeezing every last drop out of being in the right place at the right time for The Associated Press and its clients.
The place was Greenland, so inhospitable and remote that it is infrequently visited by journalists despite being at the epicenter of planet-threatening climate change. And the timing couldnât have been better: As the giant but often ignored frozen island was suddenly thrust into the news when U.S. President Donald Trump unexpectedly expressed interest in buying it, sparking a diplomatic spat with Denmark, which said the semi-autonomous Danish territory wasnât for sale.
The stories, photos and videos were widely used by APâs membership and resonated with the public. The Helheim Glacier story landed on 16 front pages and was downloaded 85 times on AP Newsroom.
For their shining example of how to turn a pre-arranged media trip into essential world-grabbing journalism with tireless enthusiasm, smart thinking and the sharpest of eyes, Chernov, Dana and Borenstein share APâs Best of the Week honors.
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 nationâs 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 â as well as a cast of AP state reporters, photographers and data journalists â 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 â 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 weekâs Best of the States award.
