used deep sourcing, analysis of satellite photos and knowledge of Iranâs nuclear program to put AP out front in reporting that a fire had damaged Iranâs advanced centrifuge assembly plant at Natanz, one of the most-tightly guarded sites in all of the Islamic Republic after earlier acts of sabotage there.https://bit.ly/3f8RHgLhttps://bit.ly/31ROZII
revealed that in the global race to find a COVID-19 vaccine, SinoPharm, a state-owned Chinese company, claimed it gave experimental shots to top pharma executives and employees, raising ethical concerns. The all-formats coverage examining the ethics of researchers testing vaccines and remedies on themselves was a global effort, with contributions from AP journalists in China, the U.S., Indonesia and Russia. The story appeared on more than 500 online sites, and the package received more than 100,000 page views on AP News. https://bit.ly/3htDPOG
broke the unexpected news that the Blue Jays were not allowed to play their games in Toronto amid the coronavirus pandemic, due to concerns over players traveling to and from the U.S. Gillies worked his sources, with one of them informing him of the decision moments after government officials ended their call with team management. Blue Jays players no doubt learned of the news from AP. Other news media used, credited and quoted the AP scoop. https://bit.ly/2E9mEns
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 newspaperâs PPE story by a day. https://bit.ly/3j7jC34
With coronavirus cases surging in Texas and other states, AP journalists David J. Phillip, John Mone and Nomaan Merchant went beyond the daily numbers to show the reality inside a small Houston hospital. In a gut-punch story that landed in newspapers and on nightly newscasts, the trioâs work included the last moments of a womanâs losing battle with the coronavirus.
But the package â Phillipâs photos, Moneâs video and Merchantâs text story â captured more than just a moment. It showed, with sensitivity, the grim realities almost certainly facing frontline workers in hospitals around the country.
Reaction to the story was massive. It was widely used in all formats by broadcast, print and online outlets in the U.S. and beyond. The video alone was the most-used U.S. story of the day â to a degree rarely seen.
For compelling, empathetic and revelatory storytelling from the frontline of the coronavirus fight, Phillip, Mone and Merchant win APâs Best of the Week award.
revealed how pressure and politics have corrupted and delayed the scientific process, slowing the development of effective treatments against the coronavirus pandemic.Marchione reviewed studies that are underway and interviewed dozens of doctors, researchers, patients and policy experts as she looked at organizations trying to do rigorous science, as well as the issues undermining that research. Young found creative ways to tell the story visually, including a GoPro mounted on a medical cart. Together they document a Pennsylvania COVID-19 patient enrolled in a clinical trial.The story â challenging to report because of the fluid and chaotic nature of the subject itself â attracted readers and generated interest on social media, a strong showing for non-breaking news.https://bit.ly/2B1uyxRhttps://bit.ly/2CFLpqo
leaned on decades of source development, strong preparation and hustle to make AP the first mainstream news organization with word of President Donald Trumpâs commutation of Roger Stoneâs prison sentence. Knowing that a pardon or commutation was likely at any moment, Colvin reacted quickly when Stoneâs friends started posting celebratory tweets. She reached Stone by phone and he walked her through the presidentâs call informing him of the commutation â while Colvin sent live quotes to APâs Washington desk. APâs alert moved ahead of the White House announcement, followed quickly by an 1,100-word story, first among mainstream outlets and the only one with same-day reaction from Stone. https://bit.ly/3eu561T
Based on a tip following APâs previous reporting on the Paycheck Protection Program, AP anticipated that the Roman Catholic Church might be one of the programâs biggest winners.
Investigative reporters Reese Dunklin and Michael Rezendes started digging, first showing how the church had successfully lobbied for special treatment under the program, then, when the federal data dropped, the full extent of the churchâs windfall. An analysis on deadline revealed $1.4 billion to $3.5 billion in forgivable loans, with many millions going to dioceses that paid huge settlements or sought bankruptcy because of sexual abuse claims.
The story had an immediate impact with strong play and engagement in digital, print and broadcast outlets.
For being both first and authoritative on this highly competitive story, and for holding a remarkably powerful institution accountable, Dunklin and Rezendes share this weekâs Best of the States award.
The shocking story exposed a serious human rights issue: The Chinese government has forced the use of IUDs, abortions and sterilization on members of Chinaâs Muslim minority in an apparent effort to reduce its population.
The piece, which ran without a byline for security reasons, established that China is imposing birth control on Uighurs and other Muslims in a far more widespread and systematic way than previously known. The exclusive reporting drew on Uighur and Kazakh sources, research by a prominent China scholar and hours-long interviews with ex-detainees, family members and even a former detention camp instructor.
The story elicited a strong global response from government officials, news media and the public.
For uncovering another major chapter on the plight of the Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in China, the unidentified AP reporter wins this weekâs Best of the Week award.
While it is widely understood that U.S. public health departments have suffered budget cuts over the years, a collaborative AP/Kaiser Health News team used data and deep reporting to show exactly how expansive those cuts have been.
The investigation by APâs Michelle Smith, Meghan Hoyer and Mike Householder, teamed with KHNâs Lauren Weber, Laura Ungar, Hannah Recht and Anna Maria Barry-Jester, drew on data from disparate sources and interviews with more than 150 people to reveal a system starved of money and staff for years, and facing more cuts amid the worst health crisis in a century.
The teamâs all-formats package drew kudos and high-profile reaction from health officials, to the halls of Congress, to editorial pages.
For an ambitious story that laid bare the state of Americaâs public health system, the joint AP/KHN team of Smith, Hoyer, Householder, Weber, Ungar, Recht and Barry-Jester shares this weekâs Best of the States award.
produced in text and video a compelling look at members of Americaâs high school Class of 2020, focusing on eventful lives shaped by a series of crises.
Irvine, collaborating with colleague Stephanie Mullen, set out to tell the story of a generation born in the aftermath of Sept. 11 that has faced a number of challenges â from the loss of a parent to wildfires and hurricanes, the Great Recession and, most recently, a pandemic and civil unrest over police brutality.
The result was a multiformat package with stunning portraits and a print story that took the reader through the graduatesâ stories in order of the events that have impacted them. Irvine also produced a video that featured several photos interspersed with self-shot video of three of the graduates.https://bit.ly/37jR80ihttps://bit.ly/3cTBASh
worked sources to reveal that a year earlier than originally believed, officials briefed President Donald Trump on intelligence reports of Russian bounties on American troops in Afghanistan. Coming on the heels of The New York Times scoop on the reported bounties, Laporta's reporting dramatically changed the storyâs timeline. He further advanced the story with news that then-National Security Advisor John Bolton told colleagues that he personally briefed Trump on the matter, and Laporta also broke the news that the military was investigating the death of three Marines killed in an ambush last year. https://bit.ly/2O3FtKn
The AP story came to a startling conclusion: In much of the world, medical oxygen is expensive and hard to get â a basic marker of inequality both between and within countries.
With the pandemic exposing this stark fact, AP looked primarily to Guinea to illustrate the global challenges of supplying bottled oxygen in the worldâs least developed nations. Correspondents Lori Hinnant and Carley Petesch conducted scores of interviews with health officials and nongovernmental organizations around the world, while stringers Boubacar Diallo and Youssouf Bah reported from the heart of the pandemic in the West African nation.
Their all-formats package, including wrenching accounts of families directly affected by oxygen shortages, sparked immediate reaction, including a plan outlined by the World Health Organization.
For aggressive and resourceful coverage of lethal inequities in the supply of medical oxygen to the developing world, the team of Hinnant, Petesch, Diallo and Bah earns APâs Best of the Week award.
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.
As the coronavirus pandemic enters a new phase in a reopening nation, its psychological toll is sinking in for the frontline workers who have cared for the sickest patients.
Writer Jennifer Peltz, video journalists Robert Bumsted and Ted Shaffrey, and photographer John Minchillo went into New York City hospitals to see the impact in person, in real time and on the record. They interviewed health care workers and spent time with them on the job, seeing firsthand the lingering effects of months spent treating COVID-19 patients.
âIn my wildest dreams, I never imagined how hard it would be,ââ one doctor said.
For a fully rendered package that takes a close personal look at this important aspect of the pandemic, the team of Peltz, Bumsted, Shaffrey and Minchillo earns this weekâs Best of the States award.
scored an exclusive interview with the Ethiopiaâs foreign minister on the controversial dam the country is building on the Blue Nile, the main tributary to the Nile River. The project has caused mounting tensions with Egypt. Foreign minister Gedu Andargachew, spoke freely during the newsmaking interview, saying his country intends to start filling the dam, whether or not an agreement is reached with Egypt. Meseretâs story was widely used and prompted a response by Egyptâs foreign minister. https://bit.ly/2B3S8di
turned an unpleasant task into a unique coverage opportunity last week. He had been identified as someone who had been in the vicinity of a market at the center of a new coronavirus outbreak in the Chinese capital, and a local official told him to report for coronavirus testing.AP and other foreign media had been barred from the site, so when Schiefelbein reported for testing, he began discreetly taking photos and reporting a first-person account from the Beijingâs testing program. The story and photo gallery, including the voices of others who were summoned for testing, gave APâs audience a distinctive look inside the testing process as the Beijing outbreak drew global attention. https://bit.ly/2Vh0xRL
In the course of covering protests and a memorial service for George Floyd in Minneapolis, AP race and ethnicity writer Aaron Morrison started thinking about other cases that began over minor offenses and ended with a black person dying. Morrison visited the scene where Floyd took his last breaths, talked to members of Floydâs family and interviewed protesters with this question in mind:
What is a black life worth?
AP video journalist Noreen Nasir, also in the Twin Cities, was picking up on the same theme in her own reporting. Joined by New York-based photographer Bebeto Matthews, the team took a deep and unflinching look the at the circumstances behind Floydâs death, and what many see as a pivotal moment in the struggle against institutional racism. Their story led the AP News site, was featured at the launch of the Facebookâs News Feed and was widely used by AP members.
For sharp reporting and analysis that cast George Floydâs killing in light of systemic issues of race inequality, Morrison, Nasir and Matthews win APâs Best of the Week award.
The story of George Floydâs death will likely endure as a pivotal moment in civil rights and police accountability, but his life â from a start in Houston public housing to his death in Minneapolis, where he hoped to start a new chapter â wasnât lived in a spotlight.
In a uniquely AP collaboration across states and disciplines, AP journalists turned to people who knew Floyd from his childhood through his adult years, weaving together his story in all formats, enhanced by existing video of the man. The result was a revealing, deeply reported profile, including Floydâs brief turns as a football player, rapper and bouncer, time in prison and days spent trying to help mentor kids to avoid his mistakes.
For persistent, collaborative and creative storytelling that goes to the heart of the tragedy that unfolded in Minneapolis, the multiformat team of Luis Andres Henao, Juan Lozano, Nomaan Merchant, Adam Geller, John Mone, David Phillip and Aaron Morrison shares this weekâs Best of the States award.
studied how soccer has applied rules against activist protest without considering the impact of major issues outside of sports. Harris wrote his analysis after a player for Borussia Dortmund, Jason Sancho, received a yellow card for showing his undershirt with a handwritten message of support for the George Floyd protests, contrary to the rule for players not to lift their jerseys in celebration. âRarely has a rule looked so out of touch,â Harris wrote, noting that the killing of Floyd had resonated far beyond the United States. After the piece, FIFA reconsidered its policy and urged organizers to show common sense. The AP story was widely cited in other media.https://bit.ly/30VeCI4https://bit.ly/30VeQ1S
