for getting the first word on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's recommendations on the fates of two dozen federally protected land and ocean sites under review at the request of President Trump. Zinke told AP he will not rescind their status as national monuments but may allow other changes. http://bit.ly/2w2K0Ey
for his exclusive story on a Trump team memo that described the businessman's support for the Dakota Access pipeline and rejected the criticism that his support was due to his personal investments. http://bit.ly/2hhjRvw
This week we celebrate two very different, yet equally important photo wins.
David Phillip and the AP photo team assigned to the Masters tournament created some of the iconic images of Tiger Woodsâ historic win â the result of strategic planning, teamwork and execution.
And Pablo Martinez Monsivais wins for his startling capture of the media reflected in the eye of President Donald Trump, taking what could easily have been treated as just another ho-hum daily Trump photo op and âseeingâ something so different.
For delivering outstanding images from two contrasting but highly competitive assignments â and demonstrating how vital the AP is in the photojournalism world â Phillip and Monsivais share APâs Best of the Week Award.
for their efforts to score an exclusive all-formats interview with Ivanka Trump during her four-day visit to Africa that yielded high-demand video as well as strong text and photos on the eve of the Mueller report.https://bit.ly/2VLihTrhttps://bit.ly/2V9YHTU
for exclusively reporting that President Donald Trump greatly exaggerated his State of the Union story about a homeless veteran who turned his life around thanks to a job at a company using Opportunity Zone tax breaks. Condon used federal records and interviews with both veteran Tony Rankins and his employer to show that although the man has recovered from poor circumstances, the central point of Trumpâs story â that Rankins turned his life around because of investment in the tax incentive program â was false. Rankins does not work at a site taking advantage of the program and never has done so. https://bit.ly/2HBuF2L
for breaking the news that the Trump administration is making a new push to get so-called sanctuary cities to cooperate with ICE on immigration enforcement. https://bit.ly/3azEmwd
for beating other media outlets to a letter from the Trump administration rescinding Obama administrationâs transgender bathroom guidance for schools. http://apne.ws/2mIs3DW
for weaving into a single strong narrative the story of how Donald Trump became only the fourth American president to be the subject of an impeachment inquiry. By pooling reporting efforts, the reporting team provided a comprehensive, and highly readable, account of how we got to this place. in presidential history. https://bit.ly/32tuleM
used planning and preparation â and worked through the night â to put AP ahead on the Justice Department document that alleged efforts to obstruct the investigation of classified documents kept at former President Donald Trumpâs Mar-a-Lago estate.When the nearly 40-page document landed after 11 p.m. Tuesday night, Washington reporters Tucker, Colvin and Balsamo quickly identified the newsiest, most salient points and filed an alert just minutes after the document had dropped, then followed with a textured, detailed story that moved before competitors had even published their own alerts. Kesten provided lightning-fast editing and filing, and photo editor Elswick expedited a key evidence photo.Read more
for breaking the news that actor Leonardo DiCaprio and the head of his foundation met with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss how jobs centered on preserving the environment can boost the economy. http://apne.ws/2gWUOKy
for using foresight, strong preparation and coordination to provide AP members with a next day, cross-format follow-up to the Trump administrationâs announcement rolling back endangered species protections, illustrating the potential impact by focusing on the beloved monarch butterfly.https://bit.ly/33vM9aKhttps://bit.ly/33MvCze
for his interview with Myron Ebell in which the recently departed head of Trumpâs transition team at the Environmental Protection Agency predicted the president will significantly cut the agencyâs staff and budget. http://apne.ws/2kXu52K
President Donald Trump has long asserted that his tax cuts and other policies would accelerate job growth, which, in turn, would serve the âforgottenâ men and women who had helped propel him to the White House in the 2016 election.
Washington, D.C.-based economics reporter Josh Boak wondered: Had that actually occurred so far? And how much was job growth a motivating force for Trump supporters?
Boak hit on a possible way to hold the presidentâs claims to a fair test. He turned to a relatively obscure report issued by the governmentâs Bureau of Labor Statistics, then merged those economic figures with the APâs 2016 election returns, broken down by county.
The result, under multiple calculations, was clear: The bulk of U.S. hiring under Trump had so far occurred in Democratic counties.
Boak then spent three days in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, an area that had voted decisively for Trump and had lost jobs in the past 12 months. He reported that Republican voters appeared to be motivated more by social issues â opposition to gun control, for example. âOur No. 1 motivating factor,â the county Republican chairman told Boak, âis Second Amendment issues.â
For exclusively documenting how job growth under Trump has disproportionately underserved his geographic base and for illustrating that trend in a community that reflects it, Boak earns this weekâs Best of the States award.
posed a question to President Donald Trump about meat shortages that led to an early briefing and a solid news beat for AP on Trumpâs order that meat processing plants must stay open. https://bit.ly/2Wx1Hbp
for exclusively obtaining documents that expose a potential conflict of interest for Kelly Craft, President Donald Trumpâs nominee for United Nations ambassador, on the topics of climate change and fossil fuels. When senior Environmental Protection Agency officials sent an email to Craft, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, the acknowledgment email they received wasnât from the ambassador. It was from her husband, coal magnate Joseph Craft, a wealthy GOP donor who has joined the coal industry in pressing for access and regulatory relief from the EPA and the Trump administration. It wasnât the first time the Crafts had blurred roles â and email accounts â raising questions as senators consider her nomination to the U.N. Knickmeyer found several other examples of potential conflicts. https://bit.ly/2LugYWy
for a detailed and well-written examination of falsehoods, exaggerations and disputed statements in the first year of the Donald Trump presidency. http://abcn.ws/2rCpfQe
for revealing that the U.S. governmentâs investigation of Trumpâs former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, extended to the island nation of Cyprus. https://yhoo.it/2ocLXvk
Last November, more than 200 counties across America, scores of them in the upper Midwest, turned from blue to red on the electoral map. Why did voters in once-Democratic strongholds support Donald Trump?
An all-formats AP team of Claire Galofaro, Martha Irvine, David Goldman and Angeliki Kastanis set out to find the answer by focusing on one rural Wisconsin county and getting into the lives and mindset of its people. The result was a revealing package that earns the Beat of the Week.
for being the first to report that Ivanka Trump lived in a Washington home for two months before the owner obtained a license to rent it to her, and that neighbors, including Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, have complained about parking problems caused by her family. http://apne.ws/2ntl2Ke
Among the many questions raised by President Donald Trumpâs surprise executive order targeting predominantly Muslim nations was how his administration arrived at the seven âcountries of particular concern.â Take Libya, for example. By making the list, one might think the country was sending waves of refugees pouring into the U.S. Not so, according to data analyzed and packaged on deadline for AP customers by data journalist Meghan Hoyer.
Hoyerâs analysis of federal data in the chaotic days that followed the Trump administration order provided tremendous value for AP customers across the country, allowing them to localize a story of international significance. Hoyer wins this weekâs $300 Best of the States award.
