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
worked nonstop for weeks to gain access to the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine campaign, the largest vaccination program in U.S. history. They reached out to old sources and spent weeks cultivating new ones, breaking down barriers to ensure that AP was positioned to cover the story â from trucks rolling with vaccine deliveries to the first jabs in arms.The source reporting paid off. Tips were aggressively followed and coordination between video, photo and regional news desks led to robust back-to-back all-formats pieces on the rollout of the Pfizer vaccine, including healthcare workers receiving injections. Video went live from several hospitals that were among the first to vaccinate front-line workers.Play was unmatched. The vaccine shipment story appeared appeared on more than 2,500 news sites and landed on at least 69 front pages including the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit News, the Kansas City Star and others.The story of the initial vaccinations appeared on at least 1,300 news sites and 64 front pages, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the Orange County Register and others. And The New York Times used AP photos as its lead image on consecutive days.https://bit.ly/3nYf15rhttps://bit.ly/3hdKNIUhttps://bit.ly/3mKf57o
President Donald Trump has altered the immigration system arguably more than any U.S. president, meaning this yearâs election could have major implications for future immigration policy and for those trying to enter or stay in the U.S. In the run-up to the election, APâs immigration team unraveled four key policies that have upended lives: reduced refugee numbers, restrictions on international students, a virtual shutdown of asylum and the curbing of legal immigration.
The journalists used unmatched source work, data reporting and APâs global footprint, scoring key on-the-record interviews, from would-be refugees stuck overseas to Stephen Miller, Trumpâs lead immigration adviser.
For timely, in-depth coverage of immigration issues that likely hang in the balance as the election is decided, the team of Spagat, Tareen, Snow, Watson, Bull and Akour wins this weekâs Best of the States award.
used government air pollution data, academic studies and interviews to report exclusively that the western wildfires exposed at least 38 million people in five states to unhealthy levels of smoke, causing emergency room visits to spike and potentially thousands of deaths among the elderly and infirm. The all-formats package included the experience of an Oregon woman whose smoke-triggered asthma attacks twice sent her to the emergency room.https://bit.ly/34hvDgShttps://bit.ly/3m6yeR0
was the first to reach and get reaction from the head of the World Food Program following the Nobel Peace Prize announcement, putting AP ahead not only of other media, but the Nobel committee itself.The beat was possible thanks to Thomasâ quick reaction and the good relations the Rome video team has developed with Rome-based WFP. Thomas reached WFO Executive Director David Beasley through a longtime contact who was traveling with the director in Niger. Not only did Thomas get Beasley on the phone, she made sure he provided a video statement that AP expedited to clients. Thomas was also first to receive another clip from WFP in which Beasley, who was in Niger, celebrated the news with co-workers. A still frame was grabbed from the video, sharply handled by the London photo desk to keep AP ahead of other agencies in all formats on one of the top stories of the week. APâs urgent with Beasleyâs reaction to the peace prize moved an hour before major competitors, and video of him celebrating was five hours ahead of a primary competitor.Thomasâ scoop capped a week of excellent coverage by AP's Nobel Prize team, with fast filing of teh announcements across formats and aggressive efforts to locate and interview winners.https://bit.ly/3doVTcchttps://bit.ly/33ZR4Tz
When the Trump administration waived enforcement of environmental protections because of the pandemic, a former EPA administrator called it a âlicense to pollute,â while public health officials told AP that it would be difficult to determine the impact.
At that, five AP reporters around the country embarked on a two-month, brute force effort to wrest loose state data on the suspended regulations.
They found more than 3,000 instances of environmental waivers to oil and gas companies, government facilities and other operations, with nationwide implications for public health.
For deep reporting and painstaking analysis to document the potential consequences of relaxed environmental regulation, the team of Knickmeyer, Bussewitz, Flesher, Brown and Casey wins this weekâs Best of the States award.
Photographer Jae Hong wanted to tell the story of the nurses on the front lines of the battle against coronavirus. Not just the long, stressful hours caring for patients, but the fear they carry home of spreading the virus to their own families.
Hong found a Los Angeles-area hospital that would grant access to the COVID unit, then he and reporter Stefanie Dazio spent hours getting to know the nurses and asking to meet them at their homes for interviews and photos.
The result was an intimate, beautifully rendered look at the nurses, their dedication and their sacrifices. The story included a nurse who is a new mom, comforting a patientâs family as the man took his last breaths.
For a poignant and revealing look at nursesâ commitment to both their patients and their families during the pandemic, Hong and Dazio share this weekâs Best of the States award.
With school districts nationwide wrestling with tough decisions on reopening amid the pandemic, South Carolina reporter Jeffrey Collins wanted to show that process at work.
When several districts rebuffed his efforts at behind-the-scene access, Collins took another approach. He started reporting by watching a school boardâs meetings online, taking voluminous notes. Demonstrating a thorough understanding of what the district was facing, he was finally granted in-person access to the districtâs meetings and discussions for a revealing all-formats package.
For finding a way to delve into a local school boardâs deliberations, and providing insight into conversations happening nationally, Collins wins this weekâs Best of the States award.
National sports writer Eddie Pells was first approached in February by the mom of a player who said she had some concerns about abuses going on in the volleyball program at Oregon State.
Over the next five months, Pells conducted dozens of interviews both in and out of the program, and checked with experts to learn if volleyball coach Mark Barnard was over the line. Several athletes spoke to Pells, including a former OSU player who described how the coachâs abusive practices contributed to a suicide attempt.
Pellsâ exclusive led to immediate calls for the coachâs firing and questions about the university officials who didnât take action after hearing complaints.
For months of persistent and sensitive reporting despite uncertain prospects, resulting in an impressive story with impact, Pells wins this weekâs Best of the States award.
Earmarked for deportation, the immigrant children, some mere toddlers, were parked in nondescript hotels â out of sight and, the Trump administration thought, out of mind. But not out of reach of an Associated Press exclusive.
With an investigation based on source work, court records and witness accounts, immigration reporter Nomaan Merchant exposed how the Trump administration held children in hotels despite federal anti-trafficking laws and court rulings that mandate child-appropriate facilities.
Merchantâs exclusive sparked outrage and accusations of child abuse. Five days later, the Trump administration said it would not expel 17 people, including children, detained at one Texas hotel, and the hotels pledged to stop allowing the practice.
For his investigative story that punctured layers of secrecy and changed the fortunes of all-but-invisible immigrant children, Merchant wins APâs Best of the Week award.
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
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
obtained data revealing that more than 85% of the 93,000 people who signed up for the California Health Corps either didn't have the required medical license or failed to fill out an application. Gov. Gavin Newsom had described the program as an army of volunteers to accommodate the expected massive surge of COVID-19 cases. Thompson found only about 5% of the sign-up total had been cleared to participate, and that 233 were being paid to staff an emergency hospital established in a vacant arena with no patients.https://bit.ly/2WyP53Khttps://bit.ly/3fkJvKV
When Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced heâd sent a letter leaning on Gunnison County, Colorado, to end an order expelling non-residents during the pandemic, APâs Paul Weber immediately wondered: Why was the top law enforcement official in Texas picking a fight with a remote county two states away in the middle of the crisis? And did Paxton have donors there?
Weber and colleague Jake Bleiberg started combing campaign finance and property records, quickly finding that some of Paxtonâs biggest donors have homes in the wealthy mountain resort town of Crested Butte, Colorado.
Persistent reporting and extensive public records work revealed that Paxtonâs push against the Gunnison health order stood to benefit an exclusive group of Texans, including campaign donors who gave the attorney general a total of nearly $2 million. AP Texas members jumped on the story, using it in print and online.
For alertly connecting the dots between a puzzling press release and a conflict of interest in the attorney general's office, Weber and Bleiberg earn this weekâs Best of the States award.
studied internal Veterans Affairs documents and inspector general reports, and worked sources among VA nurses and on Capitol Hill to report that the agency responsible for the health care of 9 million veterans was struggling to deal with the coronavirus. VA nurses were going to work without adequate protection against the virus and some 1,900 VA health care workers have contracted the coronavirus, according to agency documents obtained by the AP. Twenty have died. https://bit.ly/35msqLY
As New York, Chicago, New Orleans and other cities with large black populations began to emerge as hot spots for COVID-19, reporters Aaron Morrison and Jay Reeves decided it would be relevant to examine how black Americans have historically mistrusted the medical field.
The pair connected the skepticism in the black community in part to the aftermath of the notorious âTuskegee Study,â in which roughly 600 poor black Alabama men were left untreated for syphilis to track the diseaseâs progress. The secret program was exposed in 1972 and ended, but its effects linger, well beyond Alabama.
With photography by Bebeto Matthews, the story received heavy play as the nation wrestled with the high rate of coronavirus infections among the black community.
For setting the AP apart with a timely examination of black Americansâ mistrust of the medical field, Morrison, Reeves and Matthews win this weekâs Best of the States award.
took a detailed look at the federal stimulus bill meant to address the economic turmoil in the U.S. caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Foley found that a $349 billion loan program intended to help small businesses survive will be open to large chains and franchises, jeopardizing the mom-and-pop operations. https://bit.ly/2Xk0w17
The world had been waiting for this moment: the start of a clinical study searching for a vaccine for the new coronavirus â but no one knew when exactly the first shots would be given. AP reporters in Washington, D.C., learned where and when it would take place, laying the groundwork for an all-formats team to witness the start of the experiment in Seattle.
The result: AP was the only news organization present, sending updates in real time as the first participants received an experimental COVID-19 vaccine. The newsroom at APâs New York headquarters erupted in cheers when the exclusive crossed the wire; text, photos and video swept play worldwide.
For ensuring AP was the only news organization in the room at a critical juncture of the coronavirus pandemic response, and for delivering distinctive journalism to customers worldwide, the team of Lauran Neergaard, Ted Warren, Carla K. Johnson, Michael Ciaglo, Federica Narancio and Marshall Ritzel wins APâs Best of the Week award.
David Crary heard from his legal sources that something big was coming for the Boy Scouts of America, which has been besieged by sexual abuse lawsuits: a bankruptcy filing.
Weeks before the paperwork was filed, Crary, who has been covering the organization for 20 years, set into motion plans to ensure the AP was well-covered. When the Scoutsâ filing finally came out late on a holiday, his sharply written prep had the story on the wire within minutes, explaining the gravity of the filing and the reasons behind it.
AP journalists around the country pitched in, including Brady McCombs who gathered reaction from Scouts and local councils, spinning it into an engaging follow-up, and correspondent Randall Chase who attended the Scoutsâ first bankruptcy hearing in a Delaware court. Their efforts were rewarded with outstanding play.
For their careful planning and flawless execution of coverage of the Scoutsâ bankruptcy filing, Crary, McCombs and Chase win this weekâs Best of the States award.
for exclusively obtaining a Customs and Border Protection memo that showed the agency knew Greyhound and other bus operators could refuse searches by border patrol agents. Greyhound had long contended it was powerless to stop the searches. The reporting got widespread attention and led to Johnson being interviewed on NPRâs âAll Things Considered.â https://bit.ly/2HECqFe
