for chronicalling efforts to save one of Earthâs most iconic species, the African lion, in a package that include intimate portraits of the Maasai people trying to live among lions, and stunning photos and video of the landscape they inhabit.https://bit.ly/2BrBgtvhttps://bit.ly/35KM6ZR
After its shocking Jan. 25 report on the locust swarms devastating agriculture in Kenya, APâs Nairobi team came through with another truly striking package on the worst locust outbreak that parts of East Africa have seen in 70 years. This time, Nairobi staffers Ben Curtis and Josphat Kasire obtained exclusive coverage of the next wave of young locusts now bulking up in Somaliaâs desert.
The story posed multiple challenges, not the least of which was the very real threat of al-Shabab extremists in the area. And the young insects were relentless. âIf you put anything down on the ground for a minute, youâd find a bunch of bugs crawling over it,â Curtis recounted.
Despite the obstacles, the team produced stunning images and vivid reporting from the source of the widespread outbreak, proof that the regionâs infestation was far from over.
For resourceful and determined work that resulted in an only-on-AP direct look at the ravages of a veritable Biblical plague of locusts, Kasire and Curtis win APâs Best of the Week award.
for landing an exclusive report about the columnist E. Jean Carroll seeking a DNA sample from President Donald Trump to potentially back her accusation that he raped her in a department store dressing room. Peltz raised the question of DNA testing with Carrollâs legal team last November and stayed in contact with the team, prompting them to reach out with the news that they had tested the dress Carroll wore during the alleged assault. https://bit.ly/36ZTaRM
New York-based federal law enforcement reporter Jim Mustian never gives up on a story.
Sticking with a case he began covering at another news organization in another state more than two years ago, Mustian landed a jaw-dropping exclusive for the AP: That a trove of hundreds of confidential emails has surfaced allegedly showing executives of the NFLâs New Orleans Saints doing public relations damage control for the areaâs Roman Catholic archdiocese amid its clergy sexual abuse crisis.
The story had an immediate, visceral impact with readers and earned praise from fellow journalists.
Mustian will continue to chip away at this story and, hopefully, reveal more about the Saints and their involvement with the church. But for now, Mustianâs sticktoitiveness and tough accountability reporting earns him this weekâs Best of the States award.
for reporting exclusively on concerns that the fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral faces a 50% risk of collapse. AP interviewed the rector on camera and was first to report that the landmark couldnât host Christmas services for the first time since the French Revolution.https://bit.ly/2QZOHs3https://bit.ly/2Ndq4Hwhttps://bit.ly/37SfAoy
for reporting that this yearâs devastating Midwest flood losses are forcing tough decisions about the future of farming in America's bottomlands, even among farmers skeptical of climate change and humansâ role in it. https://bit.ly/2Z6iBP9
Iowa City correspondent Ryan J. Foley has written extensively about problems tracking felons who are ineligible to vote in Iowa, but it had been five years since heâd gotten a copy of the database itself. So when a trusted source produced a state database of 103,000 felons, Foley set to work analyzing the data. He found it riddled with errors, including laughable mistakes â such as the Des Moines Police Department being banned from voting.
The story was used extensively by Iowa newspapers and broadcasters, who were especially interested given that Iowaâs governor is seeking to change the law regarding voting by felons who have completed their sentences.
For detailed research and reporting that produced an engaging story of statewide interest, Foley earns APâs Best of the States award.
In addressing its clergy sex abuse crisis, the Catholic church has touted a key reform: independent review boards with lay people.
But an exhaustive investigation by the AP team of Reese Dunklin, Matt Sedensky and Mitch Weiss methodically discredited that claim.
The reporters unearthed dozens of cases nationwide in which review boards rejected complaints from survivors, only to have them later validated by secular authorities. They also found that bishops stacked the boards with their own aides and attorneys. In a few cases, board members were themselves clergy accused of sexual misconduct.
The rock-solid reporting was brought alive by the storytelling, with revealing details down to the pink sweater one board member was knitting while listening to a survivorâs story of abuse.
For their comprehensive investigation into the Catholic churchâs deeply flawed system for addressing claims of abuse, Dunklin, Sedensky and Weiss earn this weekâs Best of the States award.
When two burning tree limbs crashed in flames on the exact spot where Marcio Sanchez had been standing just moments earlier, the shaken AP Los Angeles photographer called two colleagues to check that they both had his wifeâs phone number, figuring that âif something happened to me, they could tell her.â He then plunged back to work, capturing vivid images of the furious wildfires tearing across swaths of California.
That incident captured the commitment of AP journalists during a frenetic week documenting the wind-whipped wildfires and accompanying blackouts. Sanchez was joined in the riveting coverage by photographers Noah Berger and Greg Bull, reporters Janie Har and Don Thompson, and more than a dozen others on the ground and in AP bureaus.
The engrossing, all-formats coverage was among the most popular on AP all week.
For their extraordinary work during a hectic and dangerous week, Sanchez, Berger, Bull, Thompson and Har share APâs Best of the Week.
for using data and good storytelling to demonstrate exactly who was most at risk of a lack of protection as the Supreme Court readies to decide a landmark case about equal protection for the LGBT community.https://bit.ly/2MJBtxrhttps://bit.ly/31Ja7gz
for a nuanced story of a community coming together to support their local newspaper, the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, in the year since a mass shooting killed five people at the paper. The paperâs surviving staff are recommitted to covering the community, using their craft to work through their trauma, while subscriptions have surged and random readers hug reporters on the job, Witte reported. https://bit.ly/2RPdkrw
It could have been a routine follow-up story, but Milwaukee video journalist Carrie Antlfinger found a way to tell that story and break news.
Very little was known last year when Greg Manteufel, a perfectly healthy Wisconsin man, developed a severe blood infection attributed to a bacterium commonly found in the saliva of cats and dogs.
While reporting on Manteufelâs effort to reclaim his life after more than 20 surgeries and the loss of his limbs, Antlfinger discovered an angle that had not been pursued by other outlets: Researchers had identified a genetic factor that appears to make otherwise healthy people susceptible to the disease.
Antlfinger shot video, photos and wrote the story, which received strong play in all formats.
For a compelling story of recovery that also broke medical news, Antlfinger receives this weekâs Best of the States award.
The New York video team, working with their counterparts at the BNC in Washington, provided live coverage of teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg's arrival to the United States, handily beating competitors with numerous live shots and edited pieces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGTj_3V8wQo
AP was first to spot an Iranian government plane at the G7 summit in France, providing the world the first visual evidence of French President Emmanuel Macron's surprise diplomatic gambit at a key global meeting with Donald Trump. When flight tracking websites showed an Iranian government plane unexpectedly landing in the locked-down French city of Biarritz during the G-7 summit, AP's well-prepared team snapped to action, confirming that Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was aboard and getting the back story of the visit. Crucially, Chernov and de Cristofaro rushed to the tightly guarded Biarritz airport. Although police turned them away at multiple checkpoints, they eventually found a hole in a fence that allowed them a view of the tail of the Iranian government plane.
https://www.apnews.com/f19d28009bc94db387ac238dffa27348
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.
for braving security restrictions and overcoming a complete communication lockdown to report in all formats on life under siege from Indian-administered Kashmir.When New Delhi moved Aug. 5 to revoke the Himalayan region of its statehood, all lines to the outside world were severed. With a strict curfew in place the AP crew overnighted in the office, but transmission in any format was a challenge. Defying the crackdown on movement and filming, the team managed to send photos, video and text with a passenger on a flight to Delhi.Meanwhile, Saaliq, a native Kashmiri himself, spoke to people struggling to buy necessities and to those injured during sporadic protests. His story, some of which he dictated over the phone from a Srinagar hotel, was one of the first reports in the international media that allowed Kashmiri voices to be heard after the dramatic developments. Hussain followed with personal stories of how Kashmiris were coping with life surrounded by armed police and paramilitary soldiers. And with short windows of internet access and many trips to the airport, the AP team managed to move words and images of thousands of protesters, including a widely used photo of a group of women marching after Friday prayers, and security forces patrolling the city. The lockdown continues. While some local media have suggested normalcy has returned to Kashmir, AP offers a critical counter narrative grounded in dogged reporting to show the world what is happening in the disputed region.https://bit.ly/31EKii3https://bit.ly/2H8adH7https://bit.ly/3063jJV
for reporting based on the ironic twist behind President Donald Trumpâs tweets that criticized Baltimore as a ârat and rodent infested messâ â some of those rodents are in apartments owned by his own son-in-law, Jared Kushner.Other news organizations had pointed out that some of the Kushner-owned properties in the Baltimore area had been cited for rodents, as well as mold, bedbugs, leaks and other problems. But AP's team wanted to put a human face to the story, getting Kushnerâs tenants to talk about their experiences and what they thought of Trumpâs tweets. New Yorkâs Condon, who has previously reported on Kushnerâs background as a landlord, and the Baltimore team found tenants who were willing to tell their stories, show the holes where the rodents crept in, and give their opinions on both Trump and Kushner. The story got huge play, even cracking the homepage of the hometown Baltimore Sun. https://bit.ly/2YuMCuV
Houston-based immigration reporter Nomaan Merchant uncovered a heartbreaking tale in his coverage of the lingering toll of President Donald Trumpâs family separation policy: a 9-year-old boy, Byron Xol, who is still separated from his parents. The boy eventually landed in the home of a Texas family who took custody of the child, while his parents were deported to Guatemala.
Merchant had been looking for an opportunity to write a detailed narrative that would illustrate the stress that separations have on families. When he learned on short notice of Byronâs upcoming birthday, he decided it was the perfect time to tell the tale.
Merchant and his Houston colleagues â video journalist John Mone and photographer David Phillip â went to the boyâs current foster home outside Austin. Meanwhile, photographer Santiago Billy, reporter Sonny Figueroa and video stringer Sergio Alfaro went to the Guatemalan village of the Xol family. Together they captured the emotion of the day and the sharp contrast between the two worlds, as the dad phoned Byron on his birthday.
The story they produced was gripping, used by more than 400 AP members in the U.S. It was just one of a series of strong pieces that have put names, faces and personal narratives to the immigration story, keeping APâs coverage ahead.
For recognizing the moment and mobilizing quickly across formats and borders, Alfaro, Billy, Figueroa, Merchant, Mone and Phillip share APâs Best of the Week.
An AP Best of States mention in February about the hundreds of companies avoiding President Donald Trumpâs steel tariffs raised questions about Trumpâs $12 billion aid package to farmers hurt by the tariffs. What happened next shows how states can produce sharp, data-driven journalism â simply by calling on the data team for help.
AP filed Freedom of Information Act requests for U.S. Department of Agriculture data that was analyzed by Balint Szalai, a Hungarian investigative reporter embedded with APâs data team, and Washington data team intern Riin Aljas.
Among their findings: Many big farming operations were legally collecting far more than the supposed caps on aid.
Meanwhile, Minneapolis reporter Steve Karnowski spoke to longtime USDA critics and interviewed farmers who defended taking the big checks, saying they didnât even cover their losses under Trumpâs trade war.
The Only-on-AP story ran on dozens of sites, and because the data and analysis were released to AP members in advance, many chose to localize their stories.
For sophisticated data analysis and on-the-ground reporting that shed light on a key consequences of trade policy, Karnowski, Szalai and Aljas share this weekâs Best of the States award.
for sharp all-formats coverage in obtaining the first Western news and video of an Australian student released from North Korean custody, a scoop hailed as âbrilliantâ by the news director of the Australian Broadcasting Corp.https://bit.ly/2NxraAfhttps://bit.ly/2JxcrQI