for a creative approach to frame newly released body-camera footage showing Milwaukee police shooting an unarmed black man, contrasting the way that encounter ended in violence against the peaceful resolution that officers achieved with a white man who confronted officers in the same neighborhood while holding an assault rifle. https://bit.ly/2TIR8iE
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 weeks, journalists in Washington had been chasing tips that special counsel Robert Muellerâs investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 race for the White House was winding down. Knowing that appetite for the story was huge, our Washington team created a comprehensive coverage plan for the day the report would be delivered to Attorney General William Barr.
Eric Tucker, Justice Department reporter, and Chad Day, Trump investigations reporter, kicked off the coverage with âMueller in Plain Sight,â a sweeping narrative of everything that had already been revealed by Mueller in his public indictments.
As speculation intensified, Tucker and law enforcement reporter Mike Balsamo alternated shifts at the Justice Department, while AP photographers and videojournalists staked out Mueller and Barr. Photographer Andrew Harnik scored with images of Mueller arriving at the Justice Department, the first image of Mueller by a news photographer in more than a year.
Word finally came on Friday, March 22 that Muellerâs work had ended. Within minutes of moving an alert, the AP sent a series of richly reported stories by the team that led APâs coverage for months: Tucker, Day, Balsamo and Congress reporter Mary Clare Jalonick.
And on Sunday morning AP scored another visual scoop when freelance photographer Cliff Owen learned that Mueller was at church. Owenâs photos of Mueller exiting St. Johnâs church ricocheted around the internet.
Later Sunday, when a Justice Department official handed reporters copies of Barrâs summary, Tucker calmly read the highlights over an open phone line to the bureau while Balsamo sent full quotes. APâs first alert, that Mueller had not exonerated Trump on obstruction of justice, moved a full 10 minutes before the Washington Post and five minutes before the New York Times.
The video team also provided unmatched live coverage from a wide range of locations in Washington, at Mar-a-Lago in Florida and in New York throughout the weekend.
For exceptional planning, teamwork and execution, Eric Tucker, Chad Day, Mike Balsamo, Mary Clare Jalonick, Andrew Harnik and Cliff Owen win APâs Best of the Week award.
Police videos of officers shooting unarmed black men have sparked angry protests in Chicago, Sacramento and other U.S. cities. But APâs Ryan Foley wondered: Is it the norm for departments to release footage from body-worn and dashboard cameras?
Foley, based in Iowa City, Iowa, a member of APâs state government team, investigated and found that many departments routinely deny public access to their videos of officer-involved shootings and other uses of force.
Foley filed open records requests related to roughly 20 recent use-of-force incidents in a dozen states. His letters were met with denial after denial as police departments routinely cited a broad exemption to state open records laws: They claimed that releasing the video would undermine an ongoing investigation. But critics say the exemption is often misapplied to keep embarrassing or compromising video footage from public view.
To tell the story visually, Central Region video journalist Noreen Nasir dug through APâs archives to highlight the moments and emotions that followed the deaths of unarmed black men, including the fatal police shooting of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. She also interviewed a woman in North Dakota whose brother died after being shot in the back of the head during a struggle with police, adding a crucial perspective to the video.
At the same time, Panagiotis Mouzakis, multimedia animation producer in London, used the many denial letters Foley had collected to create a video graphic that was incorporated into Nasirâs video, and Beat Team visuals editor Alina Hartounian developed a social plan that helped the package find a huge audience.
For shining a light on how police departments continue to withhold visual evidence and for devising creative ways to illustrate the story, Foley, Nassir and Mouzakis share this weekâs Best of the States award.
AP staffers are often called the âMarines of journalism.â First in, last out.
Our small New Zealand team of Mark Baker and Nick Perry showed what that looks like as they responded to horrific mass shootings at two mosques. Their swift response securing early, definitive images and witness accounts laid the foundation for the APâs dominant, agenda-setting coverage of the tragedy in the hours and days that followed.
Baker, the Southeast Asia photo editor known widely as âCrusty,â lives in Christchurch, where the attack happened. He heard radio reports of a possible shooting at a mosque and quickly alerted Perry, the Wellington correspondent, to get words on the wire. Baker headed immediately to the scene, where his early images of survivors became the definitive shots of the tragedy.
Back in Wellington, Perry aggressively filed on breaking developments before going to Christchurch, where he scored another major win for AP by interviewing an Afghan refugee who would be hailed as a hero for confronting the gunman, likely preventing more deaths.
Asia quickly deployed reinforcements, with cross-format teams ensuring AP kept up its advantage on the ground while colleagues from afar kept the story fresh as Asia slept.
For their quick response that showcased APâs fundamental advantage when news breaks across the world, Baker and Perry share APâs Best of the Week award.
Thereâs always a better story behind a statistic.
Chicagoâs homicide rate is one of the worst in the United States. By digging into one drive-by shooting, Chicago-based legal affairs reporter Michael Tarm and Houston-based video journalist John Mone found out how one victimâs life had inspired a generation of gang territory storytellers.
Telling it took a lot of sourcework.
Tarm had already been working on a story about social media and gangs, and heâd watched a few of Zack Stonerâs reports on Chicago street gangs and rappers on his ZackTV1 YouTube channel. When reports surfaced that Stoner was gunned down, Tarm began to look deeper, stumbling across a wider story â about a new brand of gutsy gangland reporters in Chicago and elsewhere who have avid followers on YouTube.
Getting access to the storytellers was tough, but eventually the name of Texas-based reporter Shawn Cotton emerged. Cotton was eager to discuss Stoner, his impact on the genre and the effect his killing had on him and others. Mone rode along with Cotton to the Meadow Brook subdivision in Fort Worth, dubbed âMurder Brookâ by some of the kids on the street where Cotton filmed.
The multi-platform work played prominently with impressive reader engagement.
For relentless sourcework to show how a generation of storytellers is impacting its communities, Tarm and Mone win this weekâs Best of the States.
for breaking news on the unusual circumstances around $4.15 million in settlements for alleged victims of sexual harrassment by a former close ally of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. From a comprehensive records request and interviews, Foley learned that a lawyer for the women had sent a detailed âdemand letterâ threatening a lawsuit days before the election and a promise to dig into the governorâs association with the now-fired director of the Iowa Finance Authority. The state, Foley reported, agreed to settle immediately after receiving the letter. https://bit.ly/2EoXmxR
for their quick reaction and effective coordination by teams on two continents that allowed AP to score an exclusive on Venezuelan families who became the unintended victims of U.S. sanctions against companies tied to the embattled government of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. https://bit.ly/2EARlzw
It doesnât get much cooler than this.
Portland, Maine-based photographer Bob Bukatyâs captivating video and photos bring to life the 120-year-old tradition of ice harvesting, a process that yields ice used for cooling beverages at a New Hampshire summer resort. Using a variety of techniques, equipment, angles, reflections and vantage points, Bukaty took the readers onto the ice on Squam Lake in Holderness, N.H.
Concord correspondent Michael Casey originated the story and wrote the text, while East digital presentation editor Samantha Shotzbarger adapted Caseyâs text story into an audio script, voiced by broadcast journalist Warren Levinson.
Bukaty spent most of a frigid day on the lake, using a GoPro camera in a waterproof housing to record the activity under and over the 13-inch-thick ice. He also recorded interviews of group members who used chain saws, ice picks and a massive sled-mounted saw to harvest the blocks of ice from the lake surface.
The striking visuals were the talk of newsrooms in New England and at New York headquarters. By weekâs end the story had nearly 30,000 page views, and the video spent three days among APâs top U.S. newsroom-ready videos â even while competing against State of the Union coverage.
For their story that generated national interest with compelling visuals, the team of Bukaty, Shotzbarger and Casey wins this weekâs Best of the States.
In the wake of offensive and insensitive comments about victims of ex-sports doctor Larry Nassar, calls for the resignation or firing of interim Michigan State University President John Engler reached a crescendo.
As the fast-moving story developed, multiple outlets cited anonymous sources in reporting his imminent departure, but Detroit reporter Corey Williams and Lansing, Michigan, correspondent David Eggert scored significant beats on the story, all of them solidly sourced.
Williams successfully reached two MSU trustees â one who said the board had the votes to oust Engler and another saying he was expected to resign later that day, while Eggert contacted Rachael Denhollander, the first victim of Larry Nassar to have gone public, for exclusive early reaction.
And finally, working his sources, Eggert exclusively obtained a copy of Englerâs 11-page resignation letter, which the universityâs board was refusing to release. The AP was alone with the letter for at least an hour, posting the document online so we could link to it from our breaking story.
The APâs story and reporting were widely used, including by The Detroit News â where Englerâs offensive comments had appeared, setting the series of events in motion.
For solid on-the-record reporting that put the AP far ahead on a highly competitive story, Williams and Eggert win this weekâs Best of the States.
for obtaining a 2,000-plus page forensic study commissioned by Pope Francis of the legal case against Argentinaâs most notorious convicted predator priest that concluded he was innocent, that his victims were lying and that the case never should have gone to trial. https://bit.ly/2xJNGen
AP investigative reporter Maggie Michael has done landmark reporting on Yemenâs civil war throughout the past year, revealing abuses by the Saudi-led coalition that controls much of the south of the country.
But there had been a major gap in the coverage for all media: putting the same scrutiny on the other side in the conflict, the Houthi rebels who control the north. The Houthis impose strict controls on reporters, and sources are afraid to talk, problems that have prevented journalists from reporting in-depth on abuses carried out by the Houthis during the 4-year-old civil war.
Michael found another way. She and Cairo photographer Nariman El-Mofty travelled to the coalition-controlled city of Marib, where they could meet freely with victims of the Houthis who had fled the rebelsâ rule. There, former prisoners described horrifying tortures at the hands of the Houthis. Narimanâs riveting visuals encapsulated the suffering, including photos of a man recovering from horrific acid burns, draped in red bandages.
The reporting, supported partly by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, was a breakthrough, as it has been rare to see atrocities by Houthis so prominently featured. Rather than denying the story, a top Houthi figure called for an investigation into allegations of torture in the movementâs prisons.
For their investigation that exposed in raw, excruciating detail the scope of torture committed by the Houthis, Michael and El-Mofty share AP's Best of the Week award.
For more than a decade, Washington photo editor Jon Elswick has negotiated with the Department of Defense over coverage plans for the funeral of former President George H.W. Bush, while Houston photojournalist David Phillip fostered a relationship with the Bush family and their spokesman to secure APâs shooting positions for the eventual funeral events.
Those relationships were crucial to arranging and executing coverage, paving the way for more than two dozen staffers to parachute into Washington, Houston and College Station, Texas, where they produced outstanding photos in real time and for the history books.
Among the highlights: Photographer Morry Gash fired a remote-controlled camera that captured a stunning birdâs-eye view of the U.S. Capitol rotunda during visitation and services, and David Phillip negotiated to shoot inside the railroad car carrying the coffin as the funeral train passed through Texas. Phillip called it âthe most incredible event I have ever covered.â
The photo coverage was part of an impressive dayslong cross-format effort by scores of AP staff across the country and globe that included hours of live video and spot and breaking text, video, audio and graphics coverage that explored Bushâs life and presidency from every angle.
For exceptional planning and execution on one of the largest news events of the year, this weekâs Best of the States goes to the team of photo staff covering the Bush funeral.
Californiaâs news staff still was in the midst of reporting the tragic night-spot shooting in Thousand Oaks when news reached the AP that a wildfire in Northern California was spreading quickly, sending thousands fleeing.
Bay Area freelance photographer Noah Berger, as good a fire chaser as there is anywhere, tipped the office off that the Northern California fire looked explosive. By 11 a.m. Sacramento reporter Don Thompson was hitting the road, and a first AP NewsAlert moved saying people fleeing for their lives had abandoned vehicles as the fire swept in.
APâs all-formats coverage went into high gear, with staffers pouring in from the region. In addition to Thompson, who stayed at the scene with fire crews for several days straight, Portland, Ore., all-formats reporter Gilly Flaccus arrived, producing unmatched interviews in text and video of survivors and of crews searching for the remains of those killed. San Francisco reporter Paul Elias gathered information on the dramatic rescues and chaotic evacuation, while Las Vegas photographer John Locher and Denver videographer Peter Banda provided gripping visuals from the scene.
AP was first to report thousands of homes destroyed, first to report a named victim, and we were alone in accompanying a search and recovery crew in all formats as they went to a victimâs home and found her remains.
The coverage was nuanced and emotional. California News Editor Frank Baker says there was no one on the California staff who didnât contribute, working unrelentingly from last weekâs elections and mass shooting straight into the wildfire.
For outstanding work, bolstered and supported by Californiaâs all-formats reporting staff and editors, Thompson, Flaccus, Elias, Berger, Locher and Banda share this AP's Best of the Week.
A source called Iowa City correspondent Ryan J. Foley with a tip: He had a shocking letter that he couldnât share in which the Catholic Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa, acknowledged a priest admitted to abuse of 50 boys in Iowa over 20 years.
Foley eventually tracked down a copy of the letter, and it was stunning: The diocese admitted the Rev. Jerome Coyle reported his pedophilia in 1986 but was simply shuffled to New Mexico for treatment. The diocese also offered to pay Coyle to stay in New Mexico, warning that his desired return to Iowa would retraumatize his victims, now grown men.
Yet sources said he returned to Fort Dodge, Iowa, which is where Foley and photographer Charlie Neibergall found him. The priest wouldnât talk, but the diocese confirmed Foleyâs story and acknowledged two victims had come forward in recent weeks with allegations against Coyle that would now be turned over to police. The 32-year coverup was over.
Reaction to Foleyâs story â the lead story in newspapers across the state â was quick, with Coyle removed from the home, the Iowa attorney generalâs office launching an inquiry, and the diocese promising to identify all priests who have faced credible allegations.
The diocese said it was taking this action due to the continuing investigations of âthe AP reporter.â
For breaking a story in vivid detail that had been kept hidden for decades, Foley wins this weekâs Best of the States award.
The short item that moved on the Associated Pressâ New York state wire Saturday night about a two-car crash involving a limousine in the upstate town of Schoharie was hardly remarkable. It included the line: âState police said only that the crash happened just before 2 p.m. ... and caused âmultiple fatalities.â
Then came the shocking update from the State Police the next morning: 20 people were killed in the crash, making it the deadliest traffic incident in the United States in more than a decade.
That triggered a coordinated multiformat response that leveraged the AP's resources in New York State and beyond, leading all coverage of the tragedy.
For outstanding breaking news work that lived up to the highest standards of the AP, Michael Hill, David Klepper, Hans Pennink, Bob Salsberg and Deepti Hajela win this week's Best of the States award.
for showing how the security industry has leveraged the Parkland shooting to resurrect sputtering plans to ship hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars toward unproven safety technology. https://bit.ly/2A56fvS
The two-day sentencing hearing and imprisonment of former TV star Bill Cosby ended a decades-long battle over sexual assault accusations against the comedian once known as âAmericaâs Dad.â An AP team of reporters, photographers and video journalists drew on strong planning and coordination to excel in all formats while fending off a throng of competition.
The AP was ahead at all key moments in the sentencing, from a judgeâs decision to label Cosby a sexually violent predator to the moment he handed down a sentence of 3 to 10 years and then denied bail. Staffers moved top photos to the wire almost instantly after they were shot, and provided live video of the scene.
For their excellent work in covering the Cosby sentencing, the team of Michael Sisak, Maryclaire Dale, Claudia Lauer, Pete Brown, Alyssa Goodman, Matt Rourke, Matt Slocum, Jackie Larma, Mike Householder and Joe Frederick share the Best of the Week award.
for writing and shooting both photos and video about a neighborhood art studio â a reconciliation effort to unite a community divided by race and income in âalways violentâ Chicago. Judges were particularly impressed by Irvineâs creative visual storytelling and unusual photo angles to build a compelling and heartwarming picture of the initiative, with people on both sides of the divide taking steps to connect. https://bit.ly/2ye77flhttps://bit.ly/2NmLiQb
A Sept. 22 assault on a military parade in Iran was the countryâs deadliest terror attack in nearly a decade. AP's entire team of journalists in Tehran drew on its vast expertise to convey key details and the broader context of the shootings that killed at least 25 people and wounded 60 others.
Staffers swung into action soon after gunmen disguised as soldiers suddenly opened fire on the annual military celebration in Ahvaz, in southwestern Iran. The attack sent parade viewers fleeing in panic, the scenes of chaos and fear broadcast live across the country.
For their dominating work in covering the breaking news, the Tehran-based team of Nasser Karimi, Ami Vahdat, Vahid Salemi, Ebrahim Noroozi, Mehdi Fattahi, Mohammad Nasiri, Mohsen Ganji, Saeed Sarmadi share the Best of the Week award.
