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09/06/07
AP Press Release
AP Exchange wins AP's 2007 Chairman's Prize
NEW YORK -- The Associated Press team responsible for
successfully establishing the Web-based content access service
called AP Exchange has won The Chairman's Prize, the company's
highest honor for innovation and breakthrough entrepreneurship
affecting the news industry.
"Thanks to AP Exchange, for the first time AP can make
the full range of its worldwide database of news and information
instantly available to customers in ways that allow them to
easily find content that is of critical importance to them,"
said AP President and CEO Tom Curley in announcing the award
selection. "AP Exchange combines a powerful password-protected
search engine with a comprehensive database of news, photos,
graphics and video which has revolutionized the way that AP
members and customers can access the full spectrum of our
content."
The Chairman's Prize was created in 2004 to stimulate staff
innovation that advances AP and journalism. The prize is named
after the current chairman, William Dean Singleton, and past
chairs Frank Batten, Frank Daniels, William Keating, Donald
Newhouse and Burl Osborne, who selected the winner from recommendations
by a committee of AP managers.
"The judges concurred that AP Exchange is an overwhelmingly
deserving winner this year because it is an innovative service
on a number of fronts, giving customers improved access to
the AP report, earning new revenue with no incremental editorial
costs and providing a new platform for an industry news exchange
that will affirm AP as not just a content provider but as
a core element of industry infrastructure," Curley said.
The groundbreaking content access service was launched on
time in September 2006 as a new business platform using the
Web, reflecting the changes occurring in media markets. It
was designed to offer editors a secure, always-on service
to access and organize AP's news as well as news from newspapers
across the United States. Within nine months of its launch,
AP Exchange is active in at least 85 percent of member newsrooms,
well on its way to becoming the next generation of news delivery
and member exchange its creators envisioned.
"It's a powerful tool which removes technological barriers
for journalists," Curley said. "It supports newspapers'
efforts to better serve their communities by allowing them
to create more focused and highly targeted publications that
meet local needs."
The ability to create new niche products -- which would not
have been previously possible without using the AP Exchange
technology -- has led to significant new revenue in the first
year of operation. By the end of 2007, AP Exchange will be
fully rolled out to the entire membership, offering them a
powerful alternative to satellite-delivered legacy newswires.
The cross-departmental team credited with leading the project
includes Dwayne Desaulniers, deputy director, U.S. Newspaper
Markets; Cynthia Blair, senior project manager, Technology;
Ava Tang, deputy director of product data, Information Management,
Technology; Pramod Anchuparayil, software architect, Technology;
and Linda Dorrian, director of Web applications, Technology.
The chairmen will honor those five leaders and their project
colleagues with a monetary award commensurate with the winning
idea at an Oct. 24 awards ceremony at New York headquarters.
Previous Chairman's Prize winners include the team which created
the Online Video Network in 2006 and the team which spawned
the AP Television News service APTN Direct in 2004. No prize
was awarded in 2005, at the discretion of the judges.
About the AP
The Associated Press is the essential global news network,
delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world,
to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today
is the largest and most trusted source of independent news
and information. On any given day, more than half the world's
population sees news from AP.
On the Net:
http://www.ap.org
http://www.ap.org/apexchange/
Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1720
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