The Associated Press has been awarded the 2014 Focal International Award for Best Footage Library. The result was announced last night at a ceremony and gala dinner in Central London, the winner having been chosen exclusively by archive researchers and footage users.
The AP Archive, the film and video archive of AP, is one of the world’s most important audio-visual archives of news, social history, sports and entertainment. It contains more than 1.7 million global news and entertainment stories dating back to 1895, and hours of new footage are added daily. The platform allows online downloads and licensing of footage, while offering a range of specialist features to enable customers to search, organise and share research.
In 2012, AP embarked on a major project to digitise its vast archive film and videotape assets, and a new state-of-the-art web platform was built to host the newly digitised footage, enabling easy access for professional footage users. Although the project was commercially driven, it has also ensured the preservation of unique footage of some of the most important events in history, for the benefit of future generations.
The platform also provides access to AP’s strategic content partners which includes the iconic British Movietone collection, offering a huge range of British and international footage dating from 1895 to1986.
“We are very proud of our archive, which is an incredible visual document of the people and events that have shaped the last century and reflects AP’s heritage in frontline news,” said AP Director of International Archives, Alwyn Lindsey. “Winning this award is testament to what we have achieved with it. It is an industry leading platform that offers customers access to the widest array of digital news and historical footage available. The FOCAL International Award is especially important as the winner is chosen by the customers, the greatest endorsement that we could wish for.”
A list of all the winners can be viewed here: http://www.focalint.org/focal-international-awards/2014/the-focal-international-awards-2014.
Contact
Laura Imregi
Communications Manager
The Associated Press
0207 482 7751
limregi@ap.org
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