It started when Evan Vucci, who was covering President Donald Trump at a roundtable event with conservative Christians, noticed an agitated Marco Rubio slipping Trump a note. Vucci and other news photographers in the room zoomed in on the handwriting on White House stationery that read, “You need to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce deal first.”
That prompted Trump to proclaim, “We’re very close to a deal in the Middle East.”
Recognizing the moment’s importance, and lacking any other confirmation, Washington put out a quick separate on the moment. News followed an hour later, with Trump announcing that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the “first phase” of his peace plan to pause fighting and release at least some hostages, prisoners and detainees.
The AP was fast on all formats: Washington and Middle East staff quickly launched a latest and live blog, leveraging AP’s strongest live feeds and visuals. The coverage wove reactions from Palestinians in Gaza into the mainbar, with a separate on reactions from hostage families and world leaders. Photo editors compiled a gallery of Israelis and Palestinians responding to the news. AP published a smart “What We Know” — also focusing on what we didn’t — and a deeply reported “How It Happened.”
With little to no sleep, staff deployed before dawn to establish live feeds and capture additional footage of celebrations in Gaza and Israel. As soon as it was safe, the team launched a drone to document the destruction in Gaza after two years of war.
In tandem with this coverage, the Middle East team followed with a photo essay by Fatima Shbair, marking two years of war. Shbair, a Gaza-based photographer now in Dubai, reflected on her most poignant images and hardest moments from the early days of the conflict.
The judges noted the remarkable visuals threaded throughout the coverage and the strong coordination between the teams in the Middle East and Washington.
For putting audiences in the moment and delivering collaborative, cross-format reporting that gave the deepest understanding of what had been negotiated, the Middle East and Washington staff are Best of the Week winners.
Related articles
