Best of AP — Honorable Mention

AP leans into confusion and quirks of daylight saving time in northeastern Arizona

Melissa Blackhair speaks of daylight saving time, March 4, 2024, from her home in Tuba City, Ariz. Blackhair lives along a stretch of highway that is the de facto border between the Navajo and Hopi Indian reservations and two time zones. AP PHOTO / MATT YORK
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Phoenix-based Race and Ethnicity reporter Terry Tang presented a unique spin on daylight saving time by exploring a corner of Arizona where one Native American tribe changes clocks but a neighboring one doesn’t.

Arizona is known as one of two U.S. states that shun daylight saving time. But a corner of the state that’s home to the Navajo Nation doesn’t. The tribe since 1968 has switched clocks, creating a sort of time warp for anyone traveling across the Navajo Nation and the Hopi reservation that’s landlocked within it.

Terry Tang spent weeks reaching out to tribal members by phone and, later, on the ground who could explain the confusion. She then traveled to Tuba City with Southwest chief photographer Matt York as he captured visuals, and she did a social media standup that was a huge hit on AP’s TikTok account.

A map produced by graphics artist Kevin Vineys nicely illustrated the story, which was used countless times across the U.S.

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