With the Nobel team in Northern Europe alerting the 2025 Nobel Prize in medicine, the clock was ticking to find this year’s laureates. That task fell for the second year in a row to science writer Adithi Ramakrishnan, who searched for addresses and contact details for the winners or their institutions.
In Seattle, photographer Lindsey Wasson had just returned from covering a late Mariners game when the call came at 2:40 a.m.: Two of the winners were local. She sprang into action, heading first to the Seattle home of scientist Mary Brunkow. Navigating a dark alley and a house without a visible number, Wasson finally found the right door and knocked. The scientist’s dog barking woke Brunkow’s husband.
“I don’t think he really knew what I was there for,” Wasson said. “I said, ‘You know, sir, I think your wife just won the Nobel Prize.’”
Wasson’s photographs captured Brunkow’s husband waking her and sharing the life-changing news: she was among three winners sharing the 2025 medicine prize. Brunkow, initially skeptical, believed it only after Wasson showed her AP’s bulletin on her phone. Over the next five hours, Wasson quietly documented the morning as Brunkow absorbed the news, spoke with the Nobel Committee, called her daughters and did interviews with other outlets.
Beyond the exclusive visuals, Wasson filmed a first-person “AP Was There” video recounting her experience and contributed footage for a story by Ramakrishnan and Berlin-based writer Stefanie Dazio. The piece highlighted how AP’s teamwork and coordination delivered unique access and emotional storytelling during Nobel week.
Dozens of AP journalists across Japan, Europe, Latin America, Australia and the U.S. contributed to the broader Nobel coverage — from live video in Caracas as the city awoke to Maria Corina Machado’s Peace Prize win, to more first interviews with laureates and explanatory pieces anticipating reader questions about a potential Peace Prize for Donald Trump.
Judges noted how the work showcased the AP’s global reach and leaned into the priorities of being first with the news. For planning, speed and agility across formats, Wasson, Ramakrishnan and the Nobel team win this week’s second citation for Best of the Week.
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