‘Blink-and-you-miss-it': Standout moments from AP awards season coverage

The Associated Press has for decades offered sweeping, all-formats coverage of awards season, delivering video, photo, text and live reporting that brings to life the entertainment industry’s tentpole events.

From exclusive red carpet interviews to behind-the-scenes moments at the Golden Globes, Grammys, Oscars and more, AP offers global audiences a front row seat to the awards show action.

Fresh off the 97th Academy Awards, Global Entertainment Editor Anthony McCartney pulls back the curtain:

AP has a comprehensive, year-round approach to entertainment coverage. How does this set us up for awards season? What sets AP apart?

AP is fortunate to have talented beat journalists who cover the worlds of film and music closely. They watch a lot of movies, listen to a lot of songs and albums and have a great ability to anticipate trends and projects that will be popular with audiences and awards voters.

While the biggest award shows happen January through March, the projects honored premiere or are released months before that. An Oscar winner can premiere at the Sundance, Cannes, Venice or Toronto film festivals, and AP is at all these events. Our coverage of an Oscar winner often starts months earlier, and our global footprint means we generally get to follow projects every step of the way in their awards journey – from multiple premieres, one-on-one interviews and awards shows.

How do we make sure the various components of AP’s coverage—photo, text and video—work together to create engaging storytelling around an event like the Oscars or Grammys?

We know viewers, readers and customers want to see a variety of aspects of an awards show, from the fashion on the red carpet to an emotional acceptance speech or the night’s big winner loaded down with trophies.

Increasingly, we’ve been able to offer live video from the red carpets of shows, which lets audiences see their favorite stars arrive at events. For example, our Grammys red carpet was one of AP’s most watched livestreams ever with nearly 4 million views. It was also the second most viewed red carpet stream, behind the Grammys’ own feed.

Not everyone can watch a show, so our text stories help people catch up on key moments – and see them through photos taken by our extremely talented photographers. By the time the Grammys and Oscars roll around, our journalists have likely covered a nominee at multiple stages, which allows us to tell deeper stories about them, their projects and what the winners might mean for future awards seasons.

With so many moving parts, how do you ensure AP coverage remains distinctive and ahead of the competition? How do you decide what moments to prioritize?

A lot of this comes down to our planning and our journalists knowing their beats so well. Being at the early year film festivals gives us an edge in seeing what might be in the awards mix later in the year and that informs our coverage. Once nominees are announced, we’re able to see what trends and storylines may emerge.

The Oscars are nearing their 100-year mark, and there are still firsts happening—just this year Paul Tazewell became the first Black man to win an Oscar for best costume design, and Latvia won its first Oscar with “Flow.” These shows have a global audience, and we do often get dispatches from our AP colleagues in other parts of the world to tell stories about nominees and winners.

Award shows are full of blink-and-you-miss-it moments, and AP’s journalists and technicians know this and take great care and pride in making sure that we capture them – both for audiences and our customers around the world.

See a slideshow of the top AP photos from awards season: