Best of AP — Honorable Mention

AP highlights the oft-overlooked women of D-Day

Members of the W.R.N.S. are playing an important part in the War. Among their various duties is that of dispatch riders six dispatch riders are on duty at the Admiralty Carrying dispatches from where to all parts. They work in various shifts and also carry out the maintenance of their motor-cycles and practically no repair to the machine in beyond them. Dispatch riders having their knowledge of the London area checked by a leading Wren, July 29, 1940. (AP Photo)
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In an inclusive, visually compelling, all-formats package, AP journalists told the little-known story of women who contributed to the war effort.

The project began as an assignment to find surviving D-Day veterans and tell their stories as part of AP’s coverage of the 80th anniversary. As the number of living men who stormed the beaches of Normandy has dwindled, the London bureau instead decided to focus on the contributions of the women who helped make the campaign a success — and whose roles are often overlooked by the history books. The team found four women between the ages of 97 and 103 who welcomed them into their homes to share stories about the fall of France, the bombing of London and how they, as teenagers, signed up to do whatever they could to help.

The result was a series of four interlacing stories that were incredibly vivid and gave the women the recognition they deserve, with text by Kirka and photos by Wigglesworth. Ha used photos provided by the women and the AP archives to produce video, while Castaneda produced a rich featured presentation. The creative storytelling encapsulates the kind of diverse, creative and compelling interactive journalism that’s the gold standard at the AP.

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