06/03/2010


AP Press Release

WinterGames.ap.org wins AP’s 2010 Chairman’s Prize

NEW YORK -- The Associated Press team that created WinterGames.ap.org has won The Chairman's Prize, the company's highest honor, for its work in developing a new model of distribution for AP and its members.

In announcing the award selection, AP President and CEO Tom Curley called the WinterGames.ap.org platform "an innovative catalyst for experimentation with aggregation, search engine optimization, co-branding, content licensing, ad sales and timely packaging.” Said Curley: “It will spawn new online products designed to extract value from the power and collective scale of AP’s membership."

The AP, in partnership with its members and local media affiliates, produced the consumer-facing, co-branded microsite, which featured premium multimedia coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

“As a not-for-profit newsgathering cooperative, one of our most valuable assets is our collective audience, and this initiative found a creative way to monetize that unique relationship,” Curley said.

The cross-departmental core team which led the development of WinterGames.ap.org will be honored at the AP Staff Recognition Awards Dinner at New York headquarters in July. They are Senior Visual Designer John Barrow of Technology; Deputy Sports Editor Mary Byrne; Architect-Web Portals Doug Coen of Technology; Technical Program Manager Colette Foulke of Technology; Global Director of Sports Products Michael Lutzky; and Deputy Director of Digital Marketing Joe Webster.

Lutzky, the business stakeholder for WinterGames.ap.org in Global Product Development, conceived of the concept, championed the project and budget approval, participated in the technology build and managed the business operations. Barrow designed the site incorporating industry best practices and advised the project team of usability elements.

Byrne provided the world-class content, adapted that content to be site ready and participated in the quality assurance testing of the content offering. Coen transformed the design into a functioning site. Foulke managed technical implementation from concept to live product. Webster provided strategy and tools for execution of audience gathering and participation, and identified and managed valuable digital partnerships.

“The core team and the many others who worked on the project represent the entrepreneurial vision, passion and drive that permeates the AP as we push for digital evolution in ourselves and in the industry,” Curley said.

The Chairman's Prize was created in 2004. The prize is named after the current chairman, William Dean Singleton, and past chairs, the late Frank Batten, Frank Daniels, William Keating, Donald Newhouse and Burl Osborne. They selected the winner from recommendations by a committee of AP managers.

Previous Chairman's Prize winners include Jeffrey Litvack’s 2008 team, which launched AP Mobile, Dwayne Desaulniers' 2007 team, which developed AP Exchange, Jim Kathman's 2006 team, which initiated the Online Video Network and Sandy MacIntyre's 2004 team, which created the AP Television News service APTN Direct.

About the AP

The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world, to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world's population sees news from AP.

Online:

www.ap.org

http://wintergames.ap.org/

Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1720