AP Names Nine Gramling Award Winners

By: E&P Staff The Associated Press has announced the winners of its 2007 Oliver S. Gramling Award for excellence.

Nine AP staff members received the award, which is named for an AP newsman and executive who developed the AP's first radio wire in 1941. Gramling bequeathed his estate to the AP upon his death in 1992, directing that it be used to award excellence among the AP staff.

This year's winners include three journalists who cover the Middle East, a bureau supervisor, a multimedia investigative journalist, a London-based technologist, and a Web manager for the AP Television News client site.

The AP selection committee also paid tribute to those who contributed to the AP's first history book in six decades, titled "Breaking News: How the Associated Press Has Covered War, Peace, and Everything Else" (Princeton Architectural Press, June 2007).

The winners are:

For the Gramling Journalism Awards ($10,000 each):

-John Antczak, a backup supervisor in the Los Angeles bureau.
-Sharon Theimer, of the Washington-based Multimedia Investigative Team.

For the Gramling Achievement Awards ($10,000 each):

-Arif Ali, a London-based Regional Product Director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).
-Tracey Rogers, Web Manager for AP Television News.

For the Gramling Spirit Awards ($3,000 each):

-Qassim Abdul-Zahra, a Baghdad-based reporter.
-Ibrahim Barzak, an AP correspondent in the Gaza Strip.
-Bassam Hatoum, a Beirut-based senior producer for AP Television News.
-Malcolm Ritter, a New York-based science writer.

For the Gramling Scholarship Award ($3,000):

-Peter Prengaman, a Los Angeles-based immigration/diversity reporter.