AP Journalists Capture Extraordinary Moments in Remarkable Year

In a year marked by political tensions, natural disasters, and global challenges, Associated Press journalists found themselves at the center of extraordinary and uplifting human moments that revealed resilience, joy, and unexpected connections.

When the world witnessed the historic selection of the first American pope, AP video journalist Obed Lamy found himself in a suburban Chicago home capturing a moment few would ever experience. While interviewing John Prevost, the new pontiff’s brother, a ringing sound emerged from the basement. “That might be the pope,” Prevost said.

Indeed, Pope Leo XIV was calling his older brother for a casual chat, just hours after appearing on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica before the world. Lamy followed with his camera rolling as the conversation unfolded on speakerphone.

“I was shaking because I didn’t know what the pope would say,” Lamy recalled. “Am I supposed to say something or not say anything?”

The conversation revealed the new pontiff as simply a brother checking in. When Prevost mentioned his plans to visit Rome, the pope asked, “Oh, where are you going to sleep?” – showing that even the leader of the Catholic Church was unsure about accommodations for his family.

In Seattle, photographer Lindsey Wasson had the rare privilege of breaking life-changing news to a scientist. After the Nobel Prize in medicine was announced, Wasson was dispatched before dawn to the North Seattle home of Mary E. Brunkow, arriving before the Nobel committee could reach her.

After being let in by Brunkow’s husband Ross, Wasson delivered the news directly: “Sir, your wife just won the Nobel Prize.” The initial reaction was understandable disbelief – Mary had told her husband, “Don’t be ridiculous,” when first awakened with the news.

“As soon as Mary and Ross began to process the news and realized all those missed calls from Sweden overnight weren’t spam, the mood shifted to one of joy,” Wasson said. She documented the avalanche of messages that followed as the scientist absorbed her achievement.

In the Philippines, where at least 20 typhoons strike annually, photographer Aaron Favila raced through flooded streets to document a wedding that refused to be postponed despite rising waters. After hitching a ride on a rescue truck when his vehicle could go no further, Favila arrived just in time to capture bride Jamaica and groom Jade Rick Verdillo exchanging vows in a flooded church.

“We’ve been through a lot. This is just one of the struggles that we’ve overcome,” Verdillo told Favila, who stayed throughout the ceremony to document every moment of their determination to celebrate despite adversity.

On the opposite side of the world, reporter Jocelyn Gecker witnessed another kind of resilience when she covered the Theatre Palisades Youth group in Southern California. After the devastating Palisades Fire destroyed their theater and many cast members’ homes in January, the young performers refused to cancel their production of “Crazy for You.”

Director Lara Ganz, whose own family lost their home, was determined that the show would go on. For the young performers, the production became a vital refuge – a place to restore togetherness and hope amid profound loss.

“Witnessing opening night was a gift,” Gecker said. “It was an evening of such intense emotions jumbled together: joy and pain, heartbreak and happiness, grief and pride. It was a light in the darkness, as one father told me.”

One teenage performer shared that when singing and dancing to Gershwin music, the weight of his losses temporarily lifted. After Gecker’s story was published, members of the Gershwin family trust read it and attended a performance, delivering a letter to the cast.

“On behalf of the families of George and Ira Gershwin, we applaud your resilience,” the letter read, praising their dedication in the face of hardship. “We know that George and Ira would be too.”

These moments – a pope’s casual call, a scientist’s Nobel surprise, a wedding undeterred by floodwaters, and young performers finding healing through art – offered powerful reminders that even in challenging times, humanity’s capacity for connection, celebration and resilience remains undiminished. AP journalists not only documented these stories but sometimes became part of them, bridging the gap between global events and deeply personal human experiences.