LONDON: International video news agency APTN figured as one of the four international finalists nominated for the International Emmy awards for its coverage of Gulf War II.
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences presented its News and Documentary Awards - dubbed the Emmys - in New York on 3 September 2003. The award went to ITN for Channel 4 News for their piece on the fall of Saddam Hussein.
More than a billion viewers saw APTN footage supplied via 500 broadcaster and online portals. The agency sent 120 people to the region, equipped with the latest video and satellite technology in what was the largest deployment in television news agency history.
APTN is the international television arm of The Associated Press - the world's oldest and largest news gathering organisation. It has over 80 bureaux in 67 countries linked by a network of global satellites. APTN also supplies video news, entertainment, and sports content to more than 500 broadcast newsrooms, portals, Internet, broadband and mobile products worldwide.
APTN covered the bombing of Baghdad live and reported the capture of its international airport by US troops. The agency's live images of the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in a Baghdad square were amongst the most memorable of the war.
APTN scored a world exclusive when an American pilot used a small APTN digital camera to capture the air to ground bombing of Iraq. APTN also used cutting-edge satellite tracking antennas and videophone technology to transmit live pictures from the deck of the American aircraft carrier USS Constellation during bombing raids.
It mounted full broadcast quality satellite dishes onto specially adapted four-wheel drive vehicles to give viewers a unique perspective of the unfolding conflict in the Iraqi desert and in Northern Iraq.
This latest accolade, which is an agency first, follows recognition from the Royal Television Society in the UK whose Special Judges' Award was given to APTN for coverage of the 11 September World Trade Centre attacks.