For its ambitious use of freedom of information laws to generate high impact news stories, the Associated Press has won the 2011 Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award.
In a press release, the AP said it filed more than 1,000 public records requests in 2010 and 60 legal appeals of rejections. In 2009, the AP filed more than 1,500 requests and made 40 appeals.
The award, which carries a $10,000 prize, is sponsored by the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation and will be presented to the AP Sept. 27 at the Excellence in Journalism 2011 conference in New Orleans.