Last year, the Associated Press did not inform the panel of 50 voters that the full award ballots would be released. And then the full ballots were released.
This year, the AP informed the voters that “[w]e will post your ballots after the awards show.” And the ballots have not been released.
Moreover, the AP didn’t provide for the 2025 awards a full breakdown of all votes received for each person in each category. Instead, only the top five were listed, along with the names of others not in the top five who received first-place votes.
The full list of 2025 voters also has not been released. It’s currently unclear whether it will be.
We’ve asked the AP for an explanation regarding this change in the procedure. Transparency is always a good thing; given that the AP opted for full transparency a year ago, it’s important to understand why the AP pivoted toward less transparency in 2025.