Washington Post Video

To cap off our week highlighting the best work from the Post video team, we present you with the biggest stories of 2011. Here in the states, we dealt with a failing economy, a story that both Ben de la Cruz and Whitney Shefte found local angles on. NASA launched and successfully landed the final shuttle mission, which carried the husband of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who at the time was in critical condition from a gunshot would to her head. Just across the border in Mexico drug violence punctuated the news locally and nationally.

Of course, not all the big news was bad news, The Royal wedding was perhaps the biggest driver of traffic to washingtonpost.com this year, and a huge story on both sides of the Atlantic. But that’s not the only special wedding we covered—Evelio Contreras documented one local man’s (successful) goal of proposing to his wife through the Post’s own crossword puzzle.

In 2012 we’re hoping to continue bringing you these stories, telling them in unique visual ways.

Happy Holidays!

Lives of victims and alleged shooter intersect at YMCA (by AJ Chavar)

The Northside YMCA in Tucson, Ariz., is a community nexus where the lives of four people involved in the mass shooting that critically injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords have intersected: 9 year old Christina Green, Judge John M. Roll, alleged shooter Jared Lee Loughner and Gabrielle Giffords herself.

The royal wedding in under 2 minutes (Produced by Jayne Orenstein)

From the arrivals, to the ceremony and the balcony kiss, here is a recap of all the key moments from the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Million Dollar Wasteland (by Ben de la Cruz)

A Renter’s Story: Andre Wallace is among the thousands of people searching for affordable housing in the District. (full project here)

Race and the recession: How Americans are getting by (by Whitney Shefte)

African Americans in Prince George’s County, Md., grapple with how to get by as they face increasing unemployment and foreclosure.

Remembering the Shuttle Era (by Alexandra Garcia, AJ Chavar, Jason Aldag and Sohail Al-Jamea)

Born out of a grand vision of space exploration after the Apollo moon missions, NASA’s manned space vehicle, Columbia, lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in 1981. The final flight of Atlantis will mark the end of the space shuttle era after 135 missions.

Driving down Mexico’s ‘Highway of Death’ (Produced by Kristen Boghosian)

The Washington Post’s Nick Miroff and William Booth took a ride on what is now called the “Highway of Death” in Mexico. Several mass graves have been found near the road, each containing bodies of travelers shot or beaten to death by drug cartel members.

Crossword puzzle wedding proposal (by Evelio Contreras)

Corey Newman could not wait to get his hands on a Sunday Washington Post to ask Marlowe Epstein, “Will you marry me?” through a crossword puzzle.