Pulitzer-Successful Photographer Marcus Yam Is Doing it All

Globetrotting Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Marcus Yam has recovered from a piece harm, accomplished a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, and returned to the sphere, the place he now develops, writes, and pictures options.

“My first piece for The Globe and Mail just got published,” mentioned Yam on July 25, referring to his report from Taiwan about strange residents coaching to assist if China invades the island.

Yam spent greater than two weeks in Taiwan to chronicle how its rigidity with China shapes each day lives. His article explains how on a regular basis Taiwanese are studying emergency response expertise and neighborhood constructing, somewhat than focusing solely on standard fight.

Yam joined The Globe and Mail in March 2026 as an International Visual Correspondent based mostly in Madrid. His language expertise, along with English, embrace fundamental Spanish and Cantonese.

His pioneering world position is a newly conceived hybrid place: he’ll develop, report, write, and {photograph} advanced visible tales that transcend the standard picture packages, Yam says.

Path to Pulitzer Prizes

Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Yam earned an aerospace engineering diploma on the University of Buffalo in 2006.

Switching to images, he enrolled within the graduate program at Ohio University’s School of Visual Communication (2007-2008). As a part of this “boot camp” coaching, Yam often visited a close-by hamlet in rural southeastern Ohio to {photograph} residents and environment.

These encounters, with digicam gear in hand, gave him confidence to deal with future assignments, he says.

Working within the American West, Yam was on newspaper groups that gained Pulitzer Prizes in 2015 (The Seattle Times’ protection of landslides) and 2016 (Los Angeles Times’ protection of San Bernardino terror assaults). In 2017, Yam was named Newspaper Photographer of the Year by Pictures of the Year International.

His protection for the Los Angeles Times of the chaotic U.S. exit from Afghanistan gained the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. Yam labored for the Los Angeles Times for greater than 11 years (2014-February 2026), together with a two-year sabbatical for restoration from shoulder surgical procedure after a work-related harm and a year-long Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University (2024-2025).

The Overseas Press Club offered its Robert Capa Award to Yam in 2023 for his protection of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He is a two-time recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism Award, together with in 2019 for documenting on a regular basis challenges in Gaza.

The Big Picture

Yam’s report from Taiwan generated buzz on social media and mainstream press. On July 25, UPI’s Korea Regional Review published hyperlinks to Yam’s article in The Globe and Mail and a separate article by The New York Times about how Taiwan would resist a Chinese siege at sea.

The UPI overview mentioned Yam’s report from Taiwan raises a broader, world problem: “If societal resilience is now as necessary as navy functionality in deterring aggression, are democratic nations investing sufficient in making ready their residents to face up to the bodily, psychological, informational, and political shocks of contemporary battle earlier than a disaster begins?