A JOURNALIST with the Los Angeles Times, Marcus Yam, has won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography of last summer’s fall of Kabul, Afghanistan, to Taliban fighters.
Malaysian-born Yam "delivered pictures of unspeakable tragedy and abiding emotion" out of a war zone, reported the Los Angeles Times.
The Pulitzer judges described Yam's photos as “raw and urgent images of the US departure from Afghanistan that captured the human costs of the historic change in the country.”
He shared the award for breaking news photography with four photographers from Getty Images. They were commended for their “comprehensive and consistently riveting photos of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.”
Yam, 38, was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He became a photographer after leaving a career in aerospace engineering and joined The Times in 2014.
His editors said Yam employed an “almost radical open-mindedness”. He captured scenes that epitomised the chaotic end of the United States’ 20-year occupation of Afghanistan.
Yam’s award was the 49th Pulitzer Prize for The Times since 1942, including six gold medals for public service.
He has been honoured in the past with national awards for photographs documenting the everyday plight of people enduring deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip. He was part of two Pulitzer Prize-winning breaking news teams.
He has been recognised with an Emmy Award for news and documentary, World Press Photo Award, Dart Award for Trauma Coverage, Scripps Howard Visual Journalism Award and Picture of the Year International’s Newspaper Photographer of the Year Award.
Yam laid the groundwork for his coverage of the Taliban’s blitzkrieg takeover of Afghanistan with diligent previous work in the country.
Yam thanked his colleagues on Monday, saying his work wouldn’t have been possible without the collaboration of many, including Nabih Bulos, the paper’s Middle East correspondent, and Calvin Hom, the executive director of photography.
He concluded by dedicating his award to the Afghan people.
“The bravery and the courage really belongs to everyday Afghans, whose lives were changed overnight,” Yam said.
“As Westerners, we have the privilege of coming and going. And they are the ones that have to remain and to face the unknown. So this is for them.” – Agencies, May 11, 2022
