MARCUS YAM is a Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent and photojournalist. Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, he left a career in aerospace engineering to pursue photojournalism. He aims to take viewers to the frontlines of conflict, struggle, and intimacy.

 

In 2022, Yam won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for images documenting the U.S. departure from Afghanistan that captured the human cost of the historic change in the country. In 2023, he was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal for his stirring photographs of the war in Ukraine. Yam is also a two-time recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, notably in 2019, for his steadfast body of work showing the everyday plight of Palestinians during deadly clashes in Gaza. When he’s not working, Yam likes minimizing and organizing his life for efficiency and emergencies.

 

The National Press Photographer Foundation has sponsored Marcus Yam as the 2024 Morris Berman Lecturer, hosted by the School of Communications, Elon University, on Wednesday, May 1, at 4 p.m. in Turner Theatre. His presentation titled From Conflict to Mass Shootings to Environmental Stories: How to Engage Folks with an Open Heart and Sensitiveness