Malaysian-Born Journalist Ed Yong Wins Pulitzer Prize For His Covid-19 Reporting

By Ammar Haziq  •  14 Jun 2021 in News

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Malaysian-born journalist, Edmund Yong has won a Pulitzer Prize – a major award in the field of journalism – for his explanatory reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic.

Born in 1981, he migrated to the UK and became a citizen in 2005. Yong, who is now based in the US works as a staff writer for The Atlantic since 2015.

He won the Pulitzer Prize for his series of definitive pieces where he anticipated the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, clarified its dangers, and illuminated the US government’s failures to control it.

In a series of tweets, Yong said on Saturday that reporting on the pandemic is the most fulfilling and difficult challenge of his professional life.

!!!!!!!! https://t.co/2NLaHKoVqv

— Ed Yong (@edyong209) June 11, 2021

“I did my best to give our readers a stable platform from which to make sense of a crisis that defied sense. I’m sad these stories were ever necessary, but I hope they made a difference.

“I could not have done this without the amazing people at The Atlantic, who collectively created an environment where award-winning work was possible. It really takes a village, and in recognition of that,” he tweeted.

Yong also said that he will split the USD15,000 prize money between the people who worked in his stories in 2020, including editors, copy editors, artists and more. “Even when individuals win Pulitzers, their work depends on a community. I want to honour mine,” he said.

Yong was awarded the Byron H. Waksman Award Excellence in the Public Communication of Life Sciences in 2016. He has also written for publications such as National Geographic, the New York Times and Scientific American.