Malaysian-born journo Ed Yong wins Pulitzer, will split winnings with editorial team

 

Malaysian-born science journalist Ed Yong, who is a staff writer at The Atlantic, has won a Pulitzer Prize in the "explanatory reporting" category for his writing on the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the prize's website, Yong won the Pulitzer for his “series of lucid, definitive pieces on the Covid-19 pandemic that anticipated the course of the disease, synthesised the complex challenges the country faced, illuminated the US government’s failures, and provided clear and accessible context for the scientific and human challenges it posed”.

Yong took to Twitter to say he would be splitting the US$15,000 (RM62,000) prize money among team members who worked on his stories in 2020, including editors, fact-checkers, and artists.

“I could not have done this without the amazing people at the Atlantic, who collectively created an environment where award-winning work was possible.

“Even when individuals win Pulitzers, their work depends on a community. I want to honour mine," he said.

“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," Yong added.

He expressed his gratitude to “around 300 sources who took time to share their expertise with (him) during a year when we all had little time to spare.”

Yong has already been recognised for his coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, having won the George Polk Award for science reporting; the Victor Cohn Prize for medical science reporting; the Neil and Susan Sheehan Award for investigative journalism; the John P. McGovern Award from the American Medical Writers’ Association; and the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award for in-depth reporting.

His first book, I Contain Multitudes which looks at the fascinating relationships between animals and microbes, became a New York Times bestseller, and was listed in best-of-2016 lists by the NYT, NPR, the Economist, the Guardian, and several others.

Bill Gates called it "science journalism at its finest".

Yong's second book, "An Immense World", will look at the extraordinary sensory worlds of other animals. - Mkini