Maye-E Wong is a multi-award-winning photographer with the Associated Press Global Enterprise team based in New York and serves as a creative engine for the Global Enterprise team. She joined the Associated Press in 2003 and was based in Singapore, her home, until moving to NYC in 2018. In 2017, she photographed Rohingya women who had fled Myanmar. This assignment was in Cox's Bazar and was part of an investigative piece carried out by The Associated Press (AP) on the rapes of Rohingya women by Myanmar's military, which were both sweeping and methodical. The work won an Overseas Press Club Hal Boyle Award and the 2018 Ancil Payne Ethics in Journalism Award. Maye-E has documented major breaking news and sports events such as the political unrest that took place in Thailand and Hong Kong, the devastation of typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, Dhaka's garment factory collapse and the Black Life Matters protests in NYC. Recently she travelled across middle America documenting life in the US during the seismic changes of 2020 where people had to navigate the uncertainty of COVID as well as the political scene. One of the most important roles in her career thus far, was from 2014-2018, where she worked as AP’s lead photographer for North Korea, where her responsibilities included news and everyday life coverage. Her photos gave people around the world a deep look into life in the reclusive country. She has travelled to the North more than 35 times. She was a Jury member at the 2018 and 2019 World Press Photo Contest and has The National Headliner Awards for her work in North Korea, she has mentored photographers at the Eddie Adams Photo Workshop and represented the AP at the New York Times portfolio reviews. She serves on the board of advisors for Photos of the Year (POY) Asia. She won the Oliver S. Gramling journalism award in 2017, AP’s highest honor in journalism internally. Some of her sporting coverage includes the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. These days, when Maye-E is not out on the field, she works closely with photographers and other reporting teams to lead and find concepts to best visualize stories in multi-format digital presentations and in news gathering as a player/coach. Some of these stories have gone on to win international prizes including the Pulitzer and the RFK awards.
