Yong Li Xuan studied journalism and photography at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Her final-year photojournalism project documenting a young woman’s struggle with depression and anxiety received the Objectifs Documentary Award in the emerging category in 2022 and an opportunity to exhibit the work. That same year, she was selected for the Eddie Adams Workshop. From 2022 to 2024, she worked as a breaking news reporter for national broadsheet The Straits Times. She was a coordinator for three editions of Pictures of the Year Asia, which led her to the University of Missouri, where she is a photojournalism graduate student. She is returning to CPOY having led a team of coordinators for Pictures of the Year International 82.