Capturing the joy of two young boys playing on the family farm on a spring day near Anna is the essence of visual storytelling. For Lylee Gibbs, a junior in Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s journalism program, that moment also earned honors from the world’s largest collegiate photojournalism competition.
Gibbs, who is from Du Quoin, recently finished second in the features category of College Photographer of the Year — an annual competition that attracts more than 600 students from over 160 colleges and universities from 50 countries.
Gibbs, who is editor-in-chief of the Daily Egyptian newspaper on campus and involved with the Saluki Local Reporting Lab, was in the newsroom with friends and coworkers when the award was announced.
“I put a lot of myself into what I do, and to see that translate to being a finalist was really awesome,” said Gibbs, noting than 500 images were submitted in the features category. “To realize that mine made it as a finalist is wild to think about. It just motivates me in what I’m doing and to continue with it.”
The photograph on the Flock Farm was among those Gibbs took as part of the 2024 SIU Photojournalism Weekend Workshop, where SIU students were part of Julia Rendleman’s intermediate photojournalism class during the spring semester.
Gibbs met Brent Glays and his family, which includes four young boys, on the farm at sunrise and spent most of the day with them. While their father was putting together feeders for the chicks, “the boys were running crazily and picking up the feeders, putting them over their heads and running around.”
“I was following around with their playfulness as Brent very seriously worked to construct the other feeders together. I ended up making the image with the turkey in the background — who angrily kept trying to follow me around — during this process,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs is the first SIU student to place in the competition in nearly a decade, said Jan Thompson, director of the School of Journalism and Advertising.
Gibbs started in photography for fun while in high school and that developed into an interest in sports photography, including work for the Perry County Weekly Press. She knew coming to SIU that she wanted to do something photo-related, and she started at the Daily Egyptian early in her freshman year. The journalism program and her work with the college newspaper led Gibbs to explore other areas.
“I think I’m a really creative person which led me to photography, but the aspect of journalism in meeting new people, telling stories and sometimes making a difference really is why it’s worth it,” she said. “I enjoy making an image and the technical aspect but also being able to connect with people through that.”
A ‘reflection of hard work’
Rendleman, an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Advertising, said Gibbs’ accomplishment is noteworthy for what it shows.
“She works really hard, and hard work pays off,” Rendleman said. “Sometimes, there is a misunderstanding that photography is easy — it’s ‘just pushing a button.’ But photography, and photojournalism in particular, is so much more than that. Lylee is a reflection of the hard work and dedication it takes to excel in this field.”
Rendleman said she loves that Gibbs’ image came during the Saluki Weekend Workshop, an intense event that is “invaluable to student learning.”
“This validates that, for me,” Rendleman said. “There are plenty of other students here at SIU who had a chance to win or place in the contest — at a certain level, awards like this are subjective — a winning image may not be seen the same way next week. I certainly felt other students had work worthy of a win. Their work is not valued less; this is just an extra special treat for SIU and Lylee.”
Plans for another workshop in April 2025 are in the beginning stages. Rendleman said she is “really proud” of photojournalism students in the program.
“It feels like they are locked in and striving for excellence — that’s all I’ve ever wanted from them, and I think they are beginning to see the fruits of their labor,” she said.
Gaining valuable experience
Gibbs joined the Saluki Local Reporting Lab (SLRL) in January, a professional lab within the School of Journalism and Advertising headed by Rendleman and Molly Parker-Stephens, a veteran journalist and assistant professor in the program.
Students work closely with Rendleman and Parker-Stephens producing stories throughout the region. Gibbs said a local agriculture-based story about a rice farmer she is working on “is the coolest thing I’ve gotten to work on — ever.” She has also worked on stories that involve poverty and its impact on the county and documenting events in Cairo, including Magnolia Manor and the Blues Fest, “which has let us really get to know the community.”
“I really love environmental stories and getting to work so closely with Julia on the photo side of it and learn in that aspect from her has been so wonderful,” Gibbs said. “The lab has helped me so much in understanding longer-term storytelling and reporting closely on community. I also really learned how to write through the SLRL.”
After she graduates in May 2026, Gibbs said, she hopes to land a job “that allows me to just continue to do what I’m passionate about.”
“I just want to be able to say I’ve done good work and gained good experiences,” she said. “I’m biased, but I think journalism is the coolest job in the world because I get to experience so many different lives through storytelling.”
