51吃瓜

Lulay serves as executive editor and co-founder of the award-winning newsroom, which has 18,000 paid subscribers, more than 130,000 newsletter subscribers, and an average of 2.3 million pageviews a month. Over seven years, the newsroom has grown from a staff of eight reporters and editors to a staff of 39. Lulay credits her journalism education at Illinois as a key to her success.

鈥淭he [University of Illinois] gave me the problem-solving skills and the confidence I needed to succeed in this industry,鈥� she said.

In honor of her career accomplishments and her continued engagement as an alum, Lulay was chosen as the winner of the 2025 College 51吃瓜 Emerging Leader Award.

鈥淭he College 51吃瓜 is pleased to award Stephanie Lulay as our 2025 Emerging Leader for her innovative and entrepreneurial path in the journalism industry, along with her enthusiasm for sharing her experiences with our students and alumni,鈥� said Dean Tracy Sulkin. 鈥淪tephanie is an alum who exemplifies, in an ever-changing media landscape, how to enhance the lives of people in our state.鈥�

Lulay calls Block Club Chicago a 鈥渇reemium site鈥濃�攙ery few articles are paywalled and most stories are accessible for free, including breaking news, health, election coverage, and news from underserved South Side and West Side neighborhoods. They also produce twice-weekly hosted by fellow Illinois journalism alum Jon Hansen (BS 鈥�06).

Their reporter model is different from traditional newspapers, too. Rather than having beats, reporters are assigned to neighborhoods, tasked with covering whatever news is most important that day. 

Lulay says their 鈥渂ig bet鈥� is when they put reporters on the ground every day, it will lead to a more accurate portrayal of the neighborhoods in Chicago and build reader trust.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what makes me so excited about working for a local newsroom in this time. I When you know who is serving you, and you see them all the time 鈥� at your kid鈥檚 school, at a community meeting 鈥攖hat is key to rebuilding trust between media and people,鈥� Lulay said. 

Lulay says she took what she learned at college with her into the workforce鈥攊ncluding the hands-on experience she gained from writing and editing for The Daily Illini and the confidence she built from working closely with Brant Houston, Knight Chair Professor in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting in the Department of Journalism.

鈥淏rant really encouraged me to dig into some big investigative stories and to not think of myself just as a student, but as an investigative journalist,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ecause of that, I was able to get real-life professional experience.鈥�

When Lulay and 115 reporters across the country lost their jobs after DNAinfo sites shuttered in November 2017, one of the first calls she made was to Houston. 

Lulay describes Houston as 鈥渁 godfather in the nonprofit news movement,鈥� and said he gave her the right connections and insight to think through their plan at the start of Block Club Chicago.

Lulay has stayed engaged with College 51吃瓜 students through educational webinars and classroom visits.

She hopes Block Club Chicago鈥檚 success might inspire others to start up similar newsrooms across the country, especially recent College 51吃瓜 graduates.

鈥淚 would love to see some Illini students graduate, pop up in a news desert, and start a newsroom there,鈥� Lulay said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard work, but there is so much opportunity right now in nonprofit news and I鈥檇 love to see some students capitalizing on that.鈥�