Richie Rossouw of Thunder Media takes photos of a Bullard nominee during the Best Preps Tyler Spring Photo Shoot. (Santana Wood/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

A professional photo shoot built excitement this week for what has become a premier program to honor student-athletes in East Texas.

The Tyler Morning Telegraph held the second-annual Best Preps Tyler Spring Photo Shoot on Monday at First Presbyterian Church. Dozens of student-athletes gathered to have their photos taken, learn more about the Best Preps awards program, enjoy a meal, and mingle with peers.

The photo shoot is a recently added part of the annual Best Preps program, which will celebrate seven years in Tyler next month. The program recognizes the top student-athletes in 26 varsity sports from participating schools.

Along with getting their photos taken by professional local photographer Richie Russouw of Thunder Media, student-athletes and their families were also invited to enjoy food from Jucys Taco while mingling with other area students and families at Monday’s photo shoot. Another photo shoot for fall sports nominees was held in November.

Winners of the 2025 awards program will be announced at the seventh annual banquet set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 29 at Green Acres Crosswalk Center, 1607 Troup Hwy. in Tyler. Hundreds of people attend the banquet each year.

Photos taken at Monday’s shoot will be used in the second annual Best Preps souvenir magazine set to publish the night of the banquet. The magazine highlights winners and nominees. Parents or businesses interested in advertising opportunities, such as congratulatory ads or award sponsorships, can contact Kerri Esposito kerri.esposito@news-journal.com or by phone at 903-232-7276. Parents can also purchase a celebratory ad online at tylerbestpreps.com.

Magazines will be distributed at the banquet after winners are announced. They will also be inserted into Tyler Morning Telegraph newspapers for home delivery subscribers in the April 30 edition. To subscribe, visit subscribe.tylerpaper.com or call 903-597-1121.

This year’s banquet will feature keynote speaker Tyler Campbell, a Houston native and youngest son of Tyler native Earl Campbell, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, Heisman Trophy winner and Texas legend. Today, Tyler Campbell has persevered through a series of obstacles to go on to be an entrepreneur, best-selling author and motivational speaker.

Since its inception, this awards program has recognized outstanding high school student-athletes based not only on their athletic performance but also their GPA and their volunteerism and community involvement.

The Tyler Morning Telegraph began taking nominations for spring sports earlier this year. Participating coaches and athletic directors nominated one student from each sport.

Each year after nominations are received, a local selection committee considers and votes on the overall winner for each varsity sport. Additionally, the selection committee will choose an overall male and female Athlete of the Year from the individual sport nominees. The Athlete of the Year recipients will each receive a $500 scholarship from the Tyler Morning Telegraph. The selection committee will also choose winners of several specialty awards based on the submitted nominations from the coaches.

The fall and spring photo shoots were made possible thanks to a number of community supporters, including First Presbyterian Church in Tyler which graciously offered its space as a venue for the fall and spring shoots, and Thunder Media, owned by Russouw, which took the student-athletes’ headshots Monday. Sponsors include presenting sponsor Baylor Scott & White Texas Spine & Joint Hospital Tyler, Athletes of the Year sponsor Christus Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Institute, Red Carpet sponsor East Texas Professional Credit Union, along with Jucys Taco, UT Health East Texas Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Institute, Altra Federal Credit Union, J&K Storage and Kona Ice.

For more information on the awards program, contact bestpreps@mrobertsmedia.com and visit https://tylerbestpreps.com.