The yearbook is tasked with the important responsibility of telling the story of the year. As more and more yearbooks choose chronological coverage, it begs the question: how much of the year do we cover? Does the story of the year start when the school doors open and end when they close, or is summer a part of the that …
As yearbook advisers and student journalists, we have a unique opportunity to capture the essence of a school year and preserve it for generations to come. In the latest episode of That Yearbook Podcast, seasoned yearbook experts Jim and Sabrina Schmitz, CJE, shared their insights on crafting compelling journalistic stories for the yearbook. Their message was clear: yearbook is journalism, …
Family is at the heart of everything we do. With Tripp Walsworth joining his father, Don Walsworth, and grandfather, Don O. Walsworth, at the company in August of 2023, our family-owned business is now four generations strong. Tripp spent the last year getting to know the inner workings of our organization and visited over 95 schools. We sat down with …
Customers Click Here Mark Murray retired in 2019 from the Arlington Independent School District in Arlington, Texas after 35 years as a classroom teacher and district technology director. For the past 36 years, Murray has served as the President and now Executive Director for the Association of Texas Photography Instructors. The organization of high school photography teachers from Texas and across …
As spring contests emerge (including the Walsworth Photo Contest, considering your strategy for photography within your staff is key. This training video, hosted by Mike Taylor, CJE, Sabrina Schmitz, CJE and Jim Jordan offers some key photography insights from Mark Murray that can elevate and inspire your team to dig deeper with their photography storytelling. About Mark Murray In the realm of …
I consider myself more of a writer than a photographer, but what I really am is a storyteller. So it makes sense that I tell all my kids – writers, designers, editors and especially photographers – they are storytellers. For photographers, this sometimes generates a blank look. Do you wonder how to get your kids to take the pictures that …
From Clippy the Microsoft paper clip to Grammarly to Photoshop, you have probably used artificial intelligence more than you know. Your Netflix queue, online shopping recommendations and Siri all rely on AI. Though it concerns some industry professionals, the reality is we have been using AI for years without realizing it. The adoption of AI programs in yearbook production marks …
Forty-five years. That’s how long yearbook adviser Susan Massy taught. Though many associate her with yearbook greatness, she did not always work with the yearbook program. She began advising the Lair yearbook at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School in Shawnee, Kansas, in 1988. In her time as a teacher and scholastic journalism adviser, Massy’s yearbook program became one of the …
While the anticipation of what spreads a student gets to work on may fuel their creative juices, when it’s time to work on the yearbook index, that excitement sometimes disappears. You may find your staffers asking, “Do we really need a yearbook index? It’s so much work, and we just want to be done. Can’t we just leave …
Customers Click Here Mike Taylor, CJE, is a Journalism Specialist with Walsworth Yearbooks. He taught yearbook, newspaper and television production for 13 years at Lecanto High School in Lecanto, Florida. As a well-known instructor at workshops and conventions across the country, Taylor has consulted with countless yearbook staffs to help them realize their full potential. Jim Jordan is the …
Valentine’s Day Yearbook Activities can be a great way to break up the busy pace of February in the yearbook world. Spring delivery schools are in the middle of deadlines. Summer/fall delivery schools are heading into deadline season. One semester of school is complete, so your staff is busy trying to make sure you captured it well. Sales pushes for …
There are several methods for communicating your school’s story through design and photography; however, the most effective way to share your message is through your writing. The stories in your yearbook matter, and we want to see them captivate an audience. We have the resources and strategies to help you along the way! Find the Story Find your angle that …
Customers Click Here Alyssa Boehringer, CJE, began advising journalism at her alma mater, McKinney High School, in 2005. At McKinney, she ran the MHS1 broadcast, The Lion yearbook and the online news site Manestream News. She loves taking kids to journalism conventions all over Texas and the United States, where McKinney students are consistently ranked as some of the top in the …
By Heather Rice, One School of the Arts, Longwood, Florida Your yearbook team worked hard to develop a theme, find a name, create amazing layouts and write captivating stories. Now how do you get your yearbook masterpiece into as many hands as possible? With many schools transitioning to a hybrid model of virtual and traditional schools, it’s time to get …
Yearbook staffers from Walsworth Yearbooks schools McKinney High School in McKinney, Texas, and Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, Kansas, were named Finalists by the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) in its 2020 Story of the Year Contest earlier this month. Elizabeth Long of the Hauberk staff from Shawnee Mission East was named a finalist in the Feature …
Are you wondering how you’re going to fill your yearbook pages during this crazy pandemic? What can you put on all the spreads that normally would be filled with hundreds of school events and activities? It’s easy. Tell the stories of the people in your school community with individual profiles. All you need to do is connect with your students, …
How many new words and phrases have entered your vocabulary since March? Social distancing, mask mandate, virtual learning and now, time to add another phrase to the vocabulary: crowdsourcing. You may ask, “What is this crowdsourcing and why would I need it for the yearbook?” Let me explain. The staff wants to do a spread about virtual school. What is …
This unprecedented school year is going to be filled with new coverage ideas we have never even thought of before. There also are hundreds of amazing coverage possibilities that are always there, but you may not have had room to get them in the book. This is the year. Remember the 2021 coverage mindset is not what we will not …
In Words Matter: Putting Words and Writing at the Heart of Your Yearbook Storytelling, speakers Jim Jordan and Susan Massy cover the basics of writing that all great yearbooks excel at. That includes discussing 1) Why you need to include MORE writing in your books; 2) How you can IMPROVE the writing in your books; and 3) How GREAT scholastic …
With your theme decided, it’s time to think about options that will make your book shine. From laser cut covers or endsheets to adding a gatefold inside, your options are virtually endless. Here are a few ways schools added a fab factor to their 2019 yearbooks. Now it’s your turn; let your imagination run wild! Split Covers Want to give …
The book gets done and distributed and it’s instantly time to start thinking about next year. That was fast. It’s time to get the creative juices flowing and start gathering inspiration and contemplate what the story of 2020 at your school will be. Part One – Story Quest What story do you want to tell in 2020? This is where …
Are your readers actually reading your yearbook? In many cases, the answer is “no,” and with good reason.
Most yearbooks are not written to be read. Yearbook copy tends to be a collection of non-compelling facts put together too lazily and too hastily, without regard for the reader. While that is a harsh indictment, it is often true and it is nothing new.
Hey, you worked hard on the yearbook — wouldn’t it be nice if people read it? Instead of dull and lifeless facts, stories should be a collection of interesting people caught in defining moments — moments that reveal character and personality.
Trying to come up with an interesting idea for a yearbook feature story? Sometimes it can be difficult coming up with a unique angle, but the fact that you’re trying means you’re on the right track! “A yearbook shouldn’t be full of topics,” according to Brady Smekens, former adviser of the Deka yearbook staff at Huntington North High School, Huntington, Indiana. “Rather, it should tell the story of students. In the process, the topics get covered.” The list of story ideas on this page will help editors start brainstorming for coverage unique to their school and the current year.
Good leads begin stories. Bad leads can finish them. If the first couple of sentences don’t make the reader feel helplessly curious and compelled to continue, your body copy won’t be read. Yearbook leads don’t sum up the entire article like newspaper leads. Instead, they give the reader a tempting taste of what lies ahead without necessarily addressing the main point of the story. They can tease, mislead, startle, amuse – anything that will invoke the reader’s curiosity. Study the following types of leads. Learn to write more creative and effective leads – leads that are real attention-getters.
Everyone always wants to know what the current “trends” are for the upcoming yearbook year. What cool things are other schools doing that we should consider doing? Or even better, what did we do that has become a trend that everyone is going to be doing in 2019? At every workshop and every convention everyone wants to hear this session. …
