The Secret to Winning Awards

Go behind the scenes with experienced Pacemaker judges in our Judging & Critiques Training Series.

Already an existing customer?
Access the full training video and more by going to Yearbook Help.

Jim Jordan is the former yearbook adviser at Del Campo High School in Fair Oaks, California, and now a special consultant for Walsworth Yearbooks.

He was a yearbook adviser for 35 years, and over the years the Decamhian yearbook earned numerous Pacemaker and CSPA Gold Crown honors. The Decamhian was recognized in 2022 as having earned the second-highest number of Pacemakers in NSPA’s 100 year history.

Jordan was the 1996 JEA Yearbook Adviser of the Year, and has received CSPA Gold Key, NSPA Pioneer, JEA Medal of Merit and JEA Lifetime Achievement awards. He received the Linda S. Puntney Teacher Inspiration Award in 2021.

He now shares his expertise with students and advisers at workshops and conventions across the country and leads mentorship through the Adviser Mentor Program. He was among the first to embrace desktop technology in the 1980s and apply it to yearbook, and he remains an innovator in the yearbook industry.

Be sure to check out his yearbook-focused podcast, Yearbook Chat with Jim that highlights the stories of great yearbook advisers from around the country.

Sabrina Schmitz, CJE, is a Walsworth Yearbooks representative, key accounts specialist and the former publications adviser at J.W. Mitchell High School in Trinity, Florida. Under her leadership, The Stampede yearbook earned multiple CSPA Crowns, an NSPA Pacemaker, and was a Design of the Year Finalist. She was Teacher of the Year in 2013, was a District Teacher of the Year Finalist, and teaches at workshops and conventions nationwide.

Andrew Young, CJE, is the adviser of The Round-Up from Woodland Junior High School. He was named a 2017 Rising Star by JEA, 2018 Arkansas Adviser of the Year, 2018 Fayetteville Public Schools Teacher of the Year, 2020 Outstanding Young Alumni from the University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions and most recently 2022 JEA Special Recognition Adviser. His staffs have been recognized in the JEA Middle School/Junior High Media contest, NSPA Picture/Story/Design of the Year contests, Arkansas Scholastic Press Association awards and Walsworth Photo Contest. The Round-Up has won multiple CSPA Crown and NSPA Pacemaker awards. Young currently serves as the President of the Arkansas Scholastic Press Association and has a passion for seeing junior high and middle school journalism programs take it to the next level.

Makena Busch, CJE, advises the Pantera yearbook at Mead HS in Spokane, WA, where she teaches digital media, graphic design and yearbook. JEA named Busch a Rising Star in 2019, a Special Recognition Adviser in 2021 and a Distinguished Adviser in 2023. Her yearbooks have earned several state and national awards, including CSPA Gold Crowns, NSPA Pacemakers and Best of Show awards. Busch is crazy enough to coach track in the spring, thinks coffee runs through her veins at this point and isn’t afraid to tell you the cringest dad jokes she knows.