Treering Blog

Brandon Sumner, President of Sumner Photography, wrote this month's "Picture Perfect Partnership" article. Sumner Photography is a California-based school photography company dedicated to capturing and preserving memories for educational communities. Through partnerships with platforms like Treering, Sumner Photography supports schools in creating exceptional yearbooks that serve as historical records and creative expressions of their unique identities.

In the world of school photography, few moments feel as good as seeing your partner schools get recognized on a national level. Recently, three schools that Sumner Photography works with, Coronado Middle School, Reilly Elementary, and Ladera Ranch Elementary, became finalists in a nationwide yearbook cover contest. This achievement shows not only their creative vision but also what happens when photographers and yearbook teams work well together.

How the Partnership Started

When I first partnered with Treering ten years ago, I was drawn to their excellent customer care. This fits perfectly with Sumner Photography's commitment to serving West Coast schools. What started as a shared goal to preserve memories has grown bigger than I first imagined.

School photography and yearbooks share the same basic mission: capturing and preserving memories for a lifetime. But our collaboration has grown beyond just taking pictures. Today, we're actively helping yearbook teams with their creative process, knowing that all the logistics and details involved in making a yearbook can overwhelm the very people trying to create those lasting memories.

The more we can make these processes easier—or remove roadblocks entirely—the more time yearbook teams have to focus on what really matters: telling stories, being creative, and making memories. This idea has become the heart of our partnership with Treering and the schools we serve.

Three Great Covers, Three Great Stories

Each of the three finalist covers from our partner schools tells a different story about their community and creative approach:

Coronado Middle School had a fantastic color scheme that immediately captures the unique vibe of their coastal community. Having spent time in Coronado, I can tell you, this city has a special feel. Their yearbook cover captures that perfectly. The design choices show not just good taste but a real understanding of their school's identity and place in the community.

Reilly Elementary showed amazing attention to detail in their "Dive Into Learning" theme. Every element, from the biggest design pieces to the smallest details, works together beautifully to bring their concept to life. This kind of thoughtful design is what makes the difference between good yearbooks and truly memorable ones.

Ladera Ranch Elementary impressed me with student-created artwork that shows the incredible talent within their school community. The expressive eyes in their lion mascot design—created by student artist Fiona—show the real creativity that comes out when young people get the platform and tools to express themselves.

What This Means for the Future

These three covers represent something bigger than individual school wins; they show the range of creative possibilities available in yearbook design today. What gets me most excited about yearbooks' future is how they're evolving beyond simple documentation into true creative outlets.

Yearbooks do two things: they store memories and give people a platform for artistic expression. The finalists' covers from our partner schools show how art and design can bring up feelings that readers connect with the memories captured in photos. This emotional connection turns a yearbook from a simple record into something people treasure.

The Treering platform plays a huge role in this creative evolution by making sophisticated design tools available to yearbook teams without extensive publishing backgrounds. 

Something You Can Hold

In our increasingly digital world, there's something special about holding a yearbook or photograph in your hands. This physical interaction requires intention—you have to choose to engage with it, to turn the pages, to pause and remember. This hands-on experience creates a different connection than scrolling through digital images.

I'm excited to see how yearbook teams and students continue to capture our ever-digitizing world in physical form. The challenge and opportunity are in translating the richness of digital experiences into formats that can be held, shared, and treasured for decades to come.

Looking Ahead

The success of Coronado Middle, Reilly Elementary, and Ladera Ranch Elementary in this national competition shows the incredible potential that comes when photographers, yearbook teams, and technology platforms work together smoothly. At Sumner Photography, we're committed to supporting the creative process while handling the technical stuff that can distract from the artistic vision.

These three finalist covers are just the beginning. As we continue to partner with schools and support their creative work through our collaboration with Treering, I look forward to seeing how the next generation of yearbook creators will push the boundaries of what's possible in preserving and presenting their school memories.

The combination of photography, design, and storytelling in yearbooks creates unique opportunities to capture not just what happened, but how it felt. That's a mission worth pursuing with passion and excellence.

When you need help, you want it the way you want it. Do you want to pick up the phone and talk with a human? No problem. Do you want to watch a video that shows how something works? We've got 100s. Do you want to read step-by-step instructions? We've got a library. Knowing everyone is unique, Treering's yearbook support options ensure you are the Yearbook Hero for your campus.

Email and Phone Support

Your support team is called the Community Advocate Team (CAT) because they champion yearbook advisers.

With Treering, the days of waiting for one person to call you back, schedule a meeting, or come back from vacation are over. We don't have just one person available to you, we have a full US-based team of yearbook support experts at your disposal. We have your back from autoflowing portraits to obtaining an editable flyer for a cover contest.

Large School Support

When you make a yearbook for a larger school, sometimes you need a little more. You know, that person who is not only friendly, but understands your yearbook so well they find the solution that suits you. Customer Success Managers ensure their entire team knows your school, so not only can you reach out to them for help, but anyone they work with. Anytime.

Step-by-Step Assistance and Videos

Are you are DIY person? Then the Help Center, with its videos and step-by-step instructions, is there 24/7 so you can manage your project on your schedule.

Monthly Yearbook Support Resources

Resources to support you and your team go beyond answers. You'll get Treering's free curriculum and access to training to complete your toolkit as you see fit.

Newsletters

Once a month, Treering Yearbook Creators receive newsletters. You'll receive sales, design, and technical resources to both keep you on track and make you smile.

Yearbook Club

Live Yearbook Club webinars offer additional yearbook support and an opportunity to connect with elementary, middle, and high school coordinators. Topics include:

• Yearbook quick start
• Going print ready
• Design ideas
• Social media tips

From start to finish, Treering will be by your side.

In Treering’s inaugural Cover Design Contest, which—if we’re being real—was three concurrent contests, schools submitted their covers to one of three categories:

1. School Spirit – mascots, school colors, and anything else that shows off your community
2. Theme Development – an introduction to your visual and verbal theme
3. Elementary Student Art – original art by K-6 students

Our team explored over 300 submissions, and the ones that stood out introduced their theme on the front and back cover, then expanded it inside throughout the book. Each of the themes below are specific to the time and place in which they exist. While the concept may work for the school across town, the execution would not.

Grand Prize Winner: Easterbrook Discovery School, San Jose, CA

Theme: Once Upon a Time

This year was extra special. It’s EDS’ 20th anniversary and the tenth year in its building. These once in a lifetime moments became an obvious connection for the yearbook theme.

Pre-pandemic, a middle school yearbook club produced the book. The PTO wanted to continue to showcase student perspectives with a cover contest. “It celebrates creativity, individuality, and the shared ownership that makes our yearbook and our school so special,” said Bai-Lim.

This year, they gave little guidance: “Your design should relate to the ‘Once Upon a Time’ theme (e.g. fairy tales, dragons, fairies, wizards, enchanted creatures, etc.).” The faculty and staff chose the winning cover in an anonymous vote.

Winner Helena Kao created a design rich in symbolism:

• Castle: community, teachers, and parents that made our school a story worth telling
• Bricks: depicted fundraisers, music concerts, and field trips that were the building blocks to a safe and welcoming space for students to learn and grow
• Flags: the husky spirit that defines EDS
• Closed door: an end of a chapter for the graduating class of 2025
• Howling Husky: singing and celebrating the school it proudly represents

The cover art contest led to another “once” moment: ninety pieces of student art throughout the yearbook. “Each piece felt like part of the story of the school year,” said Bai-Lim, “and we didn’t want to leave that out.”

Bai-Lim’s team used a Treering vintage blue background, various story-inspired borders, and the lunchbox font for titles. She said, “Treering made it so easy to bring our ideas to life.”

The Final Five Six

Blue Grass Elementary School, Knoxville, TN

Theme: A School of Pure Imagination

The sweet cover made us melt. (It’s a contest for a back to school ice cream bash with cool puns, how could we not go there?) What’s more, is the yearbook theme and the school’s theme were one.

The team at Blue Grass used “a school of pure imagination” to guide their year. It was a “perfect match for capturing the magic, curiosity, and creativity that define our school community,” yearbook chair Becky O’Hatnick said.

She and her team of parent volunteers sprinkled each page with “candy-colored hues” and created titles on candy wrappers and golden tickets.

“From cover to cover, our yearbook is a vibrant celebration of childhood wonder and the boundless possibilities of imagination,” O’Hatnick said.

Coronado Middle School, Coronado, CA

Theme: Golden Hour

This coastal school embraced their SoCal vibe by using the colors of the golden hour to progress through the book. The students studied the sun, and used it for theme copy: “At the end of each day, and each Golden Hour, the sun must set. This is an opportunity to begin anew, never forgetting the last chapter, but anticipating the beauty of the next.”

“The edges of the book had a gradient,” adviser Heidi Frampton said, “so that as you flipped through the book you would see the sunset colors.”

Maywood Center for Enriched Studies, Maywood, CA

Theme: A Piece of Us

Every single one of us has a mosaic of experiences that makes us who we are,” adviser Nora Torres said. Her team built on that concept by piecing together textures and colors to create the layered cover. The more you look at it, the more details emerge.

They brought their theme into the book by using graphic pieces, such as scrap paper, tape, and cut-out letters to accent the content. Divider pages, especially, looked as if they were hand-designed. To make it even more personal, the yearbook staff added “yerd* doodles” throughout the book.

*Yerd = yearbook nerd

Mt. Everett Regional School, Sheffield, MA

Theme: Ripping Through Tradition

Students chose to blend nostalgia and tech by using newspaper graphics at an angle to chronicle their year. It’s a “blend of past, present, and future,” said adviser Kari Giordano.

“This theme visually represented the senior class ‘shredding expectations,’” said Giordano, “and boldly stepping into the next phase of their lives.”

Philip Reilly Elementary, Mission Viejo, CA

Theme: Dive Into Learning

Yearbook chair Kristin Keller said she “created an underwater world where our theme could truly swim.”

From using circular photos as bubbles to adding sea-sational puns, her designs were focused. Keller used design hierarchy and contrast to keep each afloat in a sea of color.

Wilson Creek Elementary School, Duluth, GA

Theme: Wildcats Stick Together

At first glance, this cover was familiar. Then, we looked closer.

“This hybrid theme enhances the Treering-designed theme ‘Stick Together’ with totally unique Wilson Creek graphics and vibes that show off how Wilson Creek Wildcats learn, live, and laugh,” said yearbook co-chair Holly McCallum.

She designed the sticker pack to include interactions of the wildcat, WCES, and their anniversary crest. The brown paper background takes us back to the first day of school, when you’d cover your textbooks with grocery sacks. Considering this is Wilson Creek’s 20th anniversary, it’s an emotive design decision.

McCallum also added frames to photos to make them look like stickers and she added positive messages “to emphasize the creative spirit and collaborative dynamic” of her school community.

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Your academics section needs stronger headlines. Agreed? The headline on each yearbook spread influences the reader's scanning behavior. (Read: it makes buyers look at your hard work.) When skimming a spread, the eye is naturally drawn to the headline first, and from there, it can guide the reader to other important elements such as subheadings, captions, and images. While headlines traditionally are larger text, additional design elements such as type treatments and mixed fonts help also set them apart. Below are the why, how-to, and 65 examples of headlines you can use in your yearbook.

How to write captivating headlines

It’s easy to drop football or science fair at the top of your yearbook spread. For those looking to up their writing game, crafting journalistic, punny, or thematic headlines can enhance your yearbook storytelling. 

Not sure where to begin? Use some of the academics-centric headlines below to inspire or jumpstart your writing process.

STEM headlines

1. Calculating the Memories
2. Chart a Force
3. [Mascots] Count Get Enough
4. Easy as Pi
5. Formula for Fun
6. Here Comes the Sum
7. In Our Prime
8. Make Sum Noise
9. Massing Around
10. On this Equation
11. Pi-ous Celebration
12. Rule for Thought
13. Square One: [Year]
14. Squaring Is Caring
15. The Final Equation
16. The Sum of [Year]
17. Up and Atom
18. Write Angle

Humanities headlines

19. Act your Page
20. Anything Prose
21. Blurb the Line
22. Bookmark my Words
23. Born and Read
24. Bursting at the Themes
25. Do the Myth
26. Full Theme Ahead
27. Get Booked On
28. Go for Baroque
29. Move in the Right Direction
30. Plot it Down
31. Prose and Cons
32. A Rhyme a Dozen
33. Setting Pretty
34. Strike a Prose
35. The Write Stuff

Arts headlines

36. All Hands on Deco
37. All Strings Considered
38. Band New
39. Band Over Backwards
40. Bright of Passage
41. Brush with Greatness
42. Canvas of the Year
43. Choral High Ground
44. Emboss Level
45. Face the Music
46. Fair and Snare
47. Fluid for Thought
48. Hip Hop to It
49. Horn to Fly
50. Rhythm and Reflection
51. Size the Day
52. Soul in One
53. The Stage is Set

Senior section headlines

54. A Class Act
55. A Degree of Fun
56. From Student to Scholar
57. Looking Grad-ulous
58. Making Moves
59. Onward and Upward
60. Rising to the Challenge
61. Stepping Into New Horizons
62. Taking Flight (good for a bird mascot)
63. The Final Exam
64. The Final Lap of our Academic Race
65. The Future Begins

In Treering’s inaugural Cover Design Contest, which—if we’re being real—was three concurrent contests, schools submitted their covers to one of three categories:

1. School Spirit – mascots, school colors, and anything else that shows off your community
2. Theme Development – an introduction to your visual and verbal theme
3. Elementary Student Art – original art by K-6 students

Students created original yearbook covers using paint, AI, colored pencils, crayons, mixed media, digital media, and pen and ink. Yearbook committees gave prompts that were open-ended, fixed, and everything in between. While many submissions were the result of a yearbook cover art contest, others were collaborative projects. All were steeped in the tradition of promoting student perspectives and community. 

Grand Prize Winner: Peace Valley Charter School, Boise, ID

“Waldorf schools instill a deep respect for the natural world, fellow human beings, and the spiritual elements in all beings,” said 6th-grade teacher Nichole Murray, whose students compete annually in the yearbook cover contest.

Murray, PCVS dad Jason Ropp, and yearbook coordinator Gigi Murfitt display the entries in the hallways so all students can see them and begin to dream ahead for their chance in the cover contest. PCVS teachers choose the winners, and first and second place go on the outside cover. All cover contest submissions appear inside the book.

“The elements of nature are expressed, and our mascot, the otter, symbolizes intelligence, playfulness, resilience, and adaptability,” they said.

Both art pieces caught the judges' attention because they used similar colors and exceptional lighting–one judge kept exclaiming, “The shadows!” 

The. Shadows.

The cover art introduces outsiders to the Waldorf philosophy, especially how the art curriculum helps nurture imagination, emotional intelligence, and a well-rounded intellect.

“Our mascot, the otter, symbolizes intelligence, playfulness, resilience, and adaptability,” Murray said.

The Final Five

Ladera Ranch Elementary School, Ladera Ranch, CA

Fifth grader Fiona Martin captivated us with the color explosion and detail on her cover design. PTA president Joya Celik said the yearbook team at LRES asked the students to create a design incorporating their mascot “that reflected courage, perseverance, and attaining [their] goals.”

Their 2024-2025 school theme was “Go for the Gold.” Martin surely did just that.

Normandale Elementary School, Edina, MN

Yearbook team leads Lauren Dickerson and Becky Sertich created a collaborative project for 5th-grade students. Taking their inspiration from water bottles, Chromebooks, and everything else tweens touch, they asked students to create their own “sticker” design.

They “scanned and edited [each submission] to add a white border (like a sticker) and to make the background transparent so the ‘stickers’ could be arranged on the cover like clip-art.”

The result? An on-trend, completely original yearbook cover that shows the personalities and priorities of promoting students.

Strawberry Elementary, Santa Rosa, CA

This one is also collaborative: the front and back covers are creations from 6th graders and the local high school (shout out Sonoma Academy in Santa Rosa) helped put it all together. The latter used AI design tools to expand the front cover art to wrap around to the back. On the back, they also created a composite of art.

“The high school students had originally envisioned a variety of student strawberries in the grass and eagles in the sky for this cover design,” yearbook coordinator Pamela Vincent said. “But [a] 6th grade student convinced them that one of the eagles could be arranged to carry a strawberry-filled basket.”

“In total, seven high school students and 11 elementary school students collaborated to make this cover a reality,” Vincent said.

Watchung Elementary School, Middlesex, NJ

Wrap-around cover, check. Multiple students’ art, check. This cover ticked all the boxes, and once we learned about the five-week process to create each self-portrait, we were even more in awe of what a PK-3 school produced.

“Students are placed in Polaroid frames to remind the third graders that no matter how much time goes by, their 3rd grade memories will remain the same,” Librarian Anne Erchicks said.

West Side Elementary School, Marietta, GA

The team at WSES made their 75th anniversary book an homage to late Principal Reid Brown's first yearbook theme. To convey “Shine Bright like a Diamond and Be the Best Bee You Can Be,” each student from kindergarten through 5th grade created their own bee and drew a diamond.

“Our yearbook team voted on using student art as the cover,” said yearbook coordinator Shelley Strack. “We also used the additional bees and diamonds throughout the yearbook as graphics.”

Strack and her team created contemporary art to celebrate Brown’s message. “I loved the use of new and old as a part of our yearbook,” she said.

In Treering’s inaugural Cover Design Contest, which—if we’re being real—was three concurrent contests, schools submitted their covers to one of three categories:

1. School Spirit – mascots, school colors, and anything else that shows off your community
2. Theme Development – an introduction to your visual and verbal theme
3. Elementary Student Art – original art by K-6 students

We said, “School,” you said, “Spirit.” Pride in your community shone through on every cover. 

Grand Prize Winner: Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, San Francisco, CA

Mascot: Rainbow dragon
School colors: 15 colors representing 15 art departments

“Each of the dragon's colors represents one of the school's 15 arts departments. Those colors are carried through the rest of the design, appearing in the colorful garden that spans the bottom of the front and back cover, and in the text on the back cover where each department's name is written in its unique color,” said adviser Jeff Castleman, who also teaches drawing, painting, photography, and computer art.

This cover illustrates the adage, “Know the [design] rules, and break them.” Generally, we’d encourage a yearbook creator to avoid using 15 colors. Not Asawa Arts. 

They grouped warm colors for the sunset-inspired swirls, sandwiched between greens as grasses and blues in the skies. Each piece of flora has the base of the blues or pinks with pops of contrasting colors. Black lines hem it in.

A group of eight yearbook club students collaborated on the original illustration. The lead designers, both seniors, at Asawa Arts’ yearbook club developed the visual identity of the yearbook. They went from pencil sketches to creating their own computer-based line art. Six supporting designers (all juniors) filled it in with flowers, leaves, mushrooms, and butterflies. 

On the spine and in the dragon’s hands are roses. “The rainbow dragon symbolizes our school spirit,” Castleman said, “and the rose it holds represents our guiding principles.”

The acronym representing Respect, Openness, Safety, and Engagement is part of the campus as much as it is part of the culture.

Castleman appreciated the flexibility of working with his students to create the vision and fully customize the yearbook cover. He said each year, the yearbook team re-imagines the dragon, giving it a different feel, from East Asian and Medieval to this year’s psychedelic interpretation.

“We think of [the cover] as the crowning jewel on a bespoke book,” Castleman said.

Castleman's team earned a Treering-sponsored back-to-school ice cream bash for their campus.

The Final Five

Brooklyn International School, Brooklyn, NY

Mascot: none

“Our school is a very tight community as our students come from many backgrounds trying to achieve the American Dream, but not forgetting their roots,” Norma Gaytan said.

Gaytan’s students represented their classmates with flags and artifacts from their home countries.

Gloria Deo Academy, Springfield, MO

Mascot: Lion

This is the cover we expected: school colors and a mascot boldly proclaiming school spirit. The texture in the mane and near-watermark incarnations of the lion on the back adds texture.

Mid-Pacific Institute Preschool and Elementary, Honolulu, HI

Mascot: Pueo (Hawaiian Owl)

The drone photo in honor of Mid-Pacific’s 20th anniversary is impressive enough. We loved the before and after images.

Adviser Abbey said, “The students learned about how to use a grid to scale an image, practicing in art. We then applied the math to create a giant grid on our courtyard and replicated our school mascot with field paint.”

Montera Middle School, Oakland, CA

Mascot: Toro

Student art always holds a special place in our hearts. Montera’s cover art extended from the front to the back cover, making a bold statement of school spirit.

Olympia Regional Learning Academy, Olympia, WA

Mascot: Orca

The symbolism in the student art evokes powerful sentiments of school spirit. Both contest winners captured the essence of the K-12 campus’ mentoring ethos. On the front, a mother and baby orca represent the cooperative role ORLA provides. 

“We take our cooperative role with the families very seriously and we could not have the kind of school or kind of students we have without the role the caregivers provide, both at home and at our school,” adviser Rachel McKaughan said.

“The back cover also represents the playful spirit we have at the school with our many hands-on electives, she said, “where students are able to discover and express many different talents.”

From each submission, we learned school spirit is more than a sports team or school song steeped in tradition. It is comprised of community features: shared values and overarching identity. Thank you to the 300+ schools that shared their story with us.

When it comes to the yearbook principal message, there’s a trick we often see with the best ones:

Involvement from the yearbook adviser.

We know that might sound a little odd, since your principal is the head honcho, and, let’s face it, none of us like to tell our bosses what to do (#Awkward). But the trick to a really good yearbook principal message isn’t just to let your principal write whatever it is he or she feels like. It’s making sure you help shape that message.

Think about it: You’re the expert on the yearbook. You know the book’s theme, and how it’s being carried through on all the pages. Your principal doesn’t. That makes your viewpoint a good one for the principal to hear. Look, we know that every yearbook adviser is going to feel a different level of comfort when it comes to telling your principal what to write. If that’s not for you, there’s another way to help. Helping them how to shape what they want to say. And that’s what the rest of this post is about.

Read on, and we’ll explore the most important aspects to writing a good yearbook principal message.

6 tips for writing a better yearbook principal message

1. Start with a story.

Did you know that there’s science behind storytelling? Seriously. Our brain actually reacts differently when it receives information as plain ol’ data than it does when information is delivered in a story-like format. That doesn’t mean a principal’s message needs to start with “Once upon a time…”It simply means that using more adjectives, including metaphors and sharing personal anecdotes are techniques that help a message connect with the reader—so start your message with a story.

2. Connect to the theme.

There is a lot going on at your school, right? That’s exactly why your yearbook has a theme. The yearbook theme serves as the unifier between all the clubs, activities, sports and classes that take place throughout the year.So it makes sense that, as the leader of the school, your message both unifies and sets the stage for that theme. Plus, tapping into the theme is a way to recognize the hard work of your yearbook team -- and a subtle way of supporting them.

3. Write like you talk.

This is your principal's message, and it should sound like them. Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine.Avoid long words, formalities and clichés that wouldn’t be part of your vocabulary in everyday conversation. One of the benefits of keeping your language simple is that it will be easier for readers to remember and connect with your message. And that’s exactly what you want.

4. Show gratitude.

Remember to thank the people who worked really hard to make the yearbook—and the school year—amazing. This recognition of a job well done goes a long way, especially if you rely on a group of volunteers throughout the school year.

5. Be concise.

Attention spans are shorter than ever. For most people that means shorter than a goldfish.There’s a better chance that people will read your message if they can see that it won’t take much of their time.

6. Find an editor.

This is where you, the yearbook adviser, get to play a really big role again.Once your principal has created a message they're happy with, it's your turn to step in, and give it a good edit. Check for the other five tips, then proofread it. Doing so will ensure that their message is clear and error-free. It's the best way to make your principal's message stand out (and to save them unwanted embarrassment).Your yearbook principal message isn't just the responsibility of the principal. And it's not just letting your principal write whatever it is he or she feels like. You need to step in and help shape that message. If you use these tips, your principal will deliver his or her message better than they would have done on their own. And that'll make you a hero.

We always say we will get started on yearbook planning over the summer. Raise your hand if you follow through. (My hand is down too.) Camp Yearbook, Treering's two-day virtual yearbook planning course, is back. It's part large-group training, part small-group mentoring and idea sharing. And it's 100% live.

The goal: have the first six weeks of yearbooking planned.

Register for an upcoming virtual session. Treering's Yearbook Club features virtual workshops on theme, design, and team training. Bring your questions.

‍What to expect

Treering's Camp Yearbook is a cameras-on, all-in yearbook planning experience.

Event structure

Both days are three hours of large-group training and smaller breakouts designed for you to get all your questions answered.

We'll provide the goal-setting worksheets, ladders, idea decks, and resources because we want you to finish Camp Yearbook with your first six weeks of yearbooking planned.

Based on your feedback, Camp Yearbook’s sessions are even more specialized:

• Getting Rooted: designed for yearbook creators with fewer than three years with Treering, this session is focused on time-saving tips, design basics, what to do in class, and all the must-know info to create and market your yearbook.
• Branching Out: for experienced advisers looking to level up their yearbook design or classroom pedagogy, this session is all about intermediate and advanced features such as creating styles, adding content to portrait pages, yearbook staff structure, and problem-solving.

Register via the Yearbook Club webinars page.

Treering mentors

All attendees will be in a small group led by a Treering staff member who served—or currently serves—as a yearbook adviser. In groups specific to school style and yearbook team structure, you can ask questions about grading, crowdsourcing, club structure, page count, and whatever else you need answered. (Your camp counselors aren't Treering life coaches, but close.)

Grow together

Breakout groups for parent volunteers, solo yearbook coordinators, educators, and club leaders mean you get meaningful support and specific-to-you resources.

Register NOW for Camp Yearbook 2025

Camp Yearbook 2025 FAQs

Your questions deserve answers!

How is Camp Yearbook different from Treering Live (TRL)?

TRL is Treering’s flagship event. During National Yearbook Week, TRL will have all the design training, coveted prizes, and organization inspiration yearbook advisers have come to expect. We look forward to it as much as you do!
Camp Yearbook is a summer PD program for yearbook coordinators and advisers who want to get more from their program through professional mentoring and collaborative idea-sharing. It’s a cameras-on, all-in yearbook planning experience.

How do I know which session to attend?

Camp Yearbook is structured differently this year: based on your feedback, we have the yearbook overview to support newer advisers and a second session to challenge the veterans.  
BOTH have sneak peeks, specialized group training, and breakouts with Treering mentors.

What do I need to prepare for Camp Yearbook?

Make sure Zoom is up-to-date. This helps with breakout sessions and sound quality.

If possible, have previous copies of your yearbook and the 25-26 school calendar.

How much is it?

Free ninety free. Charging extra for support and training is not our thing.

Will I get CE/PD hours for attending?

Yes! Upon request, attendees will receive a certificate for six hours of yearbook production and classroom planning.

Can students attend?

Nope. Consider this a break… a working break.

Will Camp Yearbook be recorded?

Camp Yearbook is an interactive, experiential event. Recordings will not be made public.

Treering Yearbook Heroes is a monthly feature focusing on yearbook tips and tricks.

Yearbook Hero Amy Windsheimer transformed a yearbook program on the chopping block into a thriving journalism class. After a year of co-creating Brush Middle School's book with a colleague, they opened it up for students. Windsheimer wanted the class to focus on both visual and oral communication skills. And she nailed it.

You truly collaborated with your whole community. Tell us what you did.

We used some of our yearbook fundraising money to purchase two cameras, and a local photographer came in and showed the kids how to use them. The kids really got into it.

At the end of the school year, I reached out to news and media outlets because I wanted to take them to a newspaper printing place. We toured Townsquare Media, which has three different radio stations in Windsor, CO. The kids recorded a radio intro and outro. They played with the green screen.

A couple of the DJs taught us how the morning show works and shared their career path. We learned about their college experiences and about radio advertising, which was a cool 360 because that’s how we started the year: Our secondary school sells ads together. For a field trip, I took my yearbook class out into the community to do in-person sales.

How did you make selling ads in-person less scary for middle school students?

One unit of my yearbook class focused on public speaking. We talked about professionalism and public relations. The kids spent a week crafting and practicing an ad pitch for local businesses. 

First, they went around and told any adult in the building who was interested in listening and sold them yearbook ads. Then, we had some simulations to prepare them to get turned down. I actually had one of the principals tell them, "Nope, I'm not interested," or “Well, I don't want to go as high as that route. What about this route?" 

When we went out, they had matching T-shirts. There was a process for receiving and depositing funds in the activities account. The kids also worked with the business to create the ad.

We have a restaurant in town that purchased an ad from a pair of girls and said, "Well, do you guys want a cinnamon roll?" They had cinnamon rolls the size of a small plate. A family-owned bowling alley gave the middle and high school staff an hour of bowling to close out the day.

How many pages of ads did you end up with?

We filled nine pages. Our town has many awesome businesses, and they are so supportive. 

How else do your students create the book?

It took us a while to decide on our the theme of our yearbook. They came up with five options, and they had to limit it to three, and then they finally decided on one. I told them to choose whatever style they wanted to make. Make it fun, make it creative, make it their book. And they really took off. 

We broke the ladder down into fall sports and activities. I assigned two kids per page. One kid would sit there dictating, and the other kid would be working. 

I rolled out a big touchscreen TV on a cart daily. Somebody would use it to work on their page. The best part about that TV was that it was big enough to see the layout easier, and it was more kid-friendly. 

We’d also use it at the end of our deadline: I would make them all go through and proofread and edit and make sure that there weren't any pictures with inappropriate signs or anything that could not be school-appropriate. Then, I would see if there were any other pictures that we could add to it.

We had four mini deadlines: October 31, another one at Christmas, at the end of the third quarter, and then, of course, our yearbook had to be in by the end of April. It was a mad rush in April to get everything done.

I don’t see many middle school books with captions. How do you do it?

Creating captions is really hard, especially when the yearbook kids don't know all of the other kids. I'd encourage them to go speak to a specific teacher and see if they can help out. We used all our resources. 

You equipped your students with public speaking, design, and sales skills. What else?

We have these big screens around campus that play a slideshow. I shared the Google Drive folders our students use to compile pictures of each activity. It’s as much real-time as we can possibly get. I watched kids stop and watch the pictures, and it's huge. 

They're like, "Oh yeah, that was a fun picture to take." Or, "Oh, yeah, that was a fun activity that we did. Oh, that was funny." And there are these moments somebody posed and didn't know they were posing, and we got it on camera.

Adding marketing to the list.

When they go into high school, I feel like many of them who wanted to be in the yearbook class will take what we learned and take it to the next step of what the yearbook looks like.

For a lot of yearbook advisers, the question of which students end up on their yearbook staff is outside their control—even if they don’t want it to be.

And while you can do a lot to influence that question, it’s still the teacher’s equivalent to rolling of the dice. Which means you could spend a lot of time focused on building your dream yearbook staff, only to find out it can’t happen for a number of reasons outside your control.

When it comes to your yearbook program, then, don’t just ask, Who are the right students for my yearbook staff? Make sure you ask, What’s the best way to structure my yearbook staff for my students and my goals?, as well. Because that second question might set you and your yearbook staff for success in more ways than the first question ever could.

Focusing on the right structure for your yearbook staff will provide these advantages:

• Ensure the work your students do is aligned with your goals for the book, giving you a better chance of meeting your goals for the book.
• Ensure your students work in roles suitable to their experience and interests, giving them an opportunity to experience success early and learn a specific set of skills that interests them.

Inside this post, we’ll explore how to organize your yearbook staff for these advantages, plus the basic positions you’ll need to fill for a successful year. Read on.

Making your yearbook staff structure fit your needs

When organizing your yearbook staff, you have two choices for structure: organize your staff by responsibilities, or organize your staff by sections of the book.

Understanding the advantages (and disadvantages) of both types of yearbook staff structures will make picking the right one for your team easier. That being the case, let’s break them down.

Organizing by responsibility.

A more traditional structure for large yearbook staffs, this approach mimics the type of organizational hierarchy that students will find out in the real world. It provides each member of a staff the opportunity to work on a core responsibility, giving them better experience in a select area.

If you have a large returning group of students, this can be an easy organizational structure to implement. You’ll know your students’ strengths and interests, and you’ll be able to match them to roles that will be the best fit for them.

The advantage here is clear: Your students will become rockstars in their given roles. As the year progresses, so, too, will your students skills. The layouts and designs will get better, the photos will get better, the writing will get better. Hard to turn down, right?

There are, though, a couple drawbacks to organizing your staff in this fashion. For one, you need a decent sized yearbook staff—and that’s something not every yearbook adviser has. If you don’t have a class smaller than 12 students or so, you’ll likely be asking students to focus on multiple responsibilities.

For another, your job as a classroom manager will get a little hectic. Each responsibility on a yearbook staff—layout and design, copy, photography—could be taught as year-long, stand-alone courses. And if you’re students are diving deep on a specific responsibility, they’re likely to want the knowledge and challenges that come along with that deep dive. Figuring out how to teach three different subjects to three different sets of students for the entire year, then, can be challenging.

Organizing by sections of the book

When you’re running a lean and mean yearbook staff, everyone needs to get their hands dirty on everything. And that’s exactly what this organizational structure allows.

For small yearbook staffs and for staffs where you know little about your students’ strengths and interests, giving everyone the chance to design, write and photograph allows for more exploration, skill development, and overall interest in the book.

Organizing your yearbook staff by sections of the book will give everyone a specific task, keep them focused, and help ensure each section (if not the whole book) has a cohesive feel. Pretty much everyone we’ve ever talked yearbooks with would agree it’s nice when that happens.

The biggest downside to this organizational structure is actually it’s strength: Students will get experience with lots of different responsibilities, but not a lot of experience with a single responsibility. That’s a problem, if one of your goals as a yearbook adviser is to help students develop a specific skill.

For student-run yearbook staffs, either of these organizational structures will help you set up your yearbook staff for success.

Basic positions for any student-run yearbook staff

Just like there’s no single, perfect organizational structure for your yearbook staff, there’s no single, perfect set of roles. There are, though, a few roles that are good starting points for shaping your staff.

Here’s a breakdown of yearbook staff positions to consider:

Editor-in-chief

Because of the huge list of responsibilities that come with the title, nearly all editors-in-chief are returning students. Experience alone isn’t enough.

They’ll need all the tools: dedication, talent, leadership. Your editor-in-chief will be part of a small team that shapes the theme and coverage of the yearbook, and will help train new students, provide you with feedback on how the yearbook program is being run, and be part of the team that signs off on the book before it goes to print.

Editor

How you decide to structure your yearbook staff will impact how you define your editor roles. If you choose to organize your staff by responsibility, you’ll want an editor for each core area of the book: layout and design, writing, and photography. If you choose to organize your staff by sections of the book, you’ll want an editor for each section of the book.

Regardless, your editors will be lead-by-example types who are also comfortable providing guidance to staffers  and younger students. They’ll serve as coaches, and make sure students stay on theme and within the style guide constraints you and the editor-in-chief put in place. They’ll keep their pages moving or make sure their responsibilities aren’t blocking pages from being finished on time. And they’ll copy edit and proof pages before submitting to you and the editor-in-chief for final sign off before submission.

Staffer

With few exceptions, the majority of your students will be staffers.

Their primary responsibilities should include choosing the right layout for the write spread, taking photos, covering events, and writing headlines, captions and stories. Because many of your staffers will be new to yearbook, your editors will need to help guide with them. They'll work together on developing story ideas, learning to tell stories through photos, and fitting layout schemes and page designs to content.

There's plenty of work to go around when it comes to yearbook (as you know); so, making sure you have a sizable staff is worthwhile—even if that means your editorial staff is a bit smaller.

Spending more time on structuring your yearbook staff to best fit your students and your goals will do more than help you create a better book; it’ll help you deliver a more rewarding experience for the students in your program.

Whether you just inherited the yearbook or are a seasoned adviser, the need to streamline processes is very real. We collaborated with middle and high school advisers, copy editors, marketing pros, and PTA officers to create free, editable yearbook templates to help you stay organized in your yearbook program.

Yearbook planning templates

Yearbook ladder template

Think of your ladder as your yearbook itinerary: it’s where you’re going to go and when. Using the school calendar and last year’s yearbook (or a few prior years’-worth), chart what will go on which spread. 

We like to take our ladders and create a content calendar from there. Is the Turkey Trot scheduled for November? Well, so is Mrs. Jimenez who volunteered to take photos. Are track and swimming beginning in February? Then Jayne knows to contact the coaches in January.

Does pre-planning equate to inflexibility? No. It just means you’re ready for whatever comes your way.

Editable yearbook syllabus

From course objectives to parent acknowledgment, we have you covered. We’ll walk you through how to make it your own. And if you’re using Treering’s free yearbook curriculum, we’ve already aligned it to the national CTE standards.

Yearbook staff application

How do you separate the wheat from the chaff? An application helps. Staff recruitment might be the second-most important planning piece.

Yearbook grading templates

Spelling out exactly how your students will be assessed is a really important part of establishing expectations for the upcoming semester. A yearbook grading rubric is a perfect way for teachers to give students the grades they earned as well as the feedback they need to make a better yearbook. There’s no guesswork for them and your expectations are clear.

We made two rubrics for your yearbook class (heads up, they are in the same spreadsheet).

• Design rubric
  You might be tempted to break the elements of design into a handful of granular rubrics (one for photography, another for layout: you get the picture, pun intended). While there’s nothing wrong with doing this, ensuring that the individual elements work in concert is as important as the quality of those elements in their own right. Your end product is a spread, therefore, it’s graded as such.
• Copy rubric
  By assessing the writing on each page, you achieve two things. First, you give your students a tangible grade for their hard work. Second, you can vet the copy on every page of the book, which gives you an idea as to how everything fits together tonally and whether the book as a whole adheres to your established style guide.

Yearbook marketing templates

Because everyone needs to see your yearbook team’s work, you need to get the word out. Marketing the yearbook is not just about sales: we have two templates below to help you get books in the hands of your school community and get more assistance in building an inclusive yearbook.

The only yearbook sales flyer you’ll need

Yes, you should have a table at registration, parent conferences, and any all-school event with laptops or iPads so parents can shop on the spot. Many parents have yearbook sales as part of their back-to-school to-do list.

For those who don’t, we’ve heard year after year: this is the greatest flyer. It assures buyers they are in the book. Pair this with custom yearbook pages that print only in your copy of the book, and you truly have the story of your year.

Social media calendar

To market your program, you have to—to (mis)quote Ariel, “Be where the people are.” Use our social calendar to market to parents on Facebook and Twitter and pump up students on Instagram and TikTok. 

We hope these customizable templates help propel your program to the next level. Keep it simple and happy yearbooking!

Although you’ll likely take the month of June to relax and rejuvenate after a long year in the classroom, you’ll eventually want to start planning for next year’s yearbook. One of the tools that you should begin building during these months is a calendar that tracks all of the dates that affect your role as yearbook adviser throughout the year. From brainstorming to editorial due dates to when your committee members will be on vacation, this will become essential to planning your content.

Below, I’ll walk you through the most important things to include on your calendar, and how to utilize this important tool for success throughout the school year.

Start with a project timeline

Before you build your calendar, create a project timeline in a spreadsheet or Google Doc to plan your year. This allows you to first  detail out each of the small projects and features that will become part of your publication. Once your timeline is complete, start adding those dates to your yearbook calendar, so that you’re always aware of what’s coming up across all of the projects your team is working on, with one glance.

Add important dates from the school calendar

As you’re thinking through the specific projects you’ll assign to your committee, start adding some of the more important school events to your calendar. This includes big fundraisers, the school art fair, sports events, dances, etc. Anything major that you want to cover in the pages of your publication should wind up on your calendar. This helps you plan out who will cover big events in advance, instead of leaving everything until the last minute.

You should also include any dates that are important to your committee, so that you can recognize what your team has going on as you’re assigning out content. This includes birthdays, vacations, and events that they’re participating in themselves, and therefore can’t cover. If three of your students are part of the school’s show choir, mark out their major performances. If one of your students is in the school play, make sure you note that on your calendar. This keeps all of your important date information in one centralized location. You can then use this information to plan out a month of committee activities in advance, including who will cover specific stories, knowing who has time to edit content, and more.

Once you’ve assigned out content, make sure you add the name of the responsible committee member to each of the deadlines in your calendar--or, better yet, 'invite' them to the event! Now they'll get an email reminder of this event, and can add it to their own calendar, so they know.

Include ideas

If you have an awesome activity or exercise that would be perfect for a specific committee meeting, add it to the “notes” section of your calendar appointment. This helps you stay organized, so that you’re not constantly searching for the sticky note with that great idea at the last minute, or worse, forgetting to use it all together. To add notes to your schedule in a Google calendar, just open up the appointment and add your idea to the “Description” section, then click “Save.”

To do this in your Outlook calendar, use the notes section at the bottom of your appointment. Then click “Save.”

A calendar for the yearbook adviser

As the yearbook adviser, you have the most dates and timelines to keep track of. Having this information in two locations--your calendar and your Google Doc timeline--makes your job easier. With your calendar, you can see exactly what’s happening for your publication on a particular day, week or month. Your timeline is more project-specific, so that you can track what’s been assigned out to your committee within each of your features, and help each committee member stay on track with their assignments. Both are important in their own way. By utilizing these two great tools together, you’re sure to be the most organized yearbook adviser on the block. And that translates to a much easier process for pulling your publication together!