Writing

On the way home in the carpool, yearbook mom Kristie overheard her daughter and three friends talking about their yearbooks staying overnight at school so their teacher could look them over and cover up things like “stinky skunk” and “Chungus.” There were hurt feelings and students who felt uncomfortable through the yearbook signing process.

Kristie said, "The kids are constantly being talked to about kindness and all that jazz, and I think much of what happened today was one kid thinking they’re hilarious and the other thinking they smell like a skunk."

Bottom line: we haven't taught our kids how to sign a yearbook.

[Old lady voice] When I was in high school, I had already combed my parents' yearbooks and learned their deep secrets. I knew the art of reserving a page in my BFF's yearbook so I could fill it with Spice Girls' lyrics, inside jokes, and the obligatory, "Thanks for always being there for me." I wasn't commenting on her posts daily and DM'ing her. Her yearbook was the one-stop shop to confess my deep admiration and devotion.

For those who weren't in my circle in the quad, a shorter message strategically squeezed between longer passages made it look as though I ran out of room. (The winning formula is below.)

How do you sign a yearbook for someone you don't really know?

1. Spell names correctly
2. Choose something specific to call out
3. Say thank you for being you: Gen, I love your smile. Thanks for sharing it with the world.
4. Sign your first and last name

How do you sign a yearbook for someone who's not your bff?

1. Spell names correctly
2. Find something positive to say
3. Say thank you for being you: Paulo, You are confident in your abilities. Thanks for sharing your interest in horses with us.
4. Sign your first and last name

Yearbook signing for the besties

Add yearbook lingo

Some things never change; we bet every 90s mom has two or three of these acronyms in her yearbook.

• BF Boyfriend
• BFF Best friend forever
• GF Girlfriend
• HAGS Have a Great Summer
• KIT Keep in Touch
• LYLAS Love you like a sister
• TTFN Ta-ta for now

Add variety

Creative yearbook signing ideas, such as adding in song lyrics or writing messages in a more artistic form, break up the passages from others.

Remember, your signature will last as long as that book. Make it count.

Now that your yearbook is a wrap and there’s nothing but sunshine ahead, it’s nice to take some time to reflect on your achievement. You may not want to spend all summer analyzing your yearbook (and who does?), but here are some quick "yearbook debriefing" tasks to help set yourself up for the new school year:

Bask in your success.

You did it! We hope you feel accomplished, proud, and gratified. First and foremost, this is the perfect time to round up your team to celebrate a job well done. Whether it’s a picnic in the park, a backyard super soaker battle, a trip to a local amusement park, or a pizza party at the pool, gathering everyone together is a great way to close this chapter (pun intended!). 

A shared celebration is a morale boost, a “thank you,” and a fantastic way to show everyone how fun yearbooking is as you ride that wave of camaraderie into the upcoming year.

Solicit and evaluate feedback.

Whether utilizing an informal compilation of comments or a more formal survey or meeting, it’s helpful to evaluate the yearbook from the experience of your school community. This process can include everything from design and content to distribution and will be invaluable during your yearbook debriefing.

While we all would prefer kudos to criticism (here are some tips for dealing with complaints), your audience's honest feedback is crucial to improving and enhancing your yearbook program. Additionally, considering suggestions and allowing people to feel heard goes a long way toward creating a solid yearbook culture. 

Analyze growth opportunities.

When doing your yearbook debriefing, looking for ways to refine your process is essential. Did you and your team encounter any challenges building or marketing your book? Can you enhance your collaboration process? Is there room for improvement in your workflow or organization? If your timeline proved challenging, have you considered a company that allows you to control your deadline? 

Lay the fall foundation.

Remember to take a few minutes to set yourself up for fall success by verifying details with your publisher (e.g., logging in to confirm your account for next school year). And if you would like to spend some time planning for your next yearbook over the summer, here are three steps to kick off another fantastic year of capturing your school’s spirit. Here’s hoping you can do all your prep work poolside! 

A good yearbook staff needs to know how to write a yearbook story, but that can be easier said than done. After all, writing something that people enjoy reading takes a lot of practice—even more than yearbook design and photography. And by the time you're done working with your students on all the other aspects of creating a yearbook, well, there's not a whole bunch of time left to spend practicing how to write a yearbook story.

That's why we wrote this post.

In it, you'll learn five easy-to-follow tips you and your yearbook staff can start using to improve all the copy in your yearbook, especially the copy that makes up your yearbook stories. We have pointers on improving headlines, writing ledes, finding your voice, and laying out your yearbook stories.

Before we get to those tips, though, we want to spend a minute on the big reason knowing how to write a yearbook story is important. And that's this: If you overlook your yearbook copy in favor of bold designs and strong photos, your yearbook is incomplete. That's because your written yearbook stories put memories in context. They tie your narrative together. They make readers want to spend more time on your pages. They make readers revisit your yearbook over time.

Let's get on with those tips, then, shall we?

5 tips for how to write a yearbook story

1. Power up your headline

‍A strong headline can make or break your yearbook story. Headlines draw readers in with a promise or a bold claim. They hold attention and create anticipation. The best yearbook story headlines are:

• Short – they quickly summarize the content to come
• Specific – they tell readers exactly what to expect
• Standalone – they make a statement on their own
• Special – they are unique, powerful and interesting

Headlines have the power to transform a mediocre story into something truly spectacular.

For example, instead of using a straightforward headline such as:

"The Blue Hawks’ Memorable Season,"

add excitement with a headline that pops:

‍"The Blue Hawks Swoop In For an End-of-Season Win!"‍

The second option ups the emotion while giving readers a reason to find out more about how the Blue Hawks overcame challenges during the season. You can even try to switch up the format of your story by using a “list headline”, such as:

"5 Times the Blue Hawks Surprised Fans This Season"

Or:

"10 Reasons We Love Cheering for Our Blue Hawks"

Your yearbook story’s headline not only sets reader expectations, but also sets the tone for your following narrative. Which leads us to…

‍2. Take a strong lede

‍Lede is a journalism term for the opening section of a news story. (Need a primer on yearbook terms? Check out this blog post and interactive quiz to keep fresh.) Reporters start their articles with the most critical information, enticing readers to continue and ensuring readers grasp the story’s main message. Think about this when you write your yearbook story’s introduction. The beginning of your story should:

• Deliver on the promise made in your headline
• Give readers the critical information they need
• Introduce action, conflict or emotion
• Prompt readers to continue to learn more

Need an example? Go back to the lede of this blog post. In it, we tell you exactly why yearbook story content is critical, and how this article will help you write better stories. (If you’re reading this right now, our lede worked!)

‍3. Be an active writer

‍To write active and entertaining yearbook stories, you need to use active and entertaining language. And this means writing in the active voice. For those who need a refresher, active voice is when the subject of a sentence is doing the action, while passive voice is when the subject of a sentence is being acted upon. An example of passive voice:

"The team was cheered on by hundreds of fans."

This sentence falls flat, because the fans are acting upon the subject (the team). It’s easy to switch to active voice, however:

"Hundreds of fans cheered on the team."

In this new sentence, the subject of the sentence (hundreds of fans) performs the action.

Another way to keep your writing active is to use strong verbs. Verbs are words used to describe an action – and they can be strong or weak. “To be” verbs such as “am, is, are, was, were” often weaken a sentence. Here’s an example of a weak verb at play:

"The debate team is responsible for researching their topics."

Here’s the same sentence, using a strong verb:

"The debate team investigates their topics."

Strong verbs convey more meaning than weak verbs, and help bring a yearbook story to life.

4. Give it some voice

‍Quotes and testimonials from students, parents, faculty and staff are great ways to bring both personality and personal meaning to your yearbook stories. Whenever possible, include statements from the individuals who were directly involved in the stories you’re recapping.

• Interview the swimming star on her big win.
• Ask a science student about his favorite experiment.
• Talk to a teacher about how her students changed over the year.

These individual moments will give your yearbook stories more context and emotion.

‍5. Design your yearbook copy

‍While you may think of copy and design as two separate entities, design plays an important role in your copy's readability. The right fonts, layout and sentence structure all work together to move a reader easily and comfortably through a yearbook story. Here are some ways to better design your content:

• Keep sentences and paragraphs short.
• Cut out unnecessary words.
• Add subheads to divide stories into sections.
• Break up text with call-out quotations or facts.
• Use bullet points to list short moments or stories.
• Keep fonts simple – select one font style for headlines and one for body copy.

Finally, in both content and general page design, be aware of white space. Don’t fill every blank spot with text or imagery; let your story breathe. Take time to write focused, meaningful and engaging yearbook stories. You'll end up with a stronger picture of your school year.

When it comes to creating a yearbook, knowing how to write a yearbook story is important stuff. Even if great writing takes a lot of practice, there are some easy-to-follow tips that will get you closer by the day. Follow them, and your yearbook is sure to succeed.

You probably know by now that a good yearbook superlatives list is enough to get your whole school talking. But you know what really get your readers to crack some smiles? Teacher superlatives.While many schools have traditions of turning their faculty portrait pages into light-hearted affairs, nothing gets your teachers and faculty a spotlight in the yearbook quite like an awards or superlatives section just for them. And for good reason:They’re an opportunity to celebrate the hard work and dedication teachers put into the school year while giving a nod to the character traits and quirks that make your faculty so memorable. (Plus, nothing beats the feeling you’ll get when you’re able hand a superlative certificate to the winner of “Most likely to win a rap battle.”)It doesn’t matter if teacher superlatives are voted on by students or by faculty themselves, if they’re straight-up funny or just plain interesting, this is a feature that’s hard not to love.Read on, as we unveil our list of 35 teacher superlatives ideas and tips for writing your own.

35 super awesome teacher superlatives

While we’ll spend some time shortly talking about how to write your own yearbook awards for teachers, we figured we would dive right in with some ready-made ideas:

• Most likely to have a new hair style/color
• Most likely to be your friend on Facebook
• Most likely to be found enjoying nature
• Most likely to bring a pet to school
• Most likely to be seen on the big screen
• Most likely to win Jeopardy
• Most likely to pack their bags and travel the world
• Most likely to win a rap battle
• Best advice and wisdom
• Most friendly
• Most enthusiastic
• Mostly likely to create world peace
• Best storyteller
• Funniest
• Most distinguishable voice
• Most school spirit
• Most likely to break out in dance
• Most artistic
• Best smile
• Most likely to not give weekend homework
• Most likely to have a desk full of apples
• Most likely to know the score of last night's game
• Most inspiring
• Most quotable
• Most intimidating vocabulary
• Best beard
• Best wardrobe
• Scariest death glare
• Most likely to make sarcastic comments
• Most likely to scold you and give you a detention
• Most likely to be mistaken for a student
• Most likely to scold you for eating food near the computers
• Most likely to be accidentally called mom/dad
• Most likely to catch a student texting in class
• Best taste in music

Of course, some of these might do the trick for your teacher superlatives and some of these might not. That’s why it’s a list of ideas. If you’re more the do-it-yourself type, we’ve got some helpful tips below on how to write your own superlatives. In either event, we’ve created a free template for you to use as you build your superlatives list. Check it out here.

Writing your own yearbook awards for teachers

To generate your own list of teacher superlatives, sit down with your staff and begin with an old fashioned brainstorm. Starting with your existing senior superlatives list or yearbook awards list makes the most sense, so simply reframe your list of superlatives so that they’re teacher focused. For example, “Class Clown” becomes “Funniest Teacher” and “Teacher’s Pet” becomes “Favorite Teacher.” A lot of the same rules apply to yearbook awards for teachers as they do for students, especially if you’re trying to write funny superlatives: Which teachers are fair game? Are the superlatives funny? Or are they mean? It can be a fine line, so be careful and get a second opinion if you think something’s pushing it a little too far. From there, add to your list using some school-specific superlatives:Does someone embody school spirit like no other? Do some of your school’s teachers have idiosyncrasies so well-known around the building that they’re a shoe-in for one superlative or another? As you work through the logistics of who’ll do the voting (Just faculty? Just graduating students? The whole school?), you’ll know you’ve hit the right mark when you hear the chatter start in the hallways and see the smiles creep across students’ faces. That’s because including teacher superlatives and other types of awards in your yearbook is an easy way to give special recognition to faculty—a group who help make the school year what it is, but often aren’t recognized in the yearbook.

By participating in Teacher Appreciation Week, students and parents recognize the efforts of their teachers. We’ve created two free printables to help make it easy because this week can be a powerful way to build rapport between home and campus life, which can ultimately enhance the learning experience for everyone involved. Additionally, participating in Teacher Appreciation Week can teach students the importance of showing an attitude of gratitude.

The science behind being thankful

Studies show that when you share gratitude with others, your brain becomes re-wired in a positive way. Gratitude helps you:

• Feel happier: Gratitude can make you feel good by making more of the happy chemicals—dopamine and serotonin—in your brain.
• Think better: Gratitude can help you use the prefrontal cortex (thinking part) of your brain more, which helps you make good decisions and solve problems.
• Reduce stress: Gratitude can help you worry less and feel less scared by calming down the part of your brain that makes you feel anxious.

Now that’s something for which to be grateful.

Free printables

We made these printables available as a convenient way for parents to participate in Teacher Appreciation Week. Simply download and print the materials from the comfort of your own home for your child or work with other classroom parents to cultivate a display on the classroom door in the teachers’ lounge. Whichever you choose, you and your child can personalize the messages, which can make them more meaningful and memorable for the teacher.

"All About My Teacher" printable

This full-color mini poster with fill-ins is a fun way for parents and their children to document the impact of their teacher. Download it here. (Did you know this page is also available as a pre-designed yearbook spread you can drag and drop into your Treering yearbook?)

Teacher appreciation card

We’ve made it easy to write a letter thanking teachers for all their hard work and dedication. Fill in the blanks of the card below. Thank you cards can be compiled into a scrapbook or displayed in the classroom. Download it here.

We hope these printables help to create a fun and festive atmosphere in the classroom. Teacher Appreciation Week is a way for students and parents to express gratitude towards the teachers who have had a positive impact.

We see you, teachers; your hard work and dedication are recognized and valued.

No one reads yearbook stories. Sound familiar? I felt that way in my first five years advising. Focusing on photojournalism was almost an act of rebellion against the genius who mentored me in my high school’s newsroom. Yes, pictures are worth a thousand words and all that. By adding writing to your yearbook pages, you give names to faces and intent to actions. It’s more than so-and-so on the thing doing the thing; it’s context and clarity. It's a change for the better.

Copy as design

I’ve said it for years because my aforementioned high school adviser brainwashed me (in a good way): Content drives design. If you plan on increasing your yearbook’s written content, learn how to design with copy. 

Headlines

Headlines are a great way to connect yearbook spreads back to the theme. On a spread about robotics, push yourself to make the main verbal entry point read more than “Robotics.” Your headline font, weight, color, and placement are just as important as the dominant photo.
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How to write yearbook headlines

Not only is it a part of the dominant element of your spread’s hierarchy, but headlines also help organize the yearbook by providing a visual cue and structure for the content.

Captions and stories

While not every topic may need a story, (nearly) every photo deserves a caption. Captions are entry-level writing opportunities. Compare the two spreads below. They are from the same yearbook. One is captions only; the other has a story.

The captions are close to the photos they complement. The story connects to the headline and subheadline.
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How to introduce writing to the yearbook

As an adult, it can be tough to approach another adult and have a conversation (cool mom at the playground, I’m looking at you). Likewise, getting students to approach their peers isn’t the easiest skill to teach. As with all skills, take the easy +1 approach: start small, master that skill, and add another. 

A progression, like the one below, builds confidence while building familiarity.

1. Introduce a question of the day (QOTD)

The heading says it all. Advisers or the editorial board select a question, and yearbook students ask four non-yearbook students the QOTD. 

Yearbook creators are encouraged to start with their peer groups and branch out. The only caveat is that they cannot ask a student a QOTD twice until everyone has had a chance. No repeats. You can track this with a BOLO (Be on the Lookout) board, via a Google Sheet fed by a Google Form, or with your roster.

Do the math with me for a second: if six yearbook students each interviewed four students daily, that would be 120 student voices added to your yearbook in a week. With a larger staff of 18, that’s 360 new voices. Use these as Q&A moments in your portrait section or sidebars through athletics, arts, and student life spreads.

With those figures, you could get a meaningful quote from nearly everyone on campus each quarter.

2. Practice interviewing in class weekly

Repetition builds skills, and we educators know that. In the yearbook classroom or club space, the work of photoshoots, layout design, and marketing sometimes overshadows the process of creating. Take time to teach, practice, and evaluate your team’s skills. Here are a few ideas:

3. Take it to the street!

The key to a good yearbook interview is to have good questions. While there are hundreds of lists on the interwebs (we list some of our favs below), tailoring the interview to the subject will always give you the best material.

The best way to prep is to craft questions using the Five Common Topics: definition, comparison, relationship, circumstance, and testimony. 
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Using the "Five common topics" for yearbook copy

The inverted pyramid is the go-to launch point for budding journalists.

Once you have a list of questions—“Give me a quote for the yearbook” does not count—ask them! 

The late Casey Nicols inspired a love of focus groups in me. As a journalism mentor, he encouraged me to bring in clubs or teams at lunchtime and interview the group. There was strength in numbers for them, as interviews were new for our yearbook staff. And our staff received some of the best quotes because they would play off each other. 

As a result, their writing became interesting. Students read it. It became the expectation.

4. Start small

Remember, easy +1. If there is no writing in your yearbook, add captions. Play with sentence structure so it’s not always subject-verb-adverb. Add a prepositional opener. Make it a complex sentence. Then

You don’t have to do it all. Ever. Tell your community’s story your way. 

Help with interview questions

Use these lists of interview questions for creating QOTD, practice interviews, and as launch pads for longer form copy.

You can even have students rank their favorite and least favorite questions. Make sure they have a reason why. Re-write the “bad” questions and craft follow-ups for the helpful ones.

What is a colophon anyway? Publishers include this vital piece to record production notes and sometimes acknowledgments. Since your yearbook is a historical document, including a colophon adds professionalism to your publication. But it doesn’t have to be boring! Below are three examples of yearbook colophons that include theme details, shout-outs, and yearbook staffing information. 

Essential components for your yearbook colophon

1. Title of yearbook and theme information: include any behind the design information
2. Book details: the number of pages, cover type, and paper weight
3. Design specs: font names sizes and use cases
4. Photography credits: Identify your portrait photographer, staff photographers, and any volunteer super parents who contributed
5. Software tools: list which applications you used to build your book
6. Publisher information: name of the publisher and the names of the publishing staff who helped

Thematic colophons

Both of these colophons leverage their themes (Stay Gold and Speak Life, respectively) with the headlines as well as the graphics. (The actual copy of their colophons is below for you to use.)

A bold colophon

We love this one because it features the yearbook team, gives the book details in an easy-to-read format, and both editors have space to say thank you.

Yearbook colophon template

To create a quick colophon, copy and paste the following in your yearbook. Make it your own by giving behind-the-design details.

[Yearbook name] is produced by [School Name] in [City, State] and published by Treering Yearbooks in San Mateo, CA. The [hard- and/or softcover] yearbooks are [matte or glossy] finish [with upgraded embossing or foil]. The book's [number] pages are printed in full color on 100lb. sustainably sourced paper—the Treering standard. We used the Treering app for the layouts; [if applicable, list software used to make photo illustrations]. The theme art is [theme name from Treering] and [name] designed the cover. Headlines are [font and size] with subheadings in [font and size]. Body copy is [font and size]. [Photographer] took the school portraits and [parents, coaches, non-yearbook students] contributed [team, event, and/or candid] photos.

This is the final installment in a four-part series on creating a yearbook in 60 days. By now, portraits and spreads are in the book, and it is time to polish both. Day 46-60 tasks center around communication to parents and the print process. 

Yearbook (yes, it is a verb) along with us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

1. Custom page reminders

Marketing Rule of Seven aside, parents are busy. Teachers are solving the world’s problems. We need reminders (not the “loving” ones that are really sassy in disguise). Remember the parent purchase date you set during days 1-15? This is the date by which parents should customize and purchase their yearbooks. 

While parents do not have to fill their free, two custom pages with memories, a little education goes a long way. Here are a few ideas for reminders:

• Include a flyer in the monthly newsletter
• Share a video tutorial on your parent group’s social media page
• Create a virtual parent event aligned with one of Treering’s parent webinars to “attend” together
• Host a custom pages night and walk parents through the process

Custom page resources

Remember, you must use the login button to access the editor articles.

• Editor Video: Reviewing All Students' Custom Pages
• Parent Video: Creating Custom Pages with Page Builder
• Parent Video: Creating Custom Pages from Scratch with Page Editor
• Spring Parent Webinars: Yearbook Club

2. Make corrections

Continue using those PDF proofs and the page warning tray to manage duplicate images, low-resolution images, margin warnings, and spelling errors. 

Page warning tray resource

• Editor video: Page warnings

3. Print ready process

You tell Treering when to begin the printing process. When your Finish Editing Yearbook Deadline arrives, your yearbook does not automatically head to the printers. Remember, your three-week turnaround begins from the date you send the book to print.

It will take 15-20 minutes for you to complete the pre-print process below.

After you complete the checklist and select the dancing “Print my Yearbook” button (cue the confetti), you will receive an email with your final-final PDF proof and instructions if you find a grievous error and need to stop the printing process. There is an extremely short, blink-and-it's-over window to do this; it may cause production delays.

Sending your yearbook to print resource

• Video: Setting the yearbook to print ready

4. Never say, “no.”

You will never have to turn away a student at a Treering school who wants a yearbook after the print deadline. With Treering, you can even order and personalize past years’ books. 

Additionally, with the fundraiser and book donation options, you can ensure students in need have books as well.

Post-print ready resources

• Parent video: Buying a yearbook for a previous school year
• Article: After deadline orders
• Video: Fundraising disbursement options when setting your yearbook to print ready
• Case study: Yearbook hero Janet Yieh gives away yearbooks

Feeling adventurous? Plan a party!

Yearbook signing parties need not be extravagant: tables, pens, tunes. 

Yearbook Signing Party Resources

You did it! How will you celebrate building a yearbook in 60 days? Be sure to tag @treering on Facebook and @treeringcorp on TikTok and Instagram to show us. Happy yearbooking!

One of the best ways to get better at writing is to read great writing. Similarly, the only way to teach students how to create exceptional yearbook copy is to absorb and share as much great writing as you possibly can. Here’s why: Good writing serves as a model of excellence for flourishing writers. It has the ability to teach and inspire at the same time. (Talk about powerful stuff.) Encouraging your staff to spend time reading—and imitating—good writing can drastically improve the quality of the yearbook copy they produce for your book. If your goal is to include yearbook stories that capture the minds and hearts of your community even more than the photographs do, reading and discussing great nonfiction is key. Ideally, you’ll be doing that before, during, and after a yearbook writing assignment, but we get that there are other parts of the book to cover, as well.

In any event, we figured we’d give your reading list a jump start by pulling together seven pieces of truly exceptional nonfiction. It’s probably worth noting that none of these pieces appeared in a yearbook. And there’s a reason for that. From saving a local library that has served a downtrodden community’s lone bright spot, to exploring the philosophical underpinnings of cooking live lobsters, these pieces offer young writers a guide to finding their voice and inspiration to chase a great story. They also happen to give you some great teaching material. Besides, we’ll pretty much guarantee you’ll walk away from each piece with beautiful prose flitting about your head, and tears (of joy, laughter or sadness) in your eyes.

7 stories to help teach better yearbook writing

1. “The North West London Blues,” by Zadie Smith

You need to read this because…

‍Zadie Smith is an excellent writer and one of the most influential writers in Britain (which is pretty much the same as saying she’s one of the most influential writers in the world, because, come on, we all know how much the Brits love to write). “The North West London Blues” is a piece in defense of the Willisden Green Library, a place she frequented as a child and that clearly functioned as a cornerstone of the community. Set to close and make way for commercial endeavours, the story is built around a community’s peaceful protest of the library’s closing.

Smith talks through her own experience with and passion for the library, generally speaking, as a necessary component of any community, and does so with beautiful prose. Her sprawling narrative introduction gives way to highly descriptive writing that weaves personal experience with an argumentative streak yielding a piece of writing your staff will love. Stylistically, Smith deploys parentheticals throughout the piece in an interesting way, using them to insert long swaths of supporting information, as if the speaker grabbed a snippet from a pertinent Wikipedia page.

Share this story with students who might enjoy weaving elements of personal narrative and rich description in a piece shedding light on a serious economic or social problem impacting the school community.

‍A Brief Snippet of What Makes this Story Great:

‍“Well-run libraries are filled with people because what a good library offers cannot be easily found elsewhere: an indoor public space in which you do not have to buy anything in order to stay.”

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‍Read “The North West London Blues” here

2. “Taylor Swift Runs the World,” by Chuck Klosterman

You need to read this because…

‍Since the likelihood of your yearbook including a profile of some sort is rather high, knowing what a great one looks like is imperative. A profile shouldn’t be an all-out fluff piece, an unabashed celebration of an individual. But writing something that allows readers to get a glimpse of the subject without deifying them can be quite difficult. It requires tact, a strong voice, and the ability to sift through facts and quotes, determining what matters most before spinning it into a cohesive story.

“Taylor Swift Runs the World” is an exceptional example of a profile piece. Klosterman’s patented style (gratuitous hair metal references and self deprecation) makes for a great read, and the stark contrast it creates when compared to the version of Swift depicted creates great tension throughout the piece. Chuck Klosterman is a criminally underrated national treasure. The guy’s hilarious, impossibly smart, and writes with a truly unique voice.

‍A Brief Snippet of What Makes this Story Great:

‍“There’s simply no antecedent for this kind of career: a cross-genre, youth-oriented, critically acclaimed colossus based entirely on the intuitive songwriting merits of a single female artist. It’s as if mid-period Garth Brooks was also early Liz Phair, minus the hat and the swearing. As a phenomenon, it’s absolutely new.”

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‍Read “Taylor Swift Runs the World” here

3. “Consider the Lobster,” by David Foster Wallace

You need to read this because…

‍“Consider the Lobster” is probably more of an assignment for an AP English class, where you’d discuss the underlying philosophical argument, and take turns wrestling with the obscure language and the paragraph-length tangential deep dives. You can read the essay’s eight pages over and over and come away with your mind blown every time.

David Foster Wallace is (in)arguably the most prolific essayist of the 90’s/aughts. His footnotes are often more illuminating (and more wonderfully written) than entire volumes produced by his peers. This essay is an interesting, off-kilter entrypoint into existential philosophy and the opulent-ish world of gourmandizing. Share this with your staff as encouragement to find their voice (no matter how “out there” it might be). Just be sure your staff doesn’t try too hard to emulate DFW: it’s impossible!

‍A Brief Snippet of What Makes this Story Great:

‍“Is it all right to boil a sentient creature alive just for our gustatory pleasure? A related set of concerns: Is the previous question irksomely PC or sentimental? What does “all right” even mean in this context? Is it all just a matter of individual choice?”

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‍Read “Consider the Lobster” here

4. “The life and times of Strider Wolf,” by Sarah Schweitzer

You need to read this because…

‍If this one doesn’t make you cry, you’re wrong. Written over the span of months, Boston Globe reporter Sarah Schweitzer’s soul-wrenching story runs the gamut, detailing the life and circumstances of a young boy from rural Maine named Strider Wolf. A victim of horrific abuse, abandoned by his parents, and raised by his grandparents, Strider somehow manages to emit glimpses of optimism and happiness on a daily basis.

This is a phenomenal example of telling an utterly tragic story with tact and beautiful prose, and the perfect way to introduce your staff to emotionally impactful writing that isn’t overdone. An added bonus: the accompanying photography won a Pulitzer, so be sure to share this one with your whole staff.

‍A Brief Snippet of What Makes this Story Great:

‍“A few weeks later, shortly before the end of school, Strider sat alone, under a DARE sign, curled into a wall alcove. The lunch ladies in blue smocks had piled his tray with potatoes and carrots and chocolate milk, but he picked only at a package of Pillsbury mini-bagels. It was grab bag day. A dollar bought a brown paper bag of goodies, like pencils and erasers. Two mothers from the PTO were stuffing bags at the table over from him. Lanette had told him that morning she didn’t have a dollar.”

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‍Read “The life and times of Strider Wolf” here

5. “Friday Night Lights,” by Buzz Bissinger

You need to read this because…

‍It revolutionized the way people write about sports. It’s a sociological study of small-town Texas in the late eighties. You loved the TV show. Football season is over. Need I go on? Bissinger’s essay (and book, if you haven’t read it) chronicle a Texas high school football team and the surrounding community in the late 1980’s. An outsider (from Philadelphia), Bissinger became a part of Odessa, learning the town's racial, social, and economic machinations, and penned his book in a way that tackles (had to) these themes very much head on.

While it’s unlikely your yearbook will feature pieces riddled with racial undertones, Bissinger’s ability to write about stories that didn’t take place on the field—as well as the actual accounts of football being played—in “Friday Night Lights” are excellent examples for your staff to check out.

‍A Brief Snippet of What Makes this Story Great:

‍“Crousen was saddened and dismayed. He couldn't help but wonder if Boobie, because of his natural athletic ability, had gotten too used to having everything handed to him.This August, while other college players prepared for the beginning of football practice, Boobie stood in front of his home in the Southside, chatting quietly with members of his family. It was then that his cousin Jodie found out that Boobie wasn't going back to Ranger and would sit out a year. She was shocked and worried."You're just going to rust up, "she said."It ain't gonna happen," replied Boobie, for he knew better. "It's a God-given talent."

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‍Read “Friday Night Lights” here

6. “The Last American Man” by Elizabeth Gilbert

You need to read this because…

‍Don’t be shocked if you read this piece by Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert and decide to move to the heart of Appalachia to build yourself a yurt and start clearing trees for fields. “The Last American Man” is another profile, though on the opposite end of the spectrum; instead of the subject being someone of unimaginable fame, Gilbert details the life and philosophy of a man who has chosen to eschew mainstream society, instead preferring the simplicity and joy of self-sufficiency (think Chris McCandless with more know-how and much better luck).

If you have a staff that swears its high school is so boring they’ll never be able to find a unique story inside its four walls, show them this. Gilbert proves that anyone, anywhere can be fascinating. Warning: There are a handful of F-bombs in the introductory paragraphs.

‍A Brief Snippet of What Makes this Story Great:

‍“Eustace hated to blow its beautiful head off, so he took his knife from his belt and stabbed into the jugular vein. Up came the buck, very much alive, whipping its rack of antlers. Eustace clung to the antlers, still holding his knife, and the two began a wrestling match, thrashing through the brush, rolling down the hill, the buck lunging, Eustace trying to deflect its heavy antlers into trees and rocks. Finally, he let go with one hand and sliced his knife completely across the buck's neck, gashing open veins, arteries and windpipe. But the buck kept fighting, until Eustace ground its face into the dirt, kneeling on its head and suffocating the dying creature.That's what living in the woods means.”

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‍Read “The Last American Man” here

7. “Death of an Innocent,” by Jon Krakauer

You need to read this because…

‍A lot of high school students read Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild. It’s a classroom classic; why not show your staff the essay from which it spawned? “Death of an Innocent” manages to combine a series of interviews, passages from McCandless’ own journal, scientific research, and even snippets of Krakauer’s own time spent wandering after college, to create a fascinating piece. Pay particularly close attention to the way Chris McCandless is characterized. Is his rugged individualism heralded, or is he painted as a brash young man woefully under-equipped for the circumstances he sought out? Is there even a definitive answer to this question?

‍A Brief Snippet of What Makes this Story Great:

‍“His education had been paid for by a college fund established by his parents; there was some dollars 20,000 in this account at the time of his graduation, money his parents thought he intended to use for law school. Instead, he donated the entire sum to Oxfam. Then, without notifying any friends or family members, he loaded all his belongings into a decrepit yellow Datsun and headed west, without an itinerary. Chris McCandless intended to invent a new life for himself, one in which he would be free to wallow in unfiltered experience.”

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‍Read “Death of an Innocent” here

‍Read them. Learn from them. Teach with them. Talk through style and technique, pointing out the rhetorical devices and artistic flourishes that your young writers might incorporate into their yearbook writing. Most importantly, though: enjoy.

Not only is it a part of the dominant element of your spread’s hierarchy, but headlines also help organize the yearbook by providing a visual cue and structure for the content. An effective headline can help a reader quickly understand the content of a page and decide if they want to read more. (They should!) When writing headlines for your yearbook, follow these five guidelines. 

1. Set the tone

The tone of your headlines should match the tone of the yearbook, whether it is lighthearted, serious, or something in between.

Many advisers begin the theme development process with an idiom dictionary nearby to create a lexicon for the year. By incorporating keywords and phrases from the yearbook theme into the headlines, designers create a consistent and cohesive story, which ultimately strengthens your theme. 

Take a look at this example: with the Treering Theme Stay Gold in mind, the editorial staff looked at all the phrases using gold and built out a list. They then assigned potentials to spreads. Notice how gold is frequently used, as are synonyms such as shine and glitter.

Considerations for theme copy in yearbook headlines

• Resist the urge to make every headline the same. In a book titled “Then & Now,” you can only have so many headlines with an ampersand. (Trust me, it was a first-year yearbook fail.)
• Use spin-offs to highlight the main concepts of the theme. Your headlines and subheadlines exist to bring the yearbook theme to life and make it an integral part of each story and spread.

2. Maximize your space

Focus your yearbook headlines and limit them to no more than a few words which accurately reflect the content of the story they introduce.

Advisers, here are some exercises that can help students produce stronger headlines:

Headline critique

Have students work in groups to critique headlines written by their peers. Collaboratively, students learn to identify strong and weak yearbook headlines and develop a critical eye for headline writing.

News scavenger hunt

Collect headlines from various sources (some ideas are below in section five) and analyze them for clarity, conciseness, and relevance to the content. This exercise can help students understand the importance of writing headlines that accurately reflect the content and grab the reader's attention.

Headline revision

To help students learn to refine their headline-writing skills and make their headlines more effective, have students write several headlines for a given story or event and then revise them to make them more concise, clear, and attention-grabbing. 

3. Follow AP Style guidelines:

When it comes to all things style, the Associated Press Stylebook sets the rules for copy, abbreviations, and formatting.

• Capitalization: Capitalize the first word and all subsequent important words in the headline, including prepositions and conjunctions of four letters or more.
• Active voice: Use active voice in your headlines, as it makes them more dynamic and engaging.
• Punctuation: Limit the use of punctuation in headlines, typically using only a single exclamation point or a question mark, if necessary. (Personal anecdote: My undergrad journalism professor told me I get three exclamation points in my career, and to use them wisely.)
• Conciseness: Keep headlines concise and to the point, typically no more than a few words.
• Spelling and grammar: Make sure to check the spelling and grammar of each headline to ensure that it is error-free and professional-looking.

4. Wordplay works

Make your English department swoon with literary techniques such as puns or alliteration if appropriate.

While "Football" is a straightforward and accurate way to describe the subject matter, using it as a headline for a story about the football team in a yearbook may not be the most engaging option. To make the headline stand out and capture the reader's attention, it's often better to use wordplay or a more descriptive phrase that goes beyond just the basic name of the subject.

For example, instead of simply using "Football" as the headline, you could use an alliteration that showcases your mascot such as “Lions on the Line” or "Touchdown Titans." 

You could even use something from the story copy to tie the spread together: below this cheer spread's feature story is about the relationship between cheer flyers and bases.

5. Keep headlines timely

Consider the current events and trends that are relevant to the yearbook and include them in your headlines. From Homecoming (Game of Thrones) to personality profiles of faculty (How I Met Your Teacher), you can get creative in the Heartland (any location on campus, such as the quad, where the whole school gathers). See what we did there?

Find inspiration by looking at:

• News websites and magazines
• Social media platforms
• Advertisements
• Books and novels
• Popular songs, TV shows, and movie titles
• Quotes and (appropriate) jokes
• Previous yearbooks

Following these tips and finding your headline groove will strengthen your yearbook theme and tell the story of your year. For additional writing tips, check out these blogs:

• Treering's Free Curriculum
• Why You Need Evergreen Content for Yearbook
• 244 Title Ideas for Your Yearbook (and Tips for Writing Your Own)

Raise your hand if you do your best proofing after the yearbook goes to print. We've all had that cringe moment when you notice two baseball players' names interchanged in the sports section or the student who joined the second semester flowed with the wrong class. We can all agree: proofing is critical for the yearbook creation process. Consistency and the proper tools will help you ensure no mistakes slip through the cracks.

One-time: printed proof

Would you like a copy of your yearbook before distribution day to check your fonts, colors, layout, cover texture, and photo quality?  We've got you.

Once your yearbook is approximately 70% complete, order a printed proof of your yearbook to review the following:

• Cover alignment and bleed
• Portraits (accuracy, name size, and font)
• Gutter
• Bleed and margins
• Font choices, sizes, and colors
• Background contrast
• Spelling and attribution
• Photo clarity and color

Monthly: use PDF proofs

Print out a hard copy. Errors that are missed on the screen often jump out on paper. Create PDF proofs of class, event, club, and athletic pages to provide to the appropriate stakeholders for their review. Ask them:

• Is the content accurate? Is anything missing?
• Are names spelled correctly and referencing the correct person?
• Do these photos accurately represent the page's content and our student body?

Remember they need some time to review it, and should it require changes, you will need time to incorporate them.

Text proofreading tips

Read all captions, pull quotes, and headlines out loud. It may feel silly, and once you do it, you will see and hear the value:

• Tone, word choice, and sentence structure pop when you read them out loud
• If all your writing sounds the same, you may want to mix up sentence structure or type

Proofing yearbook quotes

Proofing is essential if your school uses expanded captions, pull quotes, or <gasp> senior quotes. A transcription tool for interviews, such as Otter.ai, which integrates with Google Docs, is handy for recording conversations.

Quotes must not be taken out of context. We do not alter quotations, even to correct grammatical errors or word usage. If a quotation is flawed because of grammar or lack of clarity, it may be paraphrased in a way that is completely true to the original quote. If a quote's meaning is too murky to be paraphrased accurately, it should not be used. Ellipses should be used rarely and must not alter the speaker’s meaning.
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AP Style Guide

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(Here's an article from CBS News and one from Slate that addresses language learners to review with your students.)

Sharing is caring: use printed proofs to tease the book

This isn't the first time we’ll make this suggestion, and it won't be the last.

Ongoing: rubrics and checklists

The best time to begin proofing yearbook spreads is after you’ve finished each page and well before you need to go to print. Informal editing can happen on screen with an editor or adviser. We also highly recommend peer editing on a projector with the whole team. Use a rubric to help guide the conversation.

Proofing and editing aren't a one-and-done thing. (Sorry not sorry!) It takes time to craft the perfect story and to create a solid layout from scratch. And if DIY is not your thing, the thousands of layout templates in the Treering library are at your disposal.

As sad as it is, a lot of communities experience natural disasters, and their people must come together and rebuild. Sometimes it can be a struggle as a yearbook adviser, student editor, or team to decide whether or not to capture this historic event in your school’s yearbook, especially if you have younger students who may not fully grasp what happened. To help alleviate some of the back and forth and uncertainties, we’ve laid out a guide of best practices when covering natural disasters in your yearbook. 

Are natural disasters yearbook-worthy?

Including current events is typically a staple for every school’s yearbook, since it is essentially a snapshot of what life was like that year. However, determining the best way to cover natural disasters, which are also considered events,  isn’t always the first thing that comes to mind for yearbook editors. Or the easiest. And it’s not something for which one can completely prepare. Natural disasters can shape a school year and have an impact on everyone. Because of this, it is worth including it in the yearbook. It’s important to find uplifting ways to cover these stories when interviewing school members while respecting the boundaries of those who were impacted. 

The right words and tone can emphasize how a school showcased perseverance in the face of a tragedy.

Include accurate and approved information in your coverage

Be it wildfires, tornados, hurricanes, or earthquakes, it’s critical to provide accurate information about the event. When looking back at a yearbook years from now, you don’t want the wrong date, for example, to be in print. The goal is for students to be able to look back to remember this part of their history. And ideally, the way it’s covered in the yearbook can show how the school and community overcame the crisis. 

Unless you’re lucky enough to have a copyright lawyer on your yearbook committee, it’s critical to understand the basics of trademark and copyright laws when deciding on if/when to use professional photos to cover a natural disaster. You always want to make sure it’s an image you are allowed to use and that it’s free to the public. If this seems like something you don’t have time to research, instead it might be worth considering stock images that are available online, licensing images from your local newspaper, or using—with permission—photos your community has captured.

Along with photos, you should also consider the statistics to highlight. It’s important to remain sensitive and not include mentions of a death toll, for example. Instead, you can focus on other hard facts like the date(s), time, location, the scale of the natural disaster, etc. in your yearbook. If your school community collected donations, include those numbers.

When it comes to deciding on what information to include, a great tip is to make sure that your yearbook committee has an editorial policy in place that can be shared with the community. Covering any kind of crisis can be difficult, and some may always disagree with the way you did it, so it’s best to have a written policy so that teachers, students, and parents can be aware of how the yearbook team will plan to cover a crisis like a natural disaster or a death in your school community. Get your administrator's signature on it.

Lessons students can learn from natural disasters

A tragedy is not something anyone can overcome easily. It’s worth highlighting the hope of people within a community when they’re facing hardship together. Experiencing something of this nature becomes a part of one’s story and while it may take some extra dedicated time to determine how to showcase the lessons learned in a positive way, it’ll be beneficial to capture an impactful time such as this in a yearbook. 

Interview questions for students and teachers impacted by disasters

• How did the [natural disaster] impact the community?
• What was, or is currently, being done to help rebuild?
• Are there any stories you’re comfortable sharing about the [natural disaster’s] personal impact?
• Where were you and what were you doing as this event unfolded?
• How has the [natural disaster] impacted how you view your day-to-day life at home and at school?
• What advice would you give to students who may face a similar natural disaster crisis in the future?
• What are you grateful for after this?
• What changes did you see within the community during and after this event?