July 3, 2025
2025 elementary student art cover winners
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:
- School Spirit – mascots, school colors, and anything else that shows off your community
- Theme Development – an introduction to your visual and verbal theme
- 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.
