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September 23, 2026
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National School Yearbook Week 2026: ideas to celebrate
With Proclamation 5703, former President Ronald Reagan made yearbooks even more celebration-worthy by setting apart the first week of October for “appropriate ceremonies and activities” to recognize the creators and the power of a yearbook program. Treering intends to do just that during National School Yearbook Week, October 5-9, 2026.
This year, we’re experimenting.
Welcome to “The Idea Lab”
Over five days, we’re turning National School Yearbook Week into the Idea Lab, a place to share ideas, compare notes, learn what works, and leave with something worth trying.
Our working hypothesis: the best yearbook ideas don’t come from one place. Let's test it.
The Idea Lab brings together students, advisers, volunteers, and educators based on four principles:
- No one starts from scratch. Every great idea started somewhere
- Great ideas are meant to be shared. Borrow ours. Borrow theirs. Let someone borrow yours
- There isn't one right answer. What works for a 300-student elementary school might not work at a 2,000-student high school
- Your school deserves its own version. Steal the idea. Experiment with it. Make it work for your people
The success of our experiment rests on your data. Gather your best ideas on everything yearbook-related, and be ready to share throughout the week.
Adviser contests on Facebook
Let’s prove sharing multiplies inspiration.
Every day during National School Yearbook Week, October 5-9, 2026, we’ll post a new prompt on Treering’s Facebook page. Add your findings, in-progress experiments, and successes for a chance to win a $50 daily prize.
- Monday, October 5: Share your yearbooking hack
- Tuesday, October 6: Share a takeaway from the Idea Lab LIVE
- Wednesday, October 7: Show what’s working now
- Thursday, October 8: Share what you’re doing differently
- Friday, October 9: Show your team
Add your favs to your lab book.
The yearbook week staple: Treering Live (TRL)
Treering Live (TRL) has always been the centerpiece of National School Yearbook Week. And we’re extending it, with take-home skills labs and an interactive Genius Hour.
Join our experts, explore in-progress books from real Treering schools, and learn what other yearbookers are actually doing.
No lab coat required.
TRL: The Idea Lab LIVE, Tuesday, October 6, 2026
We'll go into the wild to see what other schools are creating, test different approaches to yearbook themes, examine what's brewing in yearbook design, and put some wonderfully debatable yearbook opinions under the microscope.
Real yearbooks. Real advisers. Different opinions. Ideas you can steal before the week is over.
Skills Labs, Wednesday, October 7 and Thursday, October 8, 2026
Dissect your yearbook needs one piece at a time during these focused, mini-trainings. Each skills lab is 15-20 minutes with a Treering mentor that you can watch live or save the Replay for the exact moment you or your team needs it.
Wednesday sessions
- What’s Brewing? Trends in yearbook design
9:00 AM PT/12:00 PM ET
See what’s happening in yearbook design and discover fresh ways to make today’s trends work for your school - Cell-free Culture: working around the phone ban
9:20 AM PT/12:20 PM ET
No phones? No problem. Explore practical ways to gather content in a cell-free school - Developing Solutions: DIY picture day
9:40 AM PT/12:40 PM ET
See how a DIY picture day can work, including the planning and processes that turn your photos into usable yearbook portraits - Essential Elements: 7 lessons every yearbook student should learn
10 AM PT/1 PM ET
Strengthen your staff with the foundational skills every yearbook student should have in their toolkit - Experiments Gone Wrong: what not to do
10:15 AM/1:15 PM ET
Learn from real yearbook mistakes before you make them yourself
Thursday sessions
- Add a Catalyst: interactive spreads that spark participation
9:00 AM PT/12:00 PM ET
Turn readers into participants with fill-ins, games, prompts, and other interactive ideas that make a yearbook worth exploring - Lab Tested: the formula for a great spread
9:20 AM PT/12:20 PM ET
Put a yearbook spread under the microscope and see how its essential elements work together to tell a stronger story - The Answer Key: 10 Parent Questions
9:40 AM PT/12:40 PM ET
Get ready for the questions families ask most - Lab partners: building yearbook team chemistry
9:55 AM/12:55 PM ET
Mix the right roles, expectations, and people to turn a group of students into a yearbook team - Independent variables: managing as a solo adviser
10:10 AM/1:10 PM ET
When you’re the whole yearbook department, discover practical ways to protect your time, prioritize the work, and keep the book moving
Genius Hour, Thursday, October 8, 2026
By the end of the week, we'll have generated a lot of findings.
Join us for a live, camera-on collaboration built around editor-submitted works in progress, design experiments, questions, and problems that could use a few more brains.
We'll look at what's working. Talk through what's not. Crowdsource solutions. Borrow freely.
You are the expert. Treering is running the lab.
FAQs
Q: How does Treering celebrate National School Yearbook Week?
Loudly.
National School Yearbook Week 2026 is a five-day celebration of the people, ideas, experiments, and memories behind yearbooks. Treering's Yearbook Idea Lab includes:
- Daily social challenges and prizes
- The Idea Lab LIVE + focused Skills Labs and Genius Hour
- Plenty of opportunities to borrow an idea or contribute your own.
Q: How much does Treering Live (TRL) cost to attend?
Free. Charging extra for support and training is not our thing.
Q: How is Treering Live (TRL) different from Camp yearbook?
Treering Live (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.
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.
Both are free. Both are collaborative. And neither requires you to have all the answers before you show up.
Q: Can students attend Treering Live (TRL)?
Student privacy is always our utmost concern. Yearbook classes are welcome to attend together; the adviser must be present to model responsible online engagement.
Q: I’m not a Treering customer. May I attend Treering Live (TRL)?
Yes, please attend. Great yearbook ideas shouldn't care which logo is on your software
Q: What do I need to prepare for Treering Live (TRL)?
Make sure you have the latest version of Zoom, so you don't miss out.
For The Idea Lab LIVE, we'd also recommend bringing your own lab journal to capture ideas. (Because we're reasonably confident you're going to steal at least one.)
Q: What is the difference between The Idea Lab LIVE and Skills Labs?
Idea Lab LIVE = explore.
See real yearbooks, hear different perspectives, debate ideas, and discover approaches you may want to make your own.
Skills Labs = practice.
Spend 15–20 focused minutes learning one specific skill or solving one specific problem with a Treering mentor.
Come to the Idea Lab LIVE asking, "What could I try?"
Come to a Skills Lab asking, "How do I do it?"
Q: Will The Idea Lab LIVE and Skills Labs be recorded?
Yes…. and no. Yes, you will receive access to all 12 skills labs. They will be available to rewatch until May 2027.
The Idea Lab LIVE is just that: a one-time, live event. You need to be in the (virtual) room for the debates, reactions, audience ideas, and experiments as they happen.
Q: I love the look of the Idea Lab. How do I find similar graphics for my yearbook?
Start with an experiment! Treering’s design team combined two existing theme kits, “More Than Words” and “Mixed Media,” to create something entirely new.
They pulled structured icons and graphics from More Than Words, recolored them using a shared palette, and layered in the looser, artistic elements of Mixed Media. The grid keeps everything grounded while torn paper, doodles, and overlapping graphics intentionally break the rules.
Their formula = borrow + combine + experiment.
Start with a theme kit you love, mix in elements from another, adjust the colors to create harmony, and see where it takes you. You don’t have to start from scratch to create something original.
Q: I’m a content creator. How can I share what I’m doing for National School Yearbook Week on social media?
Please share your experiments. Tag Treering Yearbooks (@treering on Facebook, @treeringyearbooks on Instagram and TikTok) and use the hashtags #NationalSchoolYearbookWeek, #NationalYearbookWeek, #YearbookWeek, #treering
Social contest rules
The National School Yearbook Week 2026 photo contest winners must be 18 or older and a member of a Treering school for the 2026-2027 school year. No purchase is necessary to participate.
Valid posts must include an original photo. No AI images allowed. By participating, you have verified the approval of others pictured, and you approve Treering to use your name, write-up, and school name for any marketing purposes, including but not limited to showcasing on www.treering.com, sharing on social media, and sharing with media.
The photo criteria will be based on its creativity, relevant emotional impact (humor is more than acceptable), and overall aesthetic appeal.
If you have any questions, contact us at marketing@treering.com.
Nearly 40 years later, National School Yearbook Week remains a time to reminisce and a time to look forward, hopefully with a few wins for you and your yearbook program.
