Individual Yearbook Judging Criteria

*Indicates new categories (that also need new judging criteria)
To save on the number of books needed to enter, schools are now allowed to submit one package for all the visual/verbal categories. If they chose to submit just one package, it should contain the cover, endsheets, opening, dividers and closing with all the other pages removed. Separate entry forms must be attached for each entry.
Category # 30 (YEARBOOK DVD) has been added to the list of criteria. However, these will be judged by video judges, not by yearbook judges.

1. Feature Writing: Student Life

• Clear, relevant, engaging angle
• Solid lead that draws reader into story
• Meaningful student quotes that enrich story and reflect effective interviewing
• Evidence of adequate research
• Adheres to rules of good journalism including:
-short paragraphs, effective transitions and use of active voice
-freedom from editorial comment
-careful editing and proofreading to eliminate mechanical errors
-correct use of grammar

2. Sports Reporting

• Solid lead that draws reader into story
• Meaningful student quotes that enrich story and reflect effective interviewing
• Evidence of adequate research
• Story gives reader a clear picture of season high-lights and outcome with relevant player comments
• Adheres to rules of good journalism including:
-short paragraphs, effective transitions and use of active voice
-freedom from editorial comment
-careful editing and proofreading to eliminate mechanical errors
-correct use of grammar

3. Sports Feature Writing

• Clear, relevant, engaging feature angle
• Solid lead that draws reader into story
• Meaningful student quotes that enrich story and reflect effective interviewing
• Evidence of adequate research
• Story meaningfully adds to sports coverage
• Adheres to rules of good journalism including:
-short paragraphs, effective transitions and use of active voice
-freedom from editorial comment
-careful editing and proofreading to eliminate mechanical errors
-correct use of grammar

4. Academic Writing

• Clear, relevant, engaging angle
• Solid lead that draws reader into story
• Meaningful student quotes that enrich story and reflect effective interviewing
• Evidence of adequate research
• Story goes beyond simply reviewing what happens in classroom
• Adheres to rules of good journalism including:
-short paragraphs, effective transitions and use of active voice
-freedom from editorial comment
-careful editing and proofreading to eliminate mechanical errors
-correct use of grammar

5. Organizations Writing

• Solid lead that draws reader into story
• Meaningful student quotes that enrich story and reflect effective interviewing
• Evidence of adequate research
• Story does not center on purpose of group or simply review their activities
• Adheres to rules of good journalism including:
-short paragraphs, effective transitions and use of active voice
-freedom from editorial comment
-careful editing and proofreading to eliminate mechanical errors
-correct use of grammar

6. Personality Profile

• Clear, relevant, engaging angle that makes story worthy of inclusion
• Solid lead that draws reader into story
• Meaningful student quotes that enrich story and reflect effective interviewing
• Evidence of adequate research
• Story goes beyond superficial coverage to give a total perspective and feel for the subject
• Adheres to rules of good journalism including:
-short paragraphs, effective transitions and use of active voice
-freedom from editorial comment
-careful editing and proofreading to eliminate mechanical errors
-correct use of grammar

7. Alternative Coverage

• Coverage adds to spread contents
• Content is in a form that makes it appealing as well as easily accessible to the reader
• Evidence of adequate research
• Contents enhance spread coverage by adding meaningful information and/or insights
• Adheres to rules of good journalism including:
-use of active voice
-freedom from editorial comment
-careful editing and proofreading to eliminate mechanical errors
-correct use of grammar

8. Headline Writing

• Clever/imaginative, engaging the reader
• Draws reader into copy
• Contents of headline establishes visual/verbal connection between photos and copy
• Headline/subhead makes spread content clear
• Adheres to rules of good journalism including:
-avoiding label headlines
-freedom from editorial comment
-careful editing and proofreading to eliminate mechanical errors
-correct use of grammar

9. Caption Writing

• Begin with strong leads, not name or title
• Contain at least two sentences that answer all reader’s questions without stating the obvious
• Evidence of adequate research which provides information that adds to reader’s understanding of event or situation
• Clearly identifies all people in photo with both first and last names (sports captions should also identify names of players on opposing team)
• Adhere to rules of good journalism including:
-active voice
-usually first sentence in present tense and remaining sentences in past tense to stop action
-freedom from editorial comment
-careful editing and proofreading to eliminate mechanical errors
-correct use of grammar

10. Student Life Spread

• Designed as two-page visual unit, arrangement of photos, headline, copy, captions and white space invite reader onto spread and show careful planning
• Dominance is established and other elements are arranged in such a way as to lead reader’s eye around spread
• Adequate external margins provide frame for spread contents and are defined by at least one element on each side
• Photos effectively cropped, of varied size, shape and content; content concentrates on action photos
• No center of interest in photo is trapped in gutter; action and faces in photos do not face off spread
• Non-rectangular photos, tilted photos and other special treatments are used sparingly and effectively to enhance overall design
• Graphics and typography enhance readability and attractiveness of design
• Headline has contemporary design and establishes visual/verbal connection
• Copy and captions are readable size and use readable font
• Captions touch photos to which they refer. For group or clustered captions attention has been paid to making them easily accessible to reader
• While designs may be innovative, they adhere to journalistic guidelines

11. Sports Spread

• Designed as two-page visual unit, arrangement of
photos, headline, copy, captions and white space
invite reader onto spread and show careful planning
• Dominance is established and other elements are
arranged in such a way as to lead reader’s eye around spread
• Adequate external margins provide frame for spread
contents and are defined by at least one element on
each side
• Photos effectively cropped, of varied size, shape and
content; content concentrates on action photos
• No center of interest in photo is trapped in the
gutter; action and faces in photos do not face off
spread
• Non-rectangular photos, tilted photos and other
special treatments are used sparingly and effectively
to enhance overall design
• Graphics and typography enhance readability and
attractiveness of design
• Headline has contemporary design and establishes
visual/verbal connection
• Copy and captions are readable size and use readable
font
• Captions touch photos to which they refer. For group
or clustered captions attention has been paid to
making them easily accessible to reader.
• If team pictures are included on spread, they are
not used as dominant element and are arranged to
blend with overall design
• If scoreboards are included on spread, they are
attractively designed to blend with the overall look of the spread and set in a readable font and size
• While designs may be innovative, they adhere to
journalistic guidelines

12. Academic Spread

• Designed as two-page visual unit, arrangement of
photos, headline, copy, captions and white space
invite reader onto spread and show careful planning
• Dominance is established and other elements are
arranged in such a way as to lead reader’s eye around spread
• Adequate external margins provide frame for spread
contents and are defined by at least one element on
each side
• Photos effectively cropped, of varied size, shape and
content; content concentrates on action photos of
students engaged in learning, not on teachers
• No center of interest in photo is trapped in the
gutter; action and faces in photos do not face off spread
• Non-rectangular photos, tilted photos and other
special treatments are used sparingly and effectively
to enhance overall design
• Graphics and typography enhance readability and
attractiveness of design
• Headline has contemporary design and establishes
visual/verbal connection
• Copy and captions are readable size and use readable
font
• Captions touch photos to which they refer. For group
or clustered captions attention has been paid to
making them easily accessible to reader.
• While designs may be innovative, they adhere to
journalistic guidelines

13. Organization Spread

• Designed as two-page visual unit,
arrangement of photos, headline, copy, captions and white space invite reader onto spread and show careful planning
• Dominance is established and other elements
are arranged in such a way as to lead reader’s eye around spread
• Adequate external margins provide frame for
spread contents and are defined by at least one element on each side
• Photos effectively cropped, of varied size,
shape and content; content concentrates on action photos
• No center of interest in photo is trapped in
the gutter; action and faces in photos do not face off spread
• Non-rectangular photos, tilted photos and
other special treatments are used sparingly and effectively to enhance overall design
• Graphics and typography enhance readability
and attractiveness of design
• Headline has contemporary design and
establishes visual/verbal connection
• Copy and captions are readable size and use
readable font
• Captions touch photos to which they refer.
For group or clustered captions attention has been paid to making them easily accessible to reader.
• If group pictures are included on spread, they
are not the dominant element and are arranged to blend with the overall design of the spread
• While designs may be innovative, they adhere
to journalistic guidelines

14. People Spread

• Designed as two-page visual unit, arrangement of
photos, headline, copy, captions and white space invite reader onto spread and show careful planning
• Dominance is established and other elements are
arranged in such a way as to lead reader’s eye around spread
• Adequate external margins provide frame for spread
contents and are defined by at least one element on each side
• Photos effectively cropped, of varied size, shape and
content
• No center of interest in photo is trapped in the
gutter; action and faces in photos do not face off spread
• Non-rectangular photos, tilted photos and other
special treatments are used sparingly and effectively to enhance overall design
• Graphics and typography enhance readability and
attractiveness of design
• Headline has contemporary design and establishes
visual/verbal connection
• Copy and captions are readable size and use readable
font
• Captions touch photos to which they refer. For
group or clustered captions attention has been paid to making them easily accessible to reader.
• Mug shots are arranged in panels with names to the
outside
• While designs may be innovative, they adhere to
journalistic guidelines

15. Advertising Spread

• Spread is attractively designed with a variety of ad
sizes for contrast
• Graphics and typography enhance readability and
attractiveness of design
• If features are included, they are designed to
enhance the overall look of the spread and follow
design guidelines
• While designs may be innovative, they adhere to
journalistic guidelines

16. Graphics

• Graphics add to spread content and design
• Use of graphics shows evidence of careful planning
and clear purpose: to unify, separate, emphasize or direct
• While graphic use may be innovative, the staff
adheres to journalistic guidelines
• Graphics are not used simply to decorate or fill space

17. Sports Action Photo

• Photo has strong story-telling content
• Photo has been effectively cropped to emphasize
center of interest and enhance content
• Photo is technically strong
• in focus
• free from scratches, dust or
fingerprints
• proper contrast
• not too grainy or muddy
• Photographer paid attention to rules of composition

*18. Sports Feature Photo

*19. Portrait/Personality Photo

*20. Photo Illustration

21. Academic Photo

*22. Club/Performance Photo

• Photo has strong story-telling content
• Photo has been effectively cropped to
emphasize center of interest and enhance content
• Photo is technically strong
• in focus
• free from scratches, dust or
fingerprints
• proper contrast
• not too grainy or muddy
• Photographer paid attention to rules of composition

*23. School Spirit Photo

• Photo has strong story-telling content
• Photo has been effectively cropped to
emphasize center of interest and enhance content
• Photo is technically strong
• in focus
• free from scratches, dust or
fingerprints
• proper contrast
• not too grainy or muddy
• Photographer paid attention to rules of composition

24. Theme Development

• Theme/concept is fresh and contemporary as well as appropriate to the individual school
• Theme/concept is introduced visually and/or verbally on cover
• Theme/concept carries through visually/verbally on endsheet, opening, dividers and closing showing careful development and a unified presentation
• Photos on theme/concept spreads relate to concept as part of total theme/concept package
• Copy on theme/concept spreads develops concept through inclusion of specific information that individualizes both school and year
• Captions on theme/concept spreads relate photos to concept in addition to providing complete information
• Overall design of theme/concept spreads is fresh and contemporary, setting them apart from other sections of the book
• While designs may be innovative, they adhere to journalistic guidelines and show evidence of careful planning

25. Cover and Endsheets

• Cover/endsheet introduces unifying concept visually/verbally
• Design is fresh and contemporary
• Cover creates favorable impression through use of type/color/materials
• Book name and year appear on cover and spine
• Spine also includes school name, city, state and yearbook volume number
• Endsheets are attractive and either plain or contain illustrative/informative content with solid design

26. Opening and Closing

• Designs are fresh and contemporary, setting them
apart from standard designs but are similar to each
other
• Photos, copy, captions, headlines and white space
are arranged to help reader begin and end story of
year
• Designs carry elements of theme concept
• While designs may be innovative, they adhere to
journalistic guidelines and show evidence of careful
planning

27. Division Page

• Designs are fresh and contemporary, setting them
apart from standard designs but are similar to each other
• Photos, copy, captions, headlines and white space
are arranged to introduce reader to contents of section
• Designs carry elements of theme concept
• While designs may be innovative, they adhere to
journalistic guidelines and show evidence of careful planning

28. Feature Presentation**

• Writing
• Copy has engaging angle, solid lead and meaningful student quotes that enrich story and reflect effective interviewing
• Captions begin with strong lead and contain at least two sentences that answer all reader’s questions and clearly identifies all people
• Copy and captions show evidence of adequate research
• Clever, engaging headline that draws reader into story and establishes visual/verbal connection
• Adheres to rules of good journalism including:
-use of active voice
-freedom from editorial comment
-careful editing and proofreading
-correct use of grammar
*For more detail, see complete criteria for categories 1, 8, 9, 10 and 17
• Design
• Designed as two-page visual unit, arrangement of photos, headline, copy, captions and white space invite reader onto spread and show careful planning
• Special treatments are used sparingly and effectively
• Graphics and typography enhance readability and attractiveness of design
• Headline has contemporary design and establishes visual/verbal connection
• While designs may be innovative, they adhere to journalistic guidelines
• Photography
• Photos have strong story-telling content and are effectively cropped
• Photos are technically strong and show evidence of composition rules

29. Index

• Complete listing of all persons, events, clubs,
activities, sports and advertisements
• Set in readable font and size
• Attractive design that adds to overall impression

30. Yearbook DVD**

• See video criteria #4
**These entries will be judged as video entries by video judges.