1st Place, Theme Development
2024-25, Division 2, Yearbook Visual and Verbal
By Ginger Johnston, Amelia Pauly & Brennan Ford
Ceniad
East Lansing HS
Y-27. Theme Development
Theme selection and development through design, photos and writing. FOR THE ENTRY TITLE, use your theme. Entry should include cover, endsheets, title page, opening/closing and dividers, as well as supporting evidence that showcases the theme’s use throughout the book (section pages, sidebars/mods, folios, special pages, etc.). Include a brief written description of the theme in the Additional Information field, including why/how the staff selected the theme. LIMIT ONE ENTRY PER SCHOOL. Submit PDFs or image files of designated page(s) showcasing theme development. Please note: Files uploaded to an entry in the contest system together cannot exceed 100 MB. If your files exceed this limit, you can submit them via URL to a shared location on a file service such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc. (Be sure to set shared files for public view.)
FOR SPREADS (a spread is two facing pages), if possible save your entry as a spread, creating a single horizontal page out of two vertical pages. Otherwise, the judges may not see both pages of your spread together and will not get the full impact of your design. Contiguous pages should be submitted in a single PDF file.
JUDGING CRITERIA
- 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 and is specific to 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