1. Planning your coverage

2. Complete, personal coverage Staffs are entrusted with producing a yearbook that is appealing to all students. To create a people-driven book, you need to focus on the individual – not groups.  If you lose sight of the individual, you will create a history book – not a yearbook.  Consider all potential readers.  Investigate beyond the interests and opinions of your staff.  Students/teachers have many common interests; capturing the differences will reveal the school’s personality.

3. Complete, personal coverage Yearbooks need content that considers all aspects of students’ lives. In and out of school Academic and social School-sponsored and individual Organized and spontaneous Serious and fun Local and far-ranging

4. Complete, personal coverage The viewpoint of the coverage should be of the students – not the faculty and administration. The students are the primary audience, but there are secondary readers.  Parents  Teachers  Administrators  Other family members  Community members not directly associated with the school

5. Complete, personal coverage The challenge is not finding content for the book, but deciding on the best combination of coverage. Events must be covered, and stories written, to interest participants, observers and the uninformed. Staffs must strive to think of new angles when covering traditional events. Coverage should include topics that might only be of interest to the students of this year because they help give the book an identity for this year at this school.

6. Complete, personal coverage Coverage must appeal to readers at the time of publication and years later.  Readers will probably remember important details and names when the book is distributed. However, they will be entertained by intriguing, behind-the-scenes stories and little-known information.  As the years pass and memories begin to fade, people will use the yearbook more as a reference tool.  Readers will be looking for specifics – who, what, when, where, why, and how.  They will be looking for names!

7. Complete, personal coverage To make it easy for readers to follow, coverage needs to be carefully and logically organized. While some staffs use chronological or seasonal organization, most yearbooks are organized topically under section headings similar to these.  Student Life  Academics  Sports  Clubs or Organizations  People

8. Student Life If this section truly covers “student life,” it has the potential of being the most interesting and popular. This section often includes major yearly events. It should focus on the lives of students as individuals – not as members of groups.

9. Student Life This section is the place to remind students what was interesting to them that year. It should not focus on leaders and favorites, but on as many students as possible. Coverage possibilities are only limited by decisions about what topics are appropriate and deserving.

10. Student Life Staffs will want to consider the routine… And the non-routine in the daily lives of students. What do they do for fun and for society? How do they earn and spend their money? What do they laugh at and worry about?

11. Academics This section is often under- developed because staffs think students will not find academics appealing. If planned with the same care as other sections, it can be extremely interesting. Students sitting in desks in rows are boring. Work to capture students and teachers engaged in interesting activities.

12. Academics Students should be covered wherever academics-related pursuits take them. Field trips After school Science labs Cover what students think about, how they feel and how they cope with their classes.

13. Sports Well-planned sport sections cover more than stats and records. Stories focus on athletes rather than on the team. Coverage includes more than interscholastic competition. Include intramural as well as recreational sports.

14. Sports Good coverage depends on knowledgeable reporters. Because sports play a large role every school year, the challenge is to provide coverage that separates this season from others. In schools where sports seem to dominate school life, staffs need to keep perspective and plan fair, well-balanced coverage.

15. Organizations This section is best organized by subjects or feature topics, with each spread featuring one concept and several clubs. The feature approach is effective because many clubs share purposes and activities. Since some clubs are not very active, some staffs will limit their coverage to a group photo and caption.

16. People The people section serves as an important record of those who attended and worked there. To avoid page after page of rows of portraits, staffs often include candid images and features – extending the book’s coverage. Small, rectangular-shaped portraits should be arranged in solid, rectangular panels with names to the outside.

17. People The section should be considered one unit – not separated by divider pages for each class. Individual classes can be indicated by subtle changes in design and headlines. Senior portraits are often larger and in four-color, but should still be considered part of the section.