Tower, Yearbook

Northwest Missouri State University

Each year, the Associated Collegiate Press recognizes excellence in student media with scholastic journalism’s preeminent award, the Pacemaker. Pacemakers are awarded in each category of publication — online, newspaper, yearbook and magazine.

Teams of media professionals judge entries based on the following criteria: coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership, design, photography and graphics.

ACP contacted Kelsey Schriver, editor-in-chief of 2015 Yearbook Pacemaker winner Tower, for a Q&A. Tower is the yearbook of Northwestern Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri.

See the full list of 2015 Yearbook Pacemaker winners here.

ACP: What were the goals going into last year and how did you ensure those goals were met?

Kelsey Schriver, editor-in-chief: Our goal was to include as much of the international community in the book as we can. We felt like the number of people coming to Northwest from around the world was what truly makes our University was it is today.

ACP: Tell us about a moment you will remember the most about this staff.

KS: Our staff always got kind of crazy down in our office (located in the basement of our communications building). I remember just hanging out, dancing, rolling chairs across the room, basically every weekend. We would always to make Casey’s trips to get soda and cookies when we were stressed. Little things like that are the memories I will always have from that year, that yearbook.

ACP: What does the Pacemaker mean to you?

KS: The Pacemaker is the ultimate icing on the cake. We had already won several awards for this book before the final Pacemaker announcements were made. It truly made all of the stress and tears seem insignificant and brought the greater picture to life.

ACP: What was the toughest moment you faced last year? The most exciting/rewarding?

KS: This book is all about inclusion and how we are all intertwined into the fabric that is our lives and the University. This particular year the University and surrounding community lived through several people passing away. While it was hard to cover those events, it made us better and made the yearbook even more special.

The most exciting or most rewarding part of the year is when the book comes out. Obviously! Everyone on staff is so rejuvenated and excited to start distribution that it really creates a kind of high that everyone feeds off of. There’s quite a break in the time when the final pages are sent off and when the books arrive that everyone gets a little distance from everyone and to see them all come back together for distribution is great.