Jamboree, Yearbook

Toby Johnson Middle School

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

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

NSPA contacted Mehnaz Grewal, chief editor of 2015 Yearbook Pacemaker recipient Jamboree for a Q&A. Jamboree is the yearbook of Toby Johnson Middle School in Elk Grove, California. Jamboree, which won a Pacemaker in the Junior High/Middle School category, is supervised by adviser Laura Zhu.

 

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

Mehnaz Grewal, chief editor: Our goals were to create the best yearbook we could. We met these goals by constantly striving to do our best, whether that be simply spelling the names of students correctly, or taking award-winning pictures.

 

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

MG: A moment I will always remember from our staff was the submission of one of our first spreads. The entire class rallied around the computer to watch the submission button being pushed. In that moment, we all felt accomplished and our long hours of effort felt worth it.

 

NSPA: What does the Pacemaker mean to you?

MG: The Pacemaker is an amazing accomplishment that makes me and the rest of our staff feel extremely proud and humbled. Our hours of laborious effort felt validated. Looking back, I will always remember our year on staff as one of the most difficult, but most rewarding.

 

NSPA: What was the toughest moment you faced last year? The most rewarding?

MG: One of the toughest moments we faced last year was when some staff members were having issues completing our spreads. Our spreads were eventually turned in, but past the deadline. Although these spreads were turned in late, they were completed to the best our ability.

One of the most rewarding moments of the year was the distribution of the yearbooks. To walk around and see the faces of our peers light up with excitement when viewing our yearbook felt amazing and fulfilling.