Visual elements were key to distinguishing this year’s top books, according to the judges.

“The judges noted that the best books this year really raised the bar on photo usage,” said Kirsten Chang, contest and critique coordinator. “Some aspects they picked out included superb cropping of photos, a focus on emotional and dramatic aspects in photo selection and captions that focused on storytelling in their writing.”

Judges also indicated that classic elements of quality journalism, such as strong feature copy and strong reporting separated the finalists from other entries. One trend that was clearly evident was a return to classic, structural, grid-based spread design.

All high school entries were divided into four proportionate categories based on total page count, and junior high books were judged separately in one category. Pacemaker judging involves a rigorous process and multiple judges working in consultation with each other to come to a consensus on which books reached the highest levels of journalistic excellence for the year.

After the elimination round, judges spent a day and a half selecting 59 high school yearbook finalists and seven junior high finalists.

“We’ve seen that each year our members come back with stronger and stronger yearbooks,” Chang said. “The Pacemaker is great evidence of NSPA’s mission: The process of critiquing and judging leads to even higher standards for the next set of yearbooks.”

The Pacemaker winners will be announced at the Spring JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention in Denver, April 16-19. The NSPA Awards Ceremony is at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18.

Convention registration is now open online.