Just over a year ago Darlington School’s first one-school yearbook was announced and the 90th edition of the Jabberwokk entered its design phase. With student publications adviser Adrienne Forgette and editor-in-chief Ethan Pender (‘16) at the helm, this historic publication began to take shape.
According to Forgette in a May blog post, the one-school yearbook production process was an “act of design thinking” with hopes that the publication would be a national contender. Forgette submitted the Jabberwokk for a critique with the National Scholastic Press Association and entered the publication for consideration for yearbook related awards on both the state and national level.
“National standards dictate that students make all content decisions and that's what this team did — they combined their talents and worked tirelessly to create the best book possible,” stated Forgette. “Initial response has been highly favorable thus far which is a promising indication of accolades yet to come.”
NSPA | All-American Rating with Four Marks of Distinction
The 2016 Jabberwokk was submitted for critique to the National Scholastic Press Association where it was evaluated in several different categories such as coverage, writing and design. The judges write comments and score the publication in several different categories such as coverage, writing and design. The composite score from all sections gives the publication an honor rating ranging from Third Class to All-American. The All-American rating is the highest rating given to any publication in the critique service.
The Jabberwokk received an All-American rating with four marks of distinction: essentials (excellent commitment to publication standards), coverage (unique coverage of a unique student body), writing and editing (exceptionally strong writing and editing) and design (excellent execution of theme visually).
GSPA | Superior Rating
The Georgia Scholastic Press Association also offers an evaluation process for student publications. This evaluation serves as a learning tool for GSPA members, providing guidance and constructive criticism to help staffs improve the overall quality of their yearbooks. Each yearbook is critiqued in four areas: concept and organization, coverage, copy and, photography and design.
The Jabberwokk received an overall Superior ranking with perfect scores in all categories. Comments from GSPA were highly complimentary of the publication:
“As you've probably noticed there are not any comments within the comment sections present on each page of this evaluation sheet. That is purposeful. This publication is SUPERIOR (pay close attention to the capitalization of the word superior) throughout its entirety. This yearbook that I had the privilege of analyzing is, to me, the most successful yearbook publication I have ever laid my eyes on. No words can be said about this publication; it left me completely speechless. Those that created this yearbook should be immensely proud of what you all have accomplished. Fantastic Job Darlington School Jabberwokk Staff.”
“I am extremely proud of our Jabberwokk staff,” Forgette said. “They have set the bar when it comes to publication excellence, and I know this year’s staff is up for the challenge to exceed it.”
GSPA awards will be presented at the organization’s Fall Conference in late October and NSPA award winners will be announced at the National High School Journalism Convention in November.
