UA media's record-breaking yearbook distribution
Jennifer Joyner
Issue date: 11/7/08 Section: Lifestyles
An award-winning yearbook staff distributed another successful batch of "The Razorback" this week on campus.
Last year, the Razorback yearbook was named the winner of the Silver Crown award by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. This is the first time the yearbook has been cited for this major national award for excellence since 1993.
"We set record pace in distribution," said Jacob Bain, writer for the yearbook and a graduate student of journalism. "We gave out 2,300 yearbooks on Tuesday."
Four thousand yearbooks were printed last year.
"We usually have a pretty good start to distribution when we get at least half out in the first week," said Shannon Sanders, co-editor of the yearbook "This time, though, we have had amazing distribution success."
Work for the next yearbook has been going on since the beginning of the fall semester. The staff has already started planning elements for the pages and stories are being written, Bain said.
"The yearbook is a never-ending process," Sanders said. "As soon as one ends, the next one begins. We finished the 2007-2008 book late this summer, took a few weeks off and then came back and started the new book. We have smaller deadlines throughout the year, but our final deadline is usually sometime in June."
The next big thing for the yearbook is taking pictures. The staff will take photos of the Registered Student Organizations and individuals. Individual student photos are taken in the Arkansas Student Union, Bain said.
While the primary yearbook staff members work on the layout and distribution process, the photographers and writers work independently once they receive their assignments.
"Photographers and writers do not have to come into the office very often," Sanders said. "Their jobs are pretty independent.
"We have a link on our Web site, yearbook.uark.edu, where students can submit stories or story ideas," she said. "We are always looking for new events to cover and would love to hear what the student body wants in a yearbook."
Stories featured in the yearbook include student life stories, academics, athletics and people profiles.
"We really try to vary our story content and cover as broad of a spectrum of the UA as possible," Sanders said.
For the staff members, it is essential that the Razorback yearbook be seen as a comprehensive picture of the academic year.
"We don't want to become a book directed toward one demographic, [such as] an athletics book, a Greek-life book or a drama club book," Sanders said. "We want to be a yearbook that everyone at the UA can pick up and find something to relate to."
Ensuring that the yearbook is relevant is one of the biggest challenges facing the yearbook staff, Sanders said.
"We are always working to keep our book interesting and innovative and, of course, student-based, because that's who we make this book for."
Last year, the Razorback yearbook was named the winner of the Silver Crown award by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. This is the first time the yearbook has been cited for this major national award for excellence since 1993.
"We set record pace in distribution," said Jacob Bain, writer for the yearbook and a graduate student of journalism. "We gave out 2,300 yearbooks on Tuesday."
Four thousand yearbooks were printed last year.
"We usually have a pretty good start to distribution when we get at least half out in the first week," said Shannon Sanders, co-editor of the yearbook "This time, though, we have had amazing distribution success."
Work for the next yearbook has been going on since the beginning of the fall semester. The staff has already started planning elements for the pages and stories are being written, Bain said.
"The yearbook is a never-ending process," Sanders said. "As soon as one ends, the next one begins. We finished the 2007-2008 book late this summer, took a few weeks off and then came back and started the new book. We have smaller deadlines throughout the year, but our final deadline is usually sometime in June."
The next big thing for the yearbook is taking pictures. The staff will take photos of the Registered Student Organizations and individuals. Individual student photos are taken in the Arkansas Student Union, Bain said.
While the primary yearbook staff members work on the layout and distribution process, the photographers and writers work independently once they receive their assignments.
"Photographers and writers do not have to come into the office very often," Sanders said. "Their jobs are pretty independent.
"We have a link on our Web site, yearbook.uark.edu, where students can submit stories or story ideas," she said. "We are always looking for new events to cover and would love to hear what the student body wants in a yearbook."
Stories featured in the yearbook include student life stories, academics, athletics and people profiles.
"We really try to vary our story content and cover as broad of a spectrum of the UA as possible," Sanders said.
For the staff members, it is essential that the Razorback yearbook be seen as a comprehensive picture of the academic year.
"We don't want to become a book directed toward one demographic, [such as] an athletics book, a Greek-life book or a drama club book," Sanders said. "We want to be a yearbook that everyone at the UA can pick up and find something to relate to."
Ensuring that the yearbook is relevant is one of the biggest challenges facing the yearbook staff, Sanders said.
"We are always working to keep our book interesting and innovative and, of course, student-based, because that's who we make this book for."
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