The Traveler

Issue date: 3/25/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Veronica Pucci Megan Garner (left) and Shannon Sanders have been co-editors of the Arkansas Razorback Yearbook for three years. The yearbook was recently nominated for its second National Pacemaker award in two years.

The Razorback yearbook, the UA campus' oldest publication, has been chosen as one of 15 finalists of the Pacemaker, a prestigious student journalism award. This is the second time the Razorback has been nominated in two years.

"We have been chosen as a finalist three times in the 82 years that the Pacemaker has existed, so it's a huge honor," said Megan Garner, who co-edits the yearbook with Shannon Sanders.

The Razorback was chosen as a Pacemaker finalist in the yearbook category based on various criteria, including writing style, content, art and graphic design, photography, consistency, editing, and cover design. This year's ceremony will be in Austin, Texas, where conventions and other activities will be hosted to demonstrate improvements to journalistic publications.

To the staff's disappointment, Razorback writers, photographers and editors usually are unable to attend those sessions because of busy schedules and a lack of funds. The staff is constantly looking for ways to improve the yearbook, but Garner said they "would rather put money into the product that is going into the hands of the students."

However, the Pacemaker conference does give attendees the opportunity to learn from other college publications, yearbook writer Jacob Bain said.

"In a sense we glean ideas off them, but at the same time, they are looking at your (yearbook) and you get to show off your work, as well," he said.

The Razorback staff works on the 352-page publication for at least 11 months of the year. During the summer months, the staff constructs an index, covers summer sports events and graduation, and edits content.

"If we have a month off during the year, it's July," Garner said.

In the past couple of years, the Razorback staff has experienced drastic changes. Distributing yearbooks to students on campus has not only become a manageable feat, but the staff of 30 broke a record last semester by handing out all 4,000 copies of the yearbook in two and a half days.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools