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For other uses, see Yearbook (disambiguation).
A 1942 copy of the yearbook La Ventana from Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University)

A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of a book published annually including to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. Virtually all American, Australian, and Canadian high schools, most colleges, and many elementary and middle schools in those countries publish yearbooks[citation needed]. The term may also refer to a book of statistics or facts published annually.

U.S. Schools[edit]


High school yearbooks generally cover a wide variety of topics from academics, student life, sports, clubs and other major school events. Generally, each student is pictured with their class, while seniors might get a page-width picture or a slightly larger photo than the underclassmen to reflect their status in the school. Each school organization, such as a sports team or academic/social club, is usually pictured. A high school yearbook staff consists of students with one or more faculty advisers who sometimes hold another position for the school. The yearbook staff can be chosen in a variety of ways, including volunteer-only (its own extracurricular organization), as an academic class or it could be assigned to the entire senior class.

High school yearbooks are considered a form of journalism by scholastic journalism such as the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the National Scholastic Press Association, the Journalism Education Association and state and regional scholastic press associations. Numerous awards are given for journalistic excellence annually.

Colleges that publish yearbooks follow a similar format to high schools[citation needed]. Some include detailed recaps of football and basketball games. College yearbooks are considered by the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) to be a form of journalism. ACP holds the annual Pacemaker competition for college yearbooks as well as other collegiate media outlets.


Yearbooks are becoming increasingly popular in Europe for a wide variety of groups - from primary schools right up to further education and businesses. They tend to be run by a committee of students led by a member of staff, or for younger groups are co-ordinated by a parent or teacher.

Typically they contain a short summary of each member along with their photograph, collage pages and articles, awards pages, and farewell messages from friends and teachers. There are a range of companies producing both A4 and B5 yearbooks in the UK currently. Other creation options include off the shelf software, sending hard copy files for a company to compile, or other manual methods.


India has its share of yearbook publications, be it Penguin's informative "Penguin Year Book" (Editor Derek O' Brian) or Scholastic India's illustrated colour edition or rather competitive exam friendly yearbooks like "Pratiyogita Darpan yeabook","Competition Success Refresher yearbook", Manorama Yearbook & Mathrubhumi Yearbook. India has always drawn readers from various walks of life and it has a good market for yearbooks; not least because digital reading is not yet as widespread In India as in other countries due to the fact that the number of Indians who have access to computer/smart phones is still relatively low and even fewer use e-book readers like Amazon's Kindle, which costs around Rs.15000-25000. However, as the digitally literate audience grows in India, digital media are slowly replacing the print versions of yearbooks - as demonstrated at the recent Book-Fair 2012 in Kolkata, which saw a decline in the numbers of readers seeking yearbooks because of increasing access to news and current affairs via the Internet, news channels etc. The trend to make Yearbooks or memory books was started by B schools. Now, top MBA colleges, Engineering and Medical colleges and even top schools have started publishing Yearbooks to help students preserve memories. Printbindaas a Yearbook publishing company has taken the lead in making this concept popular in India.


Yearbooks published by Australian schools follow a consistent structure to their North American counterparts. Australian yearbooks function as an annual magazine for the school body, with a significant focus on objectively reporting the events that occurred during the schooling year. They cover various topics including academic, sporting, extra-curricular, student life and other activities. Yearbook staff predominantly consist of only one or two school teachers who serve as editors in chief. Australian school yearbooks are predominantly created on A4 paper size, featuring a softcover style front-and-back cover, typically 250 or 300 g/m² density. Hardcover style yearbooks are not as common, although exceptions occur.

In recent years, companies have been servicing Australian schools with online yearbook systems that allow schools to create their yearbooks collaboratively online.[citation needed] This is sold as allowing a higher level of student involvement whilst making the workflow simpler and easier for all involved. Additionally, some schools feature a separate yearbook for students in Year 12.



South Africa[edit]

In South Africa it is not as common to find yearbooks in schools as it is in countries such as the US and Canada, though there are a number of schools that allocate annual funding and publish yearbooks at the end of the school year (November or December). These yearbooks closely resemble those found in the US, with columns about certain themes, in-depth coverage of major events and large collections of photos, as well as drawings reflecting daily life at these schools.

Major events covered include Matric Farewell Dances (equivalent to Senior Prom in the US), annual sporting events (such as Inter-schools where a number of schools assemble and compete in various sports as well as with dance routines in competition for spirit awards etc.), and grade group events organized specifically for a specific grade.


In Nigeria, it is very common to find yearbooks in schools as it is in countries such as the US and Canada, though there are a number of schools that allocate annual funding and publish yearbooks at the end of the school year (July or August). These yearbooks closely resemble those found in the US, with columns about certain themes, in-depth coverage of major events and large collections of photos, as well as drawings reflecting daily life at these schools. Some schools do produce yearbook every year.

U.S. military[edit]

Military yearbook



Production and distribution[edit]


Yearbooks are generally compiled by a student club or a yearbook class, usually advised by a faculty member. The yearbook staff usually has one or more editors who are responsible for collecting and compiling all of the information to be contained within the book, also deciding the layout and allocation of space for each contributor.


Most yearbooks have a similar format, which includes individual photographs of students, information on activities, sports and other activities.

People (seniors, underclassmen, faculty)[edit]

In the U.S., where a yearbook often covers the whole school and not just the senior class, these sections are usually arranged in chronological order by class (freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior), in either ascending or descending order. Normally students will have individual portraits accompanied by their names. Senior photographs are usually larger than those of underclassmen and are sometimes accompanied by text about their accomplishments throughout high school and their future plans. Frequently, seniors are polled to nominate their classmates for "superlatives" or "class celebrities" (such as "most likely to succeed," "most athletic," "most spirited", "best smile", and "class clown"), are often published in the senior section. Some private schools and smaller high schools set aside an entire page for each senior. These pages are sometimes designed by the seniors themselves, with each senior submitting a digital or physical version of the page he or she would like featured in the book.

"Picture Day" is the school day in the United States and Canada when students have their photographs taken by a professional photographer. Parents can purchase packages of these portraits to distribute, often accompanied by other items featuring the portrait. These portraits often go into the school yearbook, which are usually distributed at the end of the school year. The pictures may also be used on student ID cards. There will also generally be a second day ("retake day") to take pictures if the student is absent.[1]

Slovak yearbook from the 1977-78 academic year


Student life[edit]

Several pages are often used for pages chronicling activities undertaken by students, such as trips abroad, activity trips, sporting and other special events. This part of the book often covers students' lives both inside and outside of the campus.

Sometimes members of a yearbook write editorial and journalistic content about life as a student, current events (local, national, and international), and other matters of interest to the peer group.


This section covers the classes, projects and more educational aspects of the school year.


This section describes student organizations (sometimes referred to as clubs) and what they did during the year. These descriptions are often accompanied by a photo or photos of the organizations' members. This section sometimes includes a list of the members of each organization.



Advertising pages[edit]


Some schools sell advertisements for seniors. Parents, other family members, and friends use these ads to congratulate a senior — or group of seniors — for their accomplishments.


Bigger yearbooks tend to include an alphabetical listing of everyone included in the yearbook, along with a listing of the pages they may be found on.


Usually near the end of the book, the colophon lists staff members and acknowledgements. The colophon includes technical information pertaining to the yearbook such as publisher, total number of pages, paper weight and copyright.

Signature or autograph page[edit]



Students may design yearbook pages themselves or use company-provided templates in most cases.

In general, most yearbook pages are designed as double-page spreads and include several items:

  • Headline: Akn abbreviated sentence highlighting the content of the spread, usually involving word play along with factual information
  • Story/Copy: Staffs usually write short stories capturing the highlights of a specific department, sports season, organization, etc., from the past year. Often, yearbook staff members will either interview students, teachers and others for comments. Alternative story formats have gained popularity in recent times, allowing stories to be told in visual ways (graphs, charts, polls, timelines, etc.).
  • Photographs: Every spread that isn't a portrait or an ad spread contains candid shots of students, suitable to the page's topic and theme. Included with the photographs are one or more captions, which describe each picture; these often begin with a lead-in.

In the past, most yearbooks were laid out by hand, with photographs physically cropped and placed on layout boards. The work was tedious, and required multiple deadlines and contact with a yearbook publisher. Today, virtually all yearbooks are published using computers, which allows for shorter deadlines and easier editing. Students typically design pages using a desktop publishing program, usually Adobe InDesign. Some schools use a proprietary web-based design program belonging to the company that prints the book.


U.S. printing companies[edit]

Yearbook printing companies usually have representatives who work with the adviser and staff at each school to assist in the creation of the yearbook.

Yearbook companies typically require that groups of pages be sent periodically, rather than all at once, to the plant[citation needed]. This is done to stagger the work required to complete yearbooks for all the schools they cover. After the editors review each page and make changes, the pages are sent to the yearbook plant, usually via the Internet.

If the proofing process is not performed on-line, the adviser and editors receive proofs (typically full size prints) about a week or so after the submission of pages. This gives the school a final opportunity to make adjustments or changes. After all the proofs have been returned to the printing company the requested corrections are made, the books are printed, bound, and then sent to the school for distribution.

A number of educational institutions and yearbook printing companies operate camps and summer sessions at which student yearbook personnel can learn or polish the skills they need in their work.[2][3][4]


Often, yearbooks are distributed at the end of a school year to allow students, teachers, and other members of the school to obtain the books and signatures/personal messages from classmates. In the U.S., those that distribute at this time may publish a supplemental insert with photographs from spring sports and milestone events (such as prom and graduation) and other important events. Many schools at which yearbooks are distributed at or before the end of a school year have a tradition of having students sign and leave notes on each other's yearbooks.

Some schools distribute yearbooks after the end of the school year – such as in July, at Homecoming (US) in October or another designated time in order to include year-end activities. In some cases, yearbooks are mailed to the parents' homes of graduated seniors.

Digital yearbooks[edit]

A digital yearbook is a yearbook holding memories of a given time with a given group of people—most commonly, a school year at a particular school—that exists in digital form.

A digital yearbook contains text, images, audio, and video. While a traditional paper yearbook may contain a few dozen pages, a digital yearbook can contain hundreds or even thousands of pages. The end product of a digital yearbook is either a CD-ROM or a DVD. The first CD-ROM yearbook was created by students at South Eugene High School in 1990.[5]

A digital yearbook page, also known as a dyp, makes an existing yearbook interactive using Portrait Recognition Technology. A mobile application and smartphone or tablet is used to scan a student's portrait. Scanning the portrait will take the student to the Digital Yearbook Page. DYPs contain multimedia content archived throughout the school year. The DYP can also contain links with contact information.

See also[edit]

Further reading[edit]



  1. ^ "Lifetouch - Photography for a Lifetime". Retrieved 2012-11-12. 
  2. ^ "University of Iowa Yearbook Workshop". Archived from the original on 2007-07-01. Retrieved 2007-09-02. 
  3. ^ "Oregon State University High School Yearbook Workshop". Archived from the original on 2007-08-06. Retrieved 2007-09-02. 
  4. ^ "Greenbush Yearbook Workshop". Retrieved 2007-09-02. 
  5. ^ Layton, Tom (Apr–May 1991). "The Electronic Eugenean: A Multimedia Yearbook Project". Writing Notebook: Creative Word Processing in the Classroom 8 (4).