Sunset Middle School’s yearbook program has earned the Jostens National Yearbook Excellence Award for the fourth consecutive year. The award recognizes outstanding achievement in yearbook design, coverage, and photography. It was also featured in Jostens’ Look Book for the first time, which is a significant achievement for the school. The annually published Look Book celebrates the best of the best in yearbook design and coverage and honors the important role well-crafted yearbooks play in helping schools chronicle the experiences, stories, and achievements most relevant to students and that academic year.

A panel of judges, composed of nationally recognized scholastic journalism professionals and award-winning yearbook advisers, carefully selected the best spreads and covers from outstanding yearbooks printed by Jostens during the 2021–2022 school year. The judges selected Sunset for the honor because of their use of color, font, alignment, and variety of pictures. Sunset was one of two schools in the St. Vrain Valley School District and one of 400 in the country to be recognized in the Look Book. 

The yearbook’s theme, “Intertwined,” was selected by students to highlight the connections they made throughout the year. According to Yearbook Advisor Jennifer Macios, “Around 90 kids chose it [yearbook] as an elective. Unfortunately, we can’t have 90 kids in it because it’s hard to write a 100-page book from 90 different people’s perspectives, so it has become an application class. They have to submit an application and get references to be in the class. We have about 20 students who really designed and put together the full story of this school.”

Through the yearbook class, students acquire essential skills in photography, interviewing, and design that will prepare them for their future academic and professional pursuits. “It’s a lot of creativity and freedom,” said Macios. “They’re picking kids around school who they want to interview and find out more about. They get to feature students who may not always have a voice in school.”

Capturing the defining moments of a school year through words and photos is a challenging task that requires dedication and attention to detail. It’s no small feat to encapsulate an entire year’s worth of events and emotions into a single publication, but with hard work and skill, Sunset’s yearbook team successfully created a timeless record of their school’s history.