Yearbook staff to receive national award for last year’s book

Last year’s Talisman yearbook recently received news that it was one of 66 books in the country to be nominated for a Crown Award by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.

Columbia Crown Awards are, according to the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, “the highest recognition given by the CSPA to a student print or online medium for overall excellence.”

The three Talisman editors-in-chief for the 2011-2012 yearbook were Shilpa Nagesh, Ailene Nguyen and Alyssa Wu.

One major change in last year’s yearbook was organizing it in chronological order, as opposed to arranged by section, such as an academics or a student life section. The theme of the book, 180 Days, was tailored to the new style of content organization.

“We really deserved the Crown award last year because it was the first Saratoga High book that was chronological,” senior 2013 editor-in-chief Shreyas Doshi said. “I think it turned out really nicely, and hopefully we’ll get a Crown award [again] this year.”

Last year for the first time,yearbook staff worked in four groups: Magenta, Yellow, Cyan, and Black, named after printer colors.

This is the first time the yearbook has won a Crown Award since 2006.

“I feel [winning the award] is surprising, [because] for the past few years, we haven’t really won anything,” senior editor-in-chief Cody Cai said. “I feel like it’s a milestone we’ve reached.”

Other yearbook editors agreed with Cai.

“The fact that we were able to come up with not only a cohesive book that we all liked but one that was recognized by a prestigious organization means a lot more because we were able to overcome a lot of barriers within ourselves,” senior editor-in-chief Sanjna Verma said.

To the yearbook staff, the award validates the hard work they put into it.

“[Yearbook] takes a lot more time than people think,” Cai said. “Many people feel newspaper is the more prestigious [publication], but just come after school or to a yearbook class and we’ll show you differently.”

Cai said that the award would motivate the current staff.

“[The award] motivates us to do good journalism and design, to step it up each year,” Cai said. “I hope we win it again.”

The Talisman staff will find out if they will receive a Gold Crown, the highest honor, or a Silver Crown, the second highest honor. CSPA, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, will announce these awards in New York City in March.