On March 21, the Rock Ridge Yearbook staff attended the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s Crown Award ceremony and received a Silver Crown award for their “Genesis 10” 2023-2024 yearbook. The Crown Awards are the highest recognition given by the CSPA to a student print or digital medium for overall excellence. Only 202 crowns are awarded nationwide, including 38 crowns for highschool yearbooks. 

A highschool’s yearbook is an important contributor to the school’s spirit and a keepsake of memories students can cherish as they go on to  graduate. This makes being on the staff a great responsibility, as the students and the adviser need to meet the expectations of thousands of students and parents. 

The awards ceremony marked the conclusion of the CSPA spring convention, which took place from March 19 to 21 at Columbia University in New York City. The process of being chosen to receive the CSPA award differs from a traditional one: a yearbook staff submits their work to be reviewed by the judges and learns if they won before coming out to the summit. However, the “tier” of the award is revealed during the event. The two levels of the award are “silver” and “gold”. 

Co-Editor-in-Chief of the yearbook senior Giada Bazzano is grateful for the award the program received. “At first we didn’t know whether we would get a gold or silver crown, but what mattered was that we got one,” Bazzano said. “Getting this silver crown means that our hard work, like coming in on weekends or staying extra at school to get things done, finally paid off, and I’m really proud of how far we’ve come.”

Senior Emilia Scovel, also Co-Editor-in-Chief, worked on “Genesis 10” as a member of the editorial board the previous year. [The awards ceremony] felt nostalgic because I remembered working on the book and it was my junior year, so it was my first year being an editor and having a higher up position.” Scovel said. “I felt honored that I was on the staff and worked very hard on that book and was able to go up and get the award.”

The awards, along with the convention, brought together student publications from all over the United States, allowing students and advisors to share ideas, collaborate, and draw inspiration from each other’s work. “It was seeing all the other yearbooks and newspapers and student-ran press, and it was really cool that from California to Virginia, people went to New York and were awarded these different awards,” said Scovel. “[It felt like an] interconnected convention because everyone who went there was passionate about what they did, and we were able to share our different interests.”

Yearbook advisor and history teacher Michelle Prince found that getting the award served as motivation for the staff working on this year’s edition. “ “Winning for last year’s yearbook was just kind of the validation and the push to get this book for this year to the potential we felt like it could be,” Prince said. “Just watching the book come together for this year, we feel like there’s something special there.”

With new-found motivation, the yearbook team has returned to the classroom. As the school year is coming to an end and the deadlines are getting closer, the team is working on getting the 11th edition of “Genesis” ready for distribution as summer nears.

Students can order a copy of the yearbook via this link