Berg Middle School named Jostens 2020 National Yearbook Program of Excellence

Jostens, the leading producer of yearbooks and student-created content, announced that Berg Middle School’s yearbook program has been named a Jostens 2020 National Yearbook Program of Excellence. The National Yearbook Program of Excellence recognizes engaging yearbooks that reflect a broad representation of the student body while helping students develop 21st century skills such as communication, collaboration, and information and communication technologies (ICT) literacy.

The Berg Middle School award winning yearbook program is led by Brianna Aebischer, Kadence Ahn, Estella Allen, Alyssa Beerends, Jadin Brooks, Kiara Butler, Addie Church, Toby Crandall, Cailyn Doland, Delaney Fifer, Emmalin Forst, Natalee Freese, Andrew Geyer, Samuel Halbstein, Cali Hobbs, Olivia Hotchkin, Caleb Mattes, Charli McCollum, Marshall Penning, Dayton Petithory, Brooklyn Rogers, Klaire Webb, Kylie Welcher, Addison White under the direction of Darin Tisdale, Berg Middle School yearbook adviser.

“For the second award-winning year in a row, I was fortunate to work with highly dedicated eighth-grade yearbook staff members. The 2020 yearbook staff duplicated the previous year’s yearbook staff in putting forth the effort required to create another outstanding Berg Middle School yearbook publication. The 2020 version of Berg Middel School yearbook included 537 students/staff pictured in the yearbook three times or more of a student body and staff of approximately 1000 individuals, sold 450 books (a 5 percent increase in sales compared to 2019), and met all deadlines in production the 2020 BMS yearbook. As a result of these efforts, Berg Middle School is a Jostens 2020 National Yearbook Program of Excellence award winner for the second straight year, and the only middle school in Iowa to win this honor for the 2020 school year! Staff members embodied the yearbook spirit and skill relentlessly to meet deadlines and prepare pages designed to capture the many happenings throughout the year at Berg Middle School. Each yearbook staff member took great pride in covering students and staff members multiple times throughout the yearbook pages, managing to picture over 500 students/staff three times or more in the 2020 yearbook edition. Quite an accomplishment and much, much work.

“Congratulations to the 2020 BMS yearbook staff members for being recognized as a Jostens 2020 National Yearbook Program of Excellence,” Tisdale said.

Jostens’ National Yearbook Program of Excellence Awards are presented twice a year, in spring and in fall based on the yearbook’s arrival date at the school. The award was presented to the Berg Middle School yearbook program for achieving the defined criteria in each of three following categories: creating an inclusive yearbook, generating school engagement and successfully managing the yearbook creation process.

“Especially this spring, Jostens is proud to recognize those individuals who have acted as wonderful stewards by creating an exceptional yearbook for their school and community,” said Tammy Whitaker, Jostens VP and COO Yearbook Division. “These schools did an exceptional job on multiple levels, despite the challenges presented by Spring 2020. Yearbooks are a critical part of capturing and telling a school’s story, and Jostens is dedicated to supporting yearbook staff members as they do their important work.” Founded in 1897, Jostens has produced school yearbooks for over 60 years. Schools rely on Jostens and their local Jostens representatives to provide a combination of journalism education and technology tools to deliver a learning experience that helps students develop 21stcentury skills in journalism, photography, writing and design, leadership and business while creating the permanent record of the school year. Jostens invests in state-of-the-art technology, best in class service, educational curriculum and award winning print manufacturing platforms to plan, design, build and produce yearbooks.