The Official Site of the Missouri Interscholastic Journalism Association

MIJA
The Official Site of the Missouri Interscholastic Journalism Association

MIJA
The Official Site of the Missouri Interscholastic Journalism Association

MIJA

Overall Yearbook Critique

The judging rubric for the overall yearbook contest can be found here.

 

Dear MIJA members and students,

Welcome to MIJA’s annual Overall Yearbook critique! I hope you are gearing up for an amazing year with your 2023-24 publication. 

Thank you for entering the first phase of the annual contest. The Board and I hope you find this entry process quick and user friendly.

The purpose of our state contest is to honor the work of Missouri’s student journalists and advisers and to provide professional critiques and services that will support and enhance journalism education. We hope you find this critique service useful to help your publications grow.

Filling out all of the forms accurately and completely will enable a more efficient process and ensure timely feedback to you and your students. If you have questions at any time during the entry process, please do not hesitate to contact the contest committee at [email protected].

Please exercise patience and understanding as we work hard to provide the best possible experience for you and your students. MIJA Board members are volunteers who are teachers just like you. Please contact me with any concerns or suggestions on how we can improve the contest process.

Good luck!

Jamie Munoz

MIJA President

MEMBERSHIP CLASSIFICATIONS:

Please be sure to check your current memberships for the types of publications your school registered.  Schools must have been members during the year in which the yearbook was created in order to have it critiqued. For example, books created during the 2023-2024 school year are eligible for the 2025 critique/contest, since awards are recognized the following spring.  You will MAIL your book to the judge listed below based on whether your book is distributed in the spring or in the fall.

MEMBERSHIP CLASSIFICATIONS:

Please be sure to check your current memberships for the types of publications your school registered. 

EXTRA LARGE SCHOOLS:  1,700+ population

  • Blue Springs High School
  • Blue Springs South High School
  • Fort Zumwalt West High School
  • Francis Howell High School
  • Francis Howell Central High School
  • Kickapoo High School
  • Kirkwood High School
  • Lee’s Summit High School
  • Lee’s Summit North High School
  • Lee’s Summit West High School
  • Liberty High School
  • Liberty North
  • Lindbergh High School
  • Marquette High School
  • Nixa High School
  • Oakville High School
  • Oak Park High School
  • Park Hill High School
  • Raymore-Peculiar High School
  • Ritenour High School
  • Rock Bridge High School
  • Staley High School
  • Timberland High School

LARGE SCHOOLS: 1201-1,700 population

  • Battle High School
  • Central High School (Springfield)
  • Cole Camp
  • Fort Osage High School
  • Francis Howell North High School
  • Glendale High School
  • Grain Valley High School
  • Ladue Horton Watkins High School
  • Lafayette High School
  • Liberty High School (Wentzville)
  • Mehlville High School
  • North Kansas City High School
  • Park Hill South HIgh School
  • Parkway Central High School
  • Parkway South High School
  • Parkway West High School
  • Pattonville High School
  • Raytown High School
  • Truman High School
  • Waynesville High School
  • Washington High School
  • Webster Groves High School
  • Willard High School
  • William Chrisman High School
  • Winnetonka High School

MEDIUM SCHOOLS: 701-1,200 population

  • Belton High School
  • Clayton High School
  • Grandview High School
  • Kearney High School
  • Lincoln College Preparatory Academy
  • Marshfield High School
  • Parkway North High School
  • Platte County High School
  • Rockhurst, High School
  • Sikeston High School
  • Smithville High School
  • University City High School
  • Van Horn High School

SMALL SCHOOLS:  1-700 population

  • Boonville High School
  • Clinton High School
  • Columbia Area Career Center
  • Herculaneum High School
  • Hermann High School
  • Hickman Mills Freshman Center
  • Knox County High School 
  • Lawson High School
  • Notre Dame de Sion High School
  • Puxico High School
  • Salisbury High School
  • St. Pius X High School
  • St. Teresa’s Academy
  • Warsaw High School

GENERAL INFORMATION:

CONTEST: Overall Yearbook

The entry form is ready to be filled out for the 2025 MIJA Overall Critique. Once judges have been confirmed, addresses will be added to the Instruction Form.

Spring Delivery yearbooks need to be postmarked by July 13, 2024.

Fall Delivery yearbooks need to be postmarked by September 14, 2024.

Please email [email protected] with any questions.

All contests use the same rating system. It is possible for more than one entry to earn the same rating; therefore, multiple “winners” are possible.

  • All-Missouri – 450-500 points
  • Superior – 400-449 points
  • Excellent – 350-399 points
  • Honorable Mention – 300-349 points
  • No Award – below 299 points

PUBLICATION (OVERALL) ENTRIES:

  • By entering the contest, the teacher and/or school certifies that all work is student work completed in the current school year and does not infringe on any copyright issues. If you or your staff members need further guidance when it comes to copyright, please consult the Student Press Law Center: http://www.splc.org/page/copyright.
  • Examples of the rating sheets judges will use are available at this LINK.
  • As the judge completes your publication’s critique, MIJA will email the teacher the critique in a digital document. 
  • MIJA will follow the instructions you give on your entry form regarding what should happen with the copy of your yearbook. You may choose to let the judge keep the book, let the judge recycle the copy, or have the judge return the book directly to you.
  • Publications earning the highest All-Missouri and Best of Show ratings will be honored at JDay. Yearbooks earning Superior, Excellent or Honorable Mention ratings will earn certificates, which will be distributed at JDay in packets by school. 
  • A listing of all awards earned in the contest will be made available on the MIJA website and/or listserv within a week of JDay.

DISQUALIFICATIONS:

Entries may be disqualified for the following reasons:

  • Piece does not fit the category in which it was entered.
  • File not submitted properly, such as file name does not follow formatting instructions given.
  • Corrupt file or link.
  • Piece violates copyright.

NON-PUBLISHED RATINGS:

  • Non-printed MIJA Honors Ratings:  If an adviser requests it in writing ahead of the actual critiquing, the publication’s MIJA Honors Rating will not be printed or announced by MIJA. An MIJA Honors Rating certificate will still be awarded and sent to the publication.
  • New Advisers’ MIJA Honors Critiques:  Advisers in their first or second year of advising may request that a publication’s MIJA Honors Rating not be printed or announced, and the adviser also may request that an Honors Rating not be assigned.

PRINTING: 

If you would like to print these instructions to a printer or to PDF, please do so from inside this file, and not from your web browser. It will preserve the formatting and perform better for you.

QUESTIONS:

Please contact the MIJA executive board at [email protected] with any questions.  

HOW TO ENTER:

Please read these rules carefully. Failure to adhere to the rules may result in disqualification.

YEARBOOK OVERALL: 

  1. Use this ENTRY FORM to enter your book for critique.
  2. Mail one copy of your yearbook for evaluation. 
    1. All entries must be postmarked no later than the deadline:
      • Spring Delivery yearbooks need to be postmarked by July 13, 2024.
      • Fall Delivery yearbooks need to be postmarked by September 14, 2024.
    2. If you wish, you may write a letter to accompany your yearbook and explain how the theme was chosen, how the book was built, challenges faced this school year, or other information you believe may help the judge give you valuable feedback.
    3. If you wish, you may send a copy of last year’s critique to the judge. This would help the judge AND you.

Judges’ addresses:

  • SPRING – SMALL – 
    • Anita Marie Wertz, 925 Van Place, Powell, WY 82435
  • SPRING – MEDIUM – 
    • Jackie Mink, 9811 Bellefontaine Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63137
  • SPRING – LARGE – SCHOOLS WITH NAMES A TO F:  
    • Ben Langevin, 404 Tradition Lane, Winter Springs, FL 32708
  • SPRING – LARGE – SCHOOLS WITH NAMES G TO N: 
    • Ellen Kersey, 3694 Bayonne Dr. SE, Salem, OR 97317
  • SPRING – LARGE – SCHOOLS WITH NAMES O TO Z: 
    • Cody Harrell, 2331 Tiffany Lane, Holt, MI 48837
  • SPRING – EXTRA LARGE – SCHOOLS WITH NAMES A TO L:
    • Diala Chaney, 406 Ridgewood Manor Drive, Oxford, MS 38655
  • SPRING – EXTRA LARGE – SCHOOLS WITH NAMES M TO Z:
    • Samantha Deane, 1465 North Street, Noblesville, IN 46060
  • FALL – SMALL – 
    • Kim Lynch, 6002 Shunka Rd, New Ulm TX 78950
  • FALL – MEDIUM – 
    • Anita Marie Wertz, 925 Van Place, Powell, WY 82435
  • FALL – LARGE – SCHOOLS WITH NAMES A TO N
    • Mary Patrick, 3 Shenandoah Drive, Goddard, Kansas 67052
  • FALL – LARGE – SCHOOLS WITH NAMES O TO Z
    • Ida Hoffman, 3015 Kellerton Place, Wentzville, MO 63385
  • FALL – EXTRA LARGE – 
    • Michael Malcom-Bjorklund,1817 N. Laura St., Jacksonville, FL 32206
  1. The judge will send the publication to the destination of your choice from your entry form and email the publication critique to MIJA for processing. 
  2. Judges have eight weeks from the seasonal deadline to complete their work, so you’ll receive timely feedback to help your students’ work in the next yearbook.
  3. Judges will send the critique to the MIJA office for confirmation.
  4. Then MIJA will email the critique to the school adviser.
  5. MIJA will enter the data to the list of ratings and issue any certificates earned at JDay. If you are unable to attend Journalism Day, these items will be mailed to you.