Encinal High School’s (EHS) 2021 yearbook, Horizon, and Encinal Junior High School’s yearbook, The Sunset, have been recognized for excellence and featured in the 2022 Jostens Look Book, celebrating the best of the best in yearbook design and inclusivity.

“I was shocked because I didn’t expect it,” said sophomore staff member Bonnie Banh. “That spread was one of my favorites from that year. Overall, I feel good about it, I think it’s super cool.”

Banh created a Black Lives Matter spread for the middle school book. Former editor-in-chief Rafael Arredondo provided the photography.

The Jostens Look Book is a collection of yearbooks with a variety of creative themes, cool covers, beautiful designs, relevant coverage of school events, meaningful storytelling and stunning photography. Only 458 schools were featured out of the more than 1,100 entries.

“It feels great that the work we put in gets acknowledged and put in the Look Book, which can be seen by many from across the world,” said former copy editor Vivian Dao (class of ’21). “I feel honored that my spread was chosen because not every spread is selected and hopefully it helps people with design ideas when creating a yearbook.”

Dao created a “Spring Into Action” spread that utilized typography to highlight athletes that lost their spring seasons to COVID.

The 2021 Horizon staff was made up of 28 students. The award is particularly significant as last year’s book was made during a year in which students attended classes remotely.

“Having their work recognized on a national level is just icing on the cake,” said publications adviser Joshua Linville. “The students create their work for the school community and carry themselves as professional journalists and designers, which they are.”

For some staff, the award was three years in the making.

“I think the is great, not only for the students whose spreads were included but for the program as well,” said current editor-in-chief Katherine Mejia. “In the three years I’ve been a part of the Horizon staff, I’ve noticed how hard people work on their spreads and it’s really exciting to have two of them published in a Look Book thousands of schools are going to see.”

The 2022 Look Book had a press run of 11,000. To view Horizon’s winning spreads, visit Encinal’s news site at https://horizonnews.wixsite.com/horizon.