Superlatives lists in your school yearbook are a great idea. Ask anyone who has been creating yearbooks for many years and they’ll tell you it’s one of the best ways to fit a whole bunch of students into your book, adds a positive and personal touch, fosters a sense of community, and creates lasting memories for all students involved. Sounds like a win! That is, until you start thinking about the list itself, picking the right students for the awards, and then coming up with a cool way to showcase them. Then you run the risk of having one award – “most likely to remain unfinished”.
Don’t worry! We’ve got you covered!
Choosing the Categories
The most important thing to remember when choosing your categories is to keep them in good spirits! You want people to have fun when reading them. Be sure to steer clear of titles that might rain on someone’s parade. After all, even the classic “Most Likely to Succeed” could end up being a heavy backpack to carry.
Your yearbook should be a representation of all the talents and personalities that make up your school. There are the tried-and-true “Best Hair” and “Best Team Player”, but this is a chance for you to think outside the box and include a wider group of students! Which student would be “Most Likely to Get ID’d When They’re 30” or “Most Likely to Star in Their Own Reality Show”?
Another angle to take is to think about current events and trends relevant to your audience. The possibilities here are endless! Who in your class is most likely to “Create the Next Viral TikTok Dance Sensation” or “Create a Breakthrough Innovation in Renewable Energy”? If music is your school’s thing, consider something like “Most Likely to Headline Coachella”. TV buffs may include “Most Likely to Write the Next Binge-Worthy Series”.
Selecting the Students
Now that you have your categories, it’s time to put faces to them. You can choose one or more students per category – just make sure you have a picture of all of them together! The benefit of choosing more than one is that you’ll be able to showcase more students in your book.
There are a few ways you can choose the “winners” of each category:
- Leave it up to the student body to choose them all, but be aware that with this method, you run the risk of it becoming a popularity contest.
- Let a few of them be decided by the student body, then leave the rest up to the yearbook team.
- Allow the teachers to choose. They get to see most, if not all, of the students and might notice something about someone that might be overlooked.
- Let the whole student body vote but have the yearbook team make the final choice.
The key to choosing the students and showcasing a true representation of your school is to be fair and inclusive of everyone.
Showcasing Your Superlatives
You’ve chosen your categories and selected the students. Everyone has had a good laugh with the person voted “Most Likely to Win the Lottery and Lose the Ticket”. Now you have to figure out how to showcase them in your yearbook. Quite honestly, this is where Pinterest comes in! There are so many ways to create an interesting and dynamic layout that it’s hard to list them all in a blog.
Here are some examples that we thought were noteworthy:
- taking photos of the students against the same background and then converting them to black and white,
- get a chalkboard and an art student to draw an image relating to the superlative (have the winner hold it for a photo),
- have someone with great penmanship write the superlative on a whiteboard for the winner to hold,
- get props relating to the superlative and include it in the photo of the winning student(s).
You may have noticed the prevailing theme – ensure you have a photo of the winning student(s) for use in that section!
If you have a few pages that you still need to fill in your yearbook, consider a superlatives section for your graduating students. Or factor it into your planning at the beginning of the year. It’s a great opportunity to showcase your students in a fun and inclusive way! Remember, these pages aren’t a competition so much as they are a celebration of all the unique personalities that make up your school!
