The Veteran Yearbook staff was notified over the summer that the National Scholastic Press Association rated the 2014 Veteran yearbook All-American with four marks of distinction.

“It’s a pretty big competition, so everybody kind of wants to get their book in there,” senior Maggie Talbot and yearbook editor-in-chief said.

The contest had high schools and colleges sending in their yearbooks from all over the country and even worldwide to have their books critiqued and rated. Publications could be ranked All-American, First Class, Second Class and Third Class and then could earn five different marks of distinctions for specific areas in the yearbook.

“We got All-American, which is the highest award that you can get,” said Talbot, and she continues, “This is the first time Vandegrift’s ever won it so we were really proud that we got that achievement.”

NSPA is exclusively for high school and college publications and offers workshops, contests and resources for student publications. Any school that is a member of NSPA can submit their yearbook and other high school publications to be critiqued and judged.

“Thank you for sharing your beautiful book. You have done so many things right, and it’s hard to focus on what might not be ‘awesome,’” judge Jo Ellen Scholl wrote in her critique of the Veteran yearbook.

Scholl also wrote down her pros and cons in her critique. Her critique not only contained this information, but also some ideas and tips to improve future publications.

“It was great to get feedback from Ms. Scholl,” yearbook adviser Lela Hammons said. “Her feedback really helped us pinpoint what we need to work on in our next book so that we can keep improving. She also told us a few things that we did really well so that we can keep doing those things.”

To reserve your copy of the 2015 Veteran yearbook order online at www.balfour.com. The 2015 VHS yearbook will be available in May.