Yearbook Hall of Fame
Picaboo Yearbooks is proud to host its international yearbook contest. We sponsor this contest to recognize students, staff, and yearbook advisers who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in creating yearbooks for their schools.
YEARBOOK CONTEST JUDGING CATEGORIES
Overall yearbook
cover design
Yearbook cover designs, judged based on overall design quality, relevance to school and current year, use graphic and textual design elements.
Yearbook - Overall yearbook theme development is judged based on the use of written and graphic elements carried throughout the entire yearbook.
picaboo originals
page design
The best use of a theme developed by Picaboo Yearbooks, enhanced by the school.
Page layouts judged are based on the overall layout design, the use of innovative techniques, and the use of captions, headlines, graphics elements, etc.
The votes are in, and the 2026 Picaboo Yearbooks Hall of Fame winners are here! This year, schools, universities, co-ops, and organizations from around the world sent us their very best: bold covers, show-stopping spreads, and yearbooks that tell the story of a whole community. Our judges had a tough job. Please join us in celebrating the advisers and student staffs whose hard work, creativity, and heart earned them a place in the Hall of Fame.
Picture Perfect Overall Winner - Best of the Best
Hoover High School
2026 Picture Perfect Overall Winner - Best of the Best
Out of every yearbook entered this year, from every school, every level and every corner of the world, one stood above the rest. Hoover High School is our 2026 Picture Perfect Overall Winner: the best of the best.
It started with something the staff noticed during brainstorming: Hoover students doodle on everything, from notebooks and sticky notes to the margins of rough drafts. They paired that with this generation’s bold confidence and named the theme “Unapologetically Absentminded.” Every doodle in the book was drawn by a Hoover student or staff member, and they fill a cover built around the school’s iconic marquee. Students also ran their own portrait studio, making Hoover the first school in its district to photograph every student and staff member in-house for the yearbook. They scheduled, shot, edited and organized thousands of images themselves.
Adviser Toni describes it as “a yearbook that celebrates creativity, individuality, and the little sketches that often say more than words ever could.” Congratulations to the Hoover High School yearbook team, the Picture Perfect Overall Winner of the 2026 Picaboo Yearbooks Hall of Fame!
Grand Prize Winners - Best OVerall Yearbook
Gustine High School
2026 Grand Prize Winner - Best Overall Yearbook Design - High School
Gustine High School has been named the best overall yearbook at the high school level for 2026, chosen from hundreds of entries submitted by schools around the globe.
Their theme is all about growth. The staff brainstormed together about life in a small town, where students put down deep roots and then branch out into the world. They brought that idea to life with color: shifting hues carry through every section and spread, showing how much a school changes over a single year. Each senior spread even picks up its own accent color from that senior’s portrait. Adviser Alan says the yearbook is “a historical document that has tracked the life of a small school which makes a big impact on our small community.”
Congratulations to the yearbook team at Gustine High School, who won 1st Place, receiving a $250 Amazon Gift Card along with $500 toward their next yearbook purchase.
Awtrey Middle School
2026 Grand Prize Winner - Best Overall Yearbook Design - Middle School
Awtrey Middle School has been recognized for excellence in yearbook creation at the middle school level. Chosen from hundreds of entries worldwide, their book stood out for its creativity, its sense of history, and its heart.
Awtrey turned 60 this year, and the students celebrated with a commemorative 60th Anniversary Edition. They dug through decades of old Awtrey yearbooks for inspiration, gave the book a vintage 1960s feel with modern touches, and a student designed the cover. The PTSA and the school librarian helped, but the students did most of the work. Adviser Karen calls it “a tribute to six decades of Viking pride, a celebration of our school’s legacy, and a reflection of what students can accomplish when they are given the opportunity to lead.”
Congratulations to the yearbook team at Awtrey Middle School, who won 1st Place, receiving a $250 Amazon Gift Card along with $500 toward their next yearbook purchase.
Hubbard Woods Elementary School
2026 Grand Prize Winner - Best Overall Yearbook Design - Elementary School
For the second year in a row, Hubbard Woods Elementary has taken the grand prize at the elementary level, selected from hundreds of submissions from schools across the globe.
The team designed every page from scratch around their school motto: “We stand with pride. We give all we’ve got. We respect and include.” Student artwork from every grade appears throughout the book, and every classroom gets its own candid pages. For the cover, the graduating 4th graders became the “Hubbard Woods Merch Team” and designed school-spirit pins that now cover the front of the book. Adviser Colleen says the goal was “a yearbook where every student felt seen, celebrated, and included.”
Congratulations to the yearbook team at Hubbard Woods Elementary, who won 1st Place, receiving a $250 Amazon Gift Card along with $500 toward their next yearbook purchase.
Providence Classical Christian School
2026 Grand Prize Winner - Best Overall Yearbook Design - Other Group/School
Providence Classical Christian School has earned the grand prize in the Other/Group category, chosen from hundreds of entries submitted by schools worldwide.
A staff of just eight students represented an entire PreK–12 school. They built the book around vintage printing presses, which lay down layer after layer of ink to leave a lasting message, just as a student’s school years leave a lasting impression. The team made the cover by hand: each student chose a color and added one layer of real paint with a mini squeegee. The result is bright, bold and truly collaborative. Adviser Kathy, in her first year as adviser, said: “I am proud of their work and believe this yearbook was our best yet!”
Congratulations to the yearbook team at Providence Classical Christian School, who won 1st Place, receiving a $250 Amazon Gift Card along with $500 toward their next yearbook purchase.
Best OVerall Yearbook pages or spread
Carolina Friends School
2026 Winner - Best Pages or Spread - High School
This award recognizes Carolina Friends School for a standout spread at the high school level, selected from hundreds of entries from around the world.
Their whole book is a “travel log” of the year, and the athletics section is built around postcards. On this volleyball and swimming spread (pages 56–57), each sport’s heading is the front of the postcard and the season recap is the note on the back. The team captains wrote those recaps themselves. The students also took and edited every photo, and they caught some remarkably dynamic swim shots. As adviser Brittni put it, “Photographing swimming is a challenge in and of itself.”
Congratulations to the yearbook team at Carolina Friends School, who won 1st Place, receiving a $100 Amazon Gift Card along with $250 toward their next yearbook purchase.
Silver Spring International Middle School
2026 Winner - Best Pages or Spread - Middle School
This award recognizes Silver Spring International Middle School for a standout spread at the middle school level, selected from hundreds of entries from around the world.
After nearly 100 years in its building, the school is closing its doors, and the yearbook staff found a way to hold on to every memory. They designed the book like a middle schooler’s sketchbook, covered in water-bottle stickers, hand-drawn doodles, and the memes and inside jokes everyone repeated all year. Students drew the art for the pages themselves. The result is personal and funny, and a fitting farewell to a building with a century of stories.
Congratulations to the yearbook team at Silver Spring International Middle School, who won 1st Place, receiving a $100 Amazon Gift Card along with $250 toward their next yearbook purchase.
Murphy Ranch Elementary
2026 Winner - Best Pages or Spread - Elementary School
This award recognizes Murphy Ranch Elementary for a standout spread at the elementary level, selected from hundreds of entries from around the world.
The theme was “Saddle Up for Success,” and this spread brings the Murphy Ranch Mustangs to life with western headlines, ranch-style details, and plenty of school spirit. Strong photos, thoughtful spacing, and lively captions lead the reader through both the big events and the everyday moments. Adviser Stephanie describes it as the story of “a school community that is active, joyful, and proud.”
Congratulations to the yearbook team at Murphy Ranch Elementary, who won 1st Place, receiving a $100 Amazon Gift Card along with $250 toward their next yearbook purchase.
Sonlight Christian Enrichment Classes
2026 Winner - Best Pages or Spread - Other Group/School
Sonlight Christian Enrichment Classes takes the spread award at the Other/Group level for the second year in a row, selected from hundreds of entries from around the world.
This year the homeschool co-op made a “passport” to the year. This spread (pages 44–45) turns the high school classes into a scrapbook and includes a special page for the yearbook class itself. The scrapbook design keeps every class and friendship in one place, as a reminder of what a great trip high school has been.
Congratulations to the yearbook team at Sonlight Christian Enrichment Classes, who won 1st Place, receiving a $100 Amazon Gift Card along with $250 toward their next yearbook purchase.
Best Yearbook Cover
Hoover High School
2026 Winner - Best Cover - High School
This award recognizes Hoover High School for an outstanding yearbook cover at the high school level, selected from hundreds of entries from around the world.
While brainstorming, the Hoover staff noticed something everyone on campus has in common: they doodle on notebooks, sticky notes, worksheets and every margin they can find. That observation became the theme “Unapologetically Absentminded.” The cover is built around Hoover’s iconic marquee and filled with doodles that students and staff drew and submitted. Adviser Toni calls it “an authentic reflection of our campus and a celebration of creativity, individuality, and Patriot pride.”
Congratulations to the yearbook team at Hoover High School, who won 1st Place, receiving a $100 Amazon Gift Card along with $250 toward their next yearbook purchase.
Awtrey Middle School
2026 Winner - Best Cover - Middle School
This award recognizes Awtrey Middle School for an outstanding yearbook cover at the middle school level, selected from hundreds of entries from around the world.
A student designed this 60th-anniversary cover, borrowing elements from Awtrey yearbooks across the decades so past and present share the same page. It sets up the story of the anniversary right away and honors the generations of Vikings who came before. Adviser Karen describes it as “a tribute to the rich history, traditions, and memories that have shaped Awtrey over the last 60 years.”
Congratulations to the yearbook team at Awtrey Middle School, who won 1st Place, receiving a $100 Amazon Gift Card along with $250 toward their next yearbook purchase.
Booksin Elementary School
2026 Winner - Best Cover - Elementary School
This award recognizes Booksin Elementary School for an outstanding yearbook cover at the elementary level, selected from hundreds of entries from around the world.
Louie, the Booksin bulldog, goes on a new adventure every year, and this year he set off on a jungle cruise. Illustrator Greg Kletsel showed Louie with his pencil and books in hand, ready to learn, just like Booksin students. The theme is “Where Bulldogs Go Wild for Learning.” In adviser Karen’s words, “We are a colorful bunch of students, parents and teachers who come together to build our community.”
Congratulations to the yearbook team at Booksin Elementary School, who won 1st Place, receiving a $100 Amazon Gift Card along with $250 toward their next yearbook purchase.
International Community School of Addis Ababa
2026 Winner - Best Cover - Other Group/School
This award recognizes the International Community School of Addis Ababa for an outstanding yearbook cover in the Other/Group category, selected from hundreds of entries from around the world.
With more than 90 nationalities in one school, ICS chose the kaleidoscope as its theme: many unique pieces forming one vibrant whole. A Grade 12 student made the cover. She first built a collage of everyday objects from life at ICS and in Ethiopia, then turned it into an expressive, colorful painting. Yearbook adviser Haleluya Getachew and the team sum it up this way: “Together, we are a kaleidoscope. We are ICS.”
Congratulations to the yearbook team at the International Community School of Addis Ababa, who won 1st Place, receiving a $100 Amazon Gift Card along with $250 toward their next yearbook purchase.
Best Picaboo Original
The Villages Charter School Autism Center
2026 Winner - Best Picaboo Original - Elementary School
This award recognizes The Villages Charter School Autism Center for making a Picaboo Yearbooks theme truly its own, selected from hundreds of entries from around the world.
The school’s 2026 theme, #Together, paired naturally with the Picaboo Yearbooks “All Hands Together” design. The book celebrates the quiet victories that mean the most: a first connection, a shared laugh, a student finding their voice. Many families told the school this was the first time their child had ever been included in a yearbook. Adviser Katie describes it as “a reflection of unity, love, and lives being changed... #Together!”
Congratulations to the yearbook team at The Villages Charter School Autism Center, our 1st Place winner!
St. Joseph School Pinole
2026 2nd Place - Best Picaboo Original - Elementary School
St. Joseph School Pinole took a Picaboo Yearbooks theme and made it their own, creating a summary of the school year the whole community is proud of. Congratulations to the yearbook team at St. Joseph School Pinole on their 2nd Place finish!
Chesterbrook Academy
2026 3rd Place - Best Picaboo Original - Elementary School
Chesterbrook Academy’s Lion’s Pride showcases the whole graduating class. Every 5th grader designs a cover: one becomes THE cover, and the rest appear throughout the book. Students even designed memojis of each teacher for the “What I Love About CBA” spread. Congratulations to the yearbook team at Chesterbrook Academy on their 3rd Place finish!
2nd & 3rd Place - Best Pages or Spread
High School
2nd Place: Elkhart ISD. Every staffer picked the pages they cared about most and designed them around the theme “Let Your Light Shine,” celebrating the unique light each student brings to campus.
3rd Place: Providence Classical Christian Academy. The Homecoming spread (pages 100–101) captures the one night when everything just clicks, with nothing staged and nothing forced.
Middle School
2nd Place: Valley Life Charter School. Student and staff interviews run throughout this spread, so it shows how the 15th-anniversary year felt as well as what happened.
3rd Place: The Academic Orchard. “Meet Our Chickens!” introduces the school’s student-hatched flock, the coop the woodworking class restored, and each hen’s very own personality.
Elementary School
2nd Place: Hubbard Woods Elementary. An Instagram-inspired middle spread full of moments from the school’s social media. Students kept asking each other, “Did you see the Instagram post?!”
3rd Place: Severn School. A look back at a year when the whole school shared one campus, and the excitement of moving into the new Lower School building.
Other Group/School
2nd Place: Providence Classical Christian School. A senior narrowed more than 1,000 photos from the class Grand Tour (pages 96–97) down to one spread, with layered stamps that match where each photo was taken.
3rd Place: Team Del Sol. A synchronized skating spread that uses sequenced action shots and a symmetrical layout to mirror the team’s precision on the ice.
2nd & 3rd Place - Best Cover
High School
2nd Place: Notre Dame Academy. The Irish Wolfhound mascot leads a theme with paw prints throughout, showing where students “left their mark” in every part of school life.
3rd Place: Charles Finney. A magazine-style cover with a student dressed as the Falcon mascot as the cover star, plus headlines previewing the year inside.
Middle School
2nd Place: Newport Intermediate School. Styled like a middle-grade graphic novel “diary,” with comic-line art and bold primary colors. It is a book students would actually want to carry in their backpacks.
3rd Place: Norwell Middle School. An 8th grader illustrated the Picaboo Yearbooks Connected theme with graffiti and a DNA double helix, a symbol of the connections that help students grow.
Elementary School
2nd Place: Sandusky Elementary. A vintage suitcase covered in travel stickers, with each sticker standing for a student’s own path.
3rd Place: St. Benedict Academy. A joyful illustration of the school-year scripture theme that wraps all the way around from the front cover to the back.
Other Group/School
2nd Place: Benhaven School. A theme celebrating every student as “the key to the world” and the missing piece of the puzzle.
3rd Place: Washington School for the Deaf. A nostalgic cover celebrating 140 years of the school, with the mascot framed in its true, original design.
2nd Place Winners - Best Overall Yearbook
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Providence Classical Christian Academy
High School. “Race To Remember” reminds students to slow down in a fast-moving world and make their year one worth remembering. The cover shows the student body as cars in one race, many different members heading for the same finish line together.
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Valley Life Charter School
Middle School. For its 15th anniversary, Valley Life saddled up with “Saddle Up, Let’s Lead” because, as the staff put it, this is not their first rodeo. Leather textures, rope details and rustic frames bring the western theme to life, along with the school’s focus on leadership.
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Sandusky Elementary
Elementary School. “Adventure Awaits” turns the year into a vintage journey. The cover looks like a well-traveled suitcase covered in destination stickers, and the pages inside work like an old photo album, with passport stamps marking every adventure.
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Flower Mound High School Band
Other Group/School. The band’s show, multiFACEted, was inspired by Picasso’s line art, so the memory book became an art museum, complete with exhibit labels and framed graphics. On the cover, Picasso-style portraits drawn by a parent represent every role in the 400-member band.
3rd place winners - best overall yearbook design
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Hamburg School District
High School. The Lion went “Roaring Back to the Good Times” with disco balls, dance floors and neon color on every page. A Scodix finish on the cover’s disco ball catches the light just like the real thing.
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Silver Spring International Middle School
Middle School. A sketchbook-style farewell to a school building that has stood for nearly 100 years, full of student doodles, stickers and the year’s best inside jokes.
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Murphy Ranch Elementary
Elementary School. “Saddle Up for Success” fills the book with Mustang pride, from the horseshoe on the cover to the western headlines on every spread.
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Sonlight Christian Enrichment Classes
Other Group/School. A passport to the year, built in scrapbook style for a co-op community that learns, travels and grows together.
Meet the Picaboo Yearbook Judging Panel
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![Close-up of a woman with brown hair smiling, wearing a black and white patterned sleeveless top, a pearl necklace, and earrings, against a blue background.]()
Tori Wolsky
General Manager
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![A woman with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a big smile, wearing a black jacket and a red shirt, against a blue background.]()
Lori Polkinghorn
Marketing Manager
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![Close-up of a smiling woman with blonde hair wearing a colorful floral dress against a blue background.]()
Ashley Rowton
National Sales Manager
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![Smiling woman with blonde hair wearing a black and white patterned dress and turquoise bead necklaces against a blue background.]()
Jaima Finn
Sales Representative
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![A close-up of a smiling man with a bald head, gray beard, and mustache. He is wearing a blue plaid shirt and a black bracelet, giving a thumbs-up gesture against a solid blue background.]()
Rene Ortiz
Description goes here
