As a new tradition initiated in the 2021-2022 school year, Treering’s custom pages contest gave parents an opportunity to share the designs they create for their children’s yearbooks. After narrowing nearly 500 submissions down to just 10, we took the vote to Treering’s official Facebook and Instagram pages. The finalists earned thumbs up and hearts, respectively, while providing custom page ideas and inspiration to other parents. All ten finalists earned $50 from Amazon. The grand prize winner earned an additional $500 Amazon gift card.
On behalf of the judges and marketing department, we are thankful for each submission.
Grand Prize Winner: Lisa Ward From Keene, TX
It all began when her children asked for their extended family, who live across the US, to be in their yearbook. “We had a lot of fun reaching out to family to put together these pages,” Ward said. “From California to North Carolina, Michigan to Texas, we like the reminder that family is forever!”
Why We Loved It
The core value of Treering’s custom pages is for each family to make their child’s book their own. Ward did that by involving her family. The coordination itself is award-worthy, not to mention the clever use of objects to center their “family forever” message with a heart.
Second Place Winner: Mary Frazee From Galt, CA
Frazee created a “Road Map” for her daughter’s sixth-grade yearbook. “The pages feature all the fun things she learned and enjoyed along the way,” she said. “I wanted to capture how much she has grown, and feature her first day of school photos for each year.”
Why We Loved It
This is how you culminate an elementary school journey! The path from first through sixth grade showed all of Hailey’s trips, achievements, and activities, as well as her teachers’ names (the teachers on the judging panel felt seen). Using flowers to denote growth along the way, Frazee’s design gives us a glimmer of the support and love in her home.
Third Place Winner: Sokunthea Mau From San Jose, CA
Mau wrote this to accompany her submission:
The media portrays high school as the peak of an American teenager’s life. Can you blame them? The extravagant dresses at prom, the freedom teenagers have, the cap toss at graduation… As I went into my junior year of high school, I walked in with the mindset of every other try-hard Bay Area student: don’t mess it up. Junior year is coveted as being the most stressful time for a high schooler, due to the weight college admission officers put on this year. I overloaded myself with extracurriculars and difficult classes disregarding if I could manage everything all at once; in turn, my mental health plummeted and I faced burnout numerous times.
In spite of my struggles, I found myself crawling back to my comfort movies. The iconic opening scene in the Lizzie Mcguire Movie as she dances in her room replays in my head. What was it in these movies that made high school so appealing? The memories.
As I made this spread, I tried to envision myself as a stereotypical teenager gluing cutouts of my best friends on my page and listening to radio pop songs. I wanted to show what I wanted to reflect on when I remind myself of junior year, not the tests I failed or the classes I cried about, but the memories that kept me going. Like every movie coming to its resolution, my junior year has begun to tie up its loose ends, preparing for the credits and the uplifting background music.
Why We Loved It
As if Mau’s verbal story wasn’t enough, the application of her strategy won us. (Full disclosure: many of the judges lived through the days when you physically cut out and glued photos for yearbook pages.) Using her custom pages as a catalyst to bring joy back into her junior year, she also brought that positivity into ours.
“I love the many layers this spread has to offer,” one judge said, “The texture of the fabric across the page adds even more depth into the junior year through the eyes of Mau. These little touches, I think, round this spread out and complete it.”
Within her two pages, she told her story her way.
Meredith Lanning From Katy, TX
Lanning used her son Zach’s pages to add additional band coverage to his yearbook “from marching season, competition show, dances, and best of all the Spring trip to Hawaii,” she said. (This is just one of the eight she created.)
Why We Loved It
Lanning’s behind-the-scenes look at her son’s marching band shows the camaraderie and effort that goes into producing halftime shows. She anchored the spread with a large photo (we have a thing for variety) and repeated the white border to bring order. While the headline says, “One more time,” we know they will relive these moments for years to come.
Finalist: Adriana Moya From Rahway, NJ
Nostalgia is always an emotion inducer. Moya set out to create a comprehensive look at her daughter’s years from pre-K through 6th grade. “She has tried so many things that I wanted to remind her that she could choose any career that she wants,” she said.
Why We Loved It
First of all, kudos to Ms. Moya for keeping the frame year after year. “That in itself is worthy of an award,” one judge said. “I love the timeline,” said another. The parents on the panel enjoyed seeing Alexandra grow, and the designers called out the consistent use of the caption block. It’s clean and emotive.
Finalist: Jenny Errante From Phoenix, AZ
Errantes two daughters perform in their home state and beyond. She created a set of custom pages for each to call out their unique talents (for the sake of the contest, we chose older sister Evie’s). “Both the colors and smokey overlay are representative of a stage atmosphere with a spotlight,” Errante said.
Why We Loved It
From color grading on the main image and the shaded Evie across the photo to the action shots within the gilded frames, this made our designers giddy with detail. “I love the background,” one judge said. Each image supported the “spotlight” concept and Errante’s daughter’s love for the arts. (We’re thinking creativity runs in the family.)
Finalist: Brooke Turner From Justin, Texas
Because her daughter loves bright colors, Turner created this kindergarten highlight spread with that in mind.
Why We Loved It
One of our judges said, “It’s a kindergarten girl’s dream.” Turner’s use of color and modification of Treering’s About Me templates demonstrate an understanding of design theory. She kept to a softer palette and used the watercolor texture from a variety of Treering’s themes to create this spread.
Finalist: Elyce Shorb From San Diego, CA
As a long-time Treering parent (these are her seventh set of custom pages), Shorb said custom pages “help my daughters share with their peers many activities and events that may otherwise have gone unnoticed.” She uses them to highlight the twins’ “personal highlights that showcase their extracurricular activities each year that include birthday celebrations, sports, Halloween costumes, field trips, school dances, and even family vacations.”
Why We Loved Them
Initially, we did a double take. Of all the parents who submitted multiple spreads, we decided to place both in the finals because Shorb honored her twin daughters with their individual interests and achievements using the same layout. And when we took a second look, we noticed the minor changes in the graphics: orange vs. pink heart, green vs. blue text overlay, etc.
“These two spreads remind me of what a girl at their age might have hanging up on their bedroom wall, photos of memories pinned up with pushpins or taped around the outer edge of a mirror,” a judge said. “It brought a little nostalgia to my mind.”
Finalist: Bhavika Lodhia From Aliso Viejo, CA
“We wanted to express his creativity, show off his dancing, acting, and athletic skills, and display his kindness and love towards families, friends and animals,” said Lodhia.
Why We Loved It
Using a combination of Treering memories and photos, Lodhia captured a moment in time by giving her son literal snapshots into his personal history and interests. We’re hoping Lodhia re-creates the dog pic for comparison in a few years.
Finalist: Ashley Diamond From Moses Lake, WA
First grade was a pivotal year for Ollie. Diamond said, “He broke out of his shell and made some wonderful friends and even joined a few sports teams.”
Why We Loved It
As you saw from our design contest, scrapbook-style design is trending. We love the frames, and while the rainbow ombre could get out of hand, Diamond balanced it with the film strip and solid color frames. This is truly a collection of highlights in Ollie’s year.
