The Warbler staff caught word of the College Media Advisers’ yearbook design awards Tuesday evening, and found they had won three awards within their division.

“I wouldn’t say it was a complete shock; it was our goal all year,” said Christine Godbey, a 2010 graduate and the editor of the 2010 Warbler, “Colorize.”

The book received first place for cover design, second place for division page, and honorable mention for sports spread.

“We set the bar pretty high for ourselves, we even talked about it a lot in our meetings, we knew this would be the year and the book,” Godbey said. “The hard work paid off and the bar has been set even higher for this year.

The book was Eastern’s first to be in full color; however, the cover was white with a band of horizontal color.

“We took a risk with the white cover because it’s out of the norm,” Godbey said. “It was simple yet really gave a preview of what was to come within the book.”

Brittney Ferris, a senior journalism major, along with Godbey, made a lot of the major design decisions; however the entire staff collaborated on the design.

“It was well thought out and really gave us the upper hand,” Godbey said.

The page layout, which won second place, was the athletics divider, page 158 and the honorable mention was given to the swim team layout on page page 169.

“Last year’s book was really modern with a twist,” Ferris said. “The inside pages weren’t as sleek as the cover, but it still had the white with the pop of color throughout. And we went with using the huge feature photos to show our great photography.”

Ferris said the designing of this year’s book began in the spring and they are expecting great things for the new yearbook as well.

“Winning the award for last year’s book just puts us in a better position and lets us know we are going in the right direction to win more awards,” Ferris said.

Kristin Jording, a junior journalism major and this year’s Warbler editor, said the award sets the bar high and gives this year’s staff motivation.

“We expect to do well and have a great book every year, better than the year before,” Jording said. “Even after I leave I still want them to do even better.”

This year’s yearbook theme is “Capture.”

“We are going to keep our style smooth, sleek and clean because that is what is in right now,” Jording said.

Last year the guides were not very strict because it was a fun design, Jording said. However, with the new book, the color palate and guides are being used more often.

The book has also been flipped from a vertical book to a horizontal book to better display the photography.

“As much as last year’s book was clean and modern, I think, this year’s book is even more so,” Ferris said.

Kayleigh Zyskowski can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].