Yearbook Honors Celebrate Kearney, Missouri Student Journalists |
KHS yearbook earns All-Missouri recognition with standout student journalism |
Yearbook honors are giving Kearney, Missouri another reason to celebrate its students this fall.
The Kearney High School 2025–2026 yearbook earned the highest All-Missouri rating in its Missouri Interscholastic Journalism Association evaluation.
Its overall score was 494 out of 500, putting a number behind work that families may know mainly as the finished book.
The recognition was announced Oct. 1 and is a recent school achievement to celebrate during our Oct. 12–18 community week.
This award concerns last school year’s completed yearbook, rather than a new book being released this month. |
 Illustrative design-work photo; not a KHS student or classroom. Photo by Jonathan Borba on Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/@jonathanborba |
Three parts of the evaluation were especially strong: writing and editing, design, and photography each received perfect scores.
Theme, concept and services earned 99 out of 100, while coverage received 95 out of 100.
Together, those results recognize the words, visual choices and reporting that turn a collection of school memories into a readable publication.
They also show that the staff’s achievement reached across several skills rather than resting on one successful photograph or page.
A yearbook has to make room for the people and activities that define a school year while helping readers follow the story from page to page.
That combination gives the evaluation useful meaning beyond the overall total. |
 Illustrative collaboration photo; not the KHS yearbook staff. Photo by Andrew Neel on Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/@andrew |
The result marks KHS’s first All-Missouri yearbook rating since 2021–2022.
Jackie Uptegrove, the high school’s publications and broadcasting teacher, advises the student staff.
For families paging through the 2025–2026 book, the award is a chance to look again at the reporting and design behind familiar faces.
For younger students interested in writing, photography or creative work, it offers a local example of those interests coming together in student journalism.
The recognition belongs to the students who produced that edition, even as another school year is underway.
Congratulate the yearbook team, tell us which school memories deserve a page, and share this achievement with a Bulldog family.
Source: Kearney School District, “KHS Yearbook Earns All-Missouri Honors,” Oct. 1, 2026. |
4 Comments
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The coverage score interests me most. A good yearbook should make room for students outside the biggest clubs too.
I would love to see a few of the award-winning pages if the school shares them.
Perfect photography and design scores deserve some attention alongside the sports wins.
494 out of 500 is impressive. Congratulations to the students and Ms. Uptegrove.