200+ Coverage Ideas for 2021

This unprecedented school year is going to be filled with new coverage ideas we have never even thought of before. There also are hundreds of amazing coverage possibilities that are always there, but you may not have had room to get them in the book. This is the year.

Remember the 2021 coverage mindset is not what we will not be able to cover, but all the new, historic and exciting coverage ideas we can get in the book this year. You may even find yourself needing to ADD pages. Make 2021 the year of new, rich, deep, historic coverage.

Cover the year as it happens

The key to staying on top of new story possibilities is recording things AS THEY HAPPEN. Assign staffers to keep daily timelines of everything they observe going on – news, sports, politics, feelings, entertainment, etc. – then write a daily journal entry about what happened that day and how they feel about it. These will generate the most personal, timely and relevant stories for your student body.

I strongly recommend you read my blog, Instead of This, TRY THIS – Planning Your 2021 Coverage, which gives over 75 coverage ideas you can swap out in traditional sections or chronological coverage. Even though spring and summer are behind us now, which I covered in that article, it’s not too late to cover these topics if you can crowdsource photos.

To get an idea of some interesting topics, I did what I recommend all yearbook staffs do – I looked through other yearbooks for inspiration. If you are struggling for new ideas, here are 200+ evergreen ideas that six great yearbook staffs did in 2020. Think about how you can adapt these to fit your school and have your best coverage year ever.

Evergreen Topics

2020 Hauberk, Shawnee Mission East High School, Prairie Village, Kansas

1. Summer jobs – what was different this summer?
2. Vacations and staycations – where did you go or not go this summer?
3. Welcoming new students to the school in the fall (Link Crew)
4. Students who know sign language
5. Students who have their own ‘zines
6. Lifelong friendships
7. CTE programs at your school
8. Teachers’ classrooms and what’s found there with no students vs. with students
9. Podcasts – Who has one? Who listens to what? Are they taught in your journalism classes?
10. Favorite things coaches/teachers say
11. What do you do after Friday Night Games?
12. Projects at school using sticky notes
13. Canned food drives
14. Robotics
15. Goals for the season
16. Dictionary/Glossary for a sport or class
17. Art – students as artists and their specific mediums (painting, drawing, ceramics, etc.)
18. Chalk art
19. TikTok – will it go or stay? Why you love/hate it? TikTok famous
20. Global Warming – student involvement, interest and opinions
21. Self-Care – what do students and teachers do for self-care?
22. Playlists – what are you listening to?
23. Vaping in decline
24. Prescription and non-prescription drug use
25. Stereotypes of the school
26. Technology trends
27. Masks
28. Bitmojis
29. Fears
30. Bad luck stories
31. Stress and pressure
32. Coffee
33. Room decor
34. The sophomore slump
35. Hair – styles, color, etc.
36. What are you working on?
37. Minecraft comeback
38. Sunglasses
39. Jobs you quit
40. Disposable cameras and mini Polaroids
41. Fishing and Hunting

2020 Wildcat, Har-Ber High School, Springdale, Arkansas

1. What’s in your … car, backpack, lanyard, car mirror, amazon cart, pocket, trunk, keychain, junk drawer, photo album, DMs, cup, etc.
2. Under one roof – parents, siblings, spouses that are a part of the Wildcat family, attending school with a sibling
3. Earbuds
4. Water bottles
5. Opposing viewpoints and politics
6. Glossary – student and school vocabulary (i.e. “spill the tea” “and I oop”)
7. If you could be paid to do what you love, what would you do and why?
8. What do you spend your money on?
9. What we love about our hometown
10. Your gaming community
11. The role of faith in your life and faith-based clubs
12. Serving your community – how and why do you serve?
13. What’s in your sports bag?
14. Playlists for sports travel road trips
15. Competing against yourself, team vs. individual sports
16. Virtual meetings with coaches
17. What students create
18. Hands on learning and inventions
19. Words of advice (about a specific topic)
20. Match the student with their socks
21. Screen lock photos on your phone – why did you pick them and what do they say about you?
22. Backpacks – how much does yours weigh? What’s in it?
23. Streaming services – what’s your go to streaming service? (Netflix, Disney +, Apple TV, Hulu, YouTube)
24. Match the Spotify playlist to the person
25. What classes made coming to school worth it?
26. What classes were best adapted to distance learning?
27. What is your favorite fast food (a survey)?
28. National Merit finalists
29. High school to-do lists – what did you have to accomplish before high school was over?
30. Teachers reflect on how not having a classroom affected their daily routine
31. Teachers who have been at the school since day one (younger schools)/teachers who have been at the school the longest

2020 Lair Shawnee Mission Northwest High School, Shawnee, Kansas

1. Top apps
2. Born colorblind
3. Soccer – favorite weather to play in
4. Nicknames
5. How “Cougar” are you? (question chart – follow the path to your final determination: Do you even go here/You’re Cougar enough/Super Cougar)
6. Impulses – do the unexpected
7. Two sides to technology – which side are you on?
8. Plastic pollution – are you contributing?
9. I don’t want to grow up – students question the future
10. Student battling cancer
11. Anxiety – put yourself in other’s shoes
12. Lockdown drills
13. Music – favorite music genre, top songs of the year, playlists
14. Art – expressing yourself
15. The cost of playing sports
16. Out of the ordinary jobs
17. Profile on the sports announcer
18. Pandemic timeline – what happened in your community?
19. Parents and children of teachers who are on the pandemic front lines
20. Staying positive
21. Highlights of athletes’ careers
22. Teachers who attended your school
23. Where and when are you most productive?
24. What freshman stereotype do you hate the most and why?
25. Who do you look forward to seeing most every day?
26. If you could switch lives with one of your friends, who would it be and why?
27. What has been the best part of high school so far and why?
28. Early bird or night owl?
29. Who makes the best pizza?
30. What is your favorite thing about yourself?
31. What world record do you think you could break?
32. Who was your first celebrity crush? Are you still crushing on them?
33. What is the grossest food combination you have ever tried?
34. If you could live forever, would you?
35. Who is your underclassman crush?
36. What is one thing you wish you knew before you started high school?
37. Who or what has had the most influence on you in high school?

2020 The Lion McKinney High School, McKinney, Texas

1. Painting parking spots
2. Fixing up your own car
3. Spirit posters
4. ­Places students gather after games
5. Volunteering with Habitat for Humanity
6. Students(s) who earned full-ride scholarships
7. Voting for the first time
8. The power of notes
9. Popeye’s vs. Chick-fil-A (food wars)
10. Seniors share photos of how they have changed in high school
11. Decals on your laptop
12. AirPod cases
13. Senior slang
14. What do you want to be remembered for?
15. What do you need the most?
16. What is your sleep schedule?
17. AP vs. Dual Credit
18. What do you keep in the back of your car?
19. Show off your keychain/lanyard
20. How do you get your money?
21. Your perfect concert lineup
22. Your favorite viral songs
23. Your Mario Kart character
24. How much time do you spend on your phone?
25. Last photo on your camera roll
26. Favorite Netflix binge
27. What’s in the teachers’ workroom fridge?

2020 Aerie Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida

1. Taking College Tours
2. School Policy Changes
3. What’s in your backpack? (freshmen, sophomore, junior, senior)
4. College Application process
5. Favorite video games/platforms
6. Mental health issues (anxiety, ADHS, Depression)
7. What do you binge?
8. Favorite foods, places to eat
9. LBGTQ+
10. Student Athletes commit to college
11. ­Holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc. – each can be its own spread)
12. Gingerbread house building in culinary
13. Local holiday parade
14. Preparing for midterms/finals
15. Winter Break – what did you do?
16. Conspiracy theories
17. Ride sharing services
18. A day of service
19. A day of memory
20. College fair
21. Celebrating honor roll students
22. Fight against cancer
23. Twins
24. Getting your wisdom teeth out
25. Favorite senior moment/favorite underclass moment
26. Most popular first name at your school “All About Alex”
27. Best Memes
28. Squads – people you hang out with, favorite memories and activities together
29. New construction
30. Screen/Phone addiction
31. Junior stress over college
32. How have you volunteered this year?
33. New stores and restaurants in your town
34. Which assistant principal are you?
35. Coaches’ favorite moments of the year

2020 Arena Legacy High School, Mansfield, Texas

1. Student vacations during the year
2. Month-by-month news
3. Decade review
4. Things you didn’t know about Legacy
5. Random things found in classrooms
6. What happens after school hours?
7. After school tutoring
8. Balancing school and work
9. What happens at lunch?
10. What’s on the school menu?
11. Pets
12. Routines – what do students do every day at the same time?
13. Phones and their significance
14. What’s your style?
15. The art of makeup
16. Fundraising
17. Practice/Practice Essentials
18. Managers and trainers
19. Gameday traditions
20. What happens at halftime
21. Rivalries
22. Parent contributions to teams
23. PTA contributions
24. Team moms
25. Student Art
26. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt
27. Volunteering at local schools
28. 20 interesting people
29. Planning for college
30. Senior projects
31. Prices of items this year
32. Top 20
33. Private vs. public school
34. What’s your side hustle?
35. Getting extra credit
36. Early graduators
37. Studying strategies
38. Volunteering at church
39. First car
40. Favorite things
41. Things you must have
42. Two truths and a lie
43. Beekeeping
44. Teachers who were students at the school

You know your school and community better than anyone. You and your staff can brainstorm 200 more great coverage ideas for 2021 that need to be part of your book. Just get started!