KINGSTON — Kingston High School’s 2010-11 yearbook, “The Voyage,” is one of the best in the nation.

The yearbook and its staff won a gold medal from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association at Columbia University in New York. The awards were announced last week.

Lisa Gray-Fritz is the yearbook adviser at Kingston High. Her 2010-11 editors were Angela Galloway and Paulyna Garcia, co-editors in chief; Garrick Horton, copy editor; Stephanie Fyfe, Grad Ad editor; Michael Evans, assistant ad editor; Brian Bills, mugs editor; and Sarah Mills, photo editor.

Gray-Fritz has been the only yearbook adviser these students have known since seventh grade. She moved from the middle school to the high school when it was built.

Every year, more than 1,000 CSPA-member magazines, newspapers, yearbooks and online publications are judged on art and graphics, concept, content, design, editing, photography,  and writing. A panel of judges assemble at Columbia University; they are experienced former advisers to student media, professional journalists who understand student media, and/or professionals such as photographers or online specialists with particular expertise needed for the judging exercise.

The 2010-11 yearbook, themed “Beyond Words,” was judged to be in the top 5 percent of all entries. All told, 575 copies of the 208-page book were printed.

“It was such a rewarding feeling knowing that all our hard work and dedication to this yearbook paid off more than it already had,” Co-Editor in Chief Paulyna Garcia said. “Now I am even (more proud) of being a part of the creation of this book.”

Staff member Brooke Beltico added, “A lot of blood, sweat, tears and chocolate milk went into that book. The group we had was a lot of fun and had great ideas.”

Last summer, Gray-Fritz and six of the yearbook staff members began planning the book at a two-night, three-day yearbook camp held at the University of Puget Sound. The camp consisted of a variety of classes on various aspects of yearbook production, including photography to layout with Adobe InDesign.

During the three days, students worked together with their school to create a display board to then present to judges on the final night.

Kingston High School is known for producing award-winning books. In 2009, the yearbook, themed “In Contrast,” book won Best of Show from the Washington Journalism Education Association and Best Overall Packaging from Sound Yearbooks Camp. The 2010 book, themed “Drawn In,” won a silver medal from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and Best Overall Package from Sound Yearbooks Camp. In June, the students working on the 2011-12 Voyage came away from camp with the “Best Visual Theme” award.

“The hard work happens when Mrs. Gray-Fritz and her editors set standards for the book, including designs, copy writing and photography,” said Jennifer Greggerson, Herff Jones publishing company rep for Kingston High School. “I help make sure that they are aware of deadlines and obligations that the plant requires to print a high-quality book.”

Producing “Beyond Words” wasn’t easy. At the beginning of the school year, the sixth-period yearbook class had no computer access for six weeks.

“The computer issues were unbelievable,” copy editor Garrick Horton said. “I don’t think we ever fully recovered from that six-week delay. It seemed like we were always rushing to meet a deadline.”

The staff members were inspired by the fact that for most of them it was their fourth year in yearbook and that it would be their last year at Kingston.

“We went in with the theme ‘A New Angle’ and came out with ‘Beyond Words’,” Galloway said. “In the past, our books have been about our school and establishing our name. But now that we have done that, we wanted the book to be about the inner workings of the school. About the students and faculty that are Kingston High School.”