Writing Yearbook Captions That Will Captivate

THE ABCD’S OF CAPTION WRITING

The trick of writing strong captions is that they don’t just need to provide the reader with the story of what’s happening in a photo right then. They also need to provide details that will stand the test of time when the yearbook is revisited years later. Writers can accomplish this by using the ABCD method for caption writing, which outlines the four essential elements to a caption, in the following order:

AT T ENT I ON G E T T E R

This is a mini-headline that directly links the photo and the caption.

BAS I C I N F O

The first sentence, written in present tense, explains what is happening in the photo. This is the who, what, where and when.

COMP L IMENTARY I N F O

An additional sentence, written in past tense, gives the reader some additional details that aren’t readily apparent in the photo.

D I R E CT QUOT E

End with a quote from someone who appears in the photo, discussing an interesting aspect of the events that are happening. Sometimes this can be swapped with an additional sentence of complementary information, and it works fine.

Learn more about the ABCD method of caption writing and how you can start putting it to use by watching the tutorial video “A Simple Approach to Great Captions” by former award-winning adviser Renee Burke, MJE, from William R. Boone High School in Orlando, Florida. CAPTION WRITING

THE ABCD’S OF

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