SCHOOL PAPER CATEGORY - LAYING-OUT AND PAGE DESIGN 

REGIONAL SCHOOLS PRESS CONFERENCE 2019 

ILOCOS REGION 
 
General Comments and Suggestions:

1. School papers qualified for the National School Press Conference (NSPC) are advised to
edit their school papers according to the comments and suggestions below.
2. Most of the school paper entries for NSPC are composed of 20 pages. While not all
schools are financially capable of publishing 20 pages, a suggestion of having different
versions for publishing and for contest is highly recommended. (e.g. 12-16 pages for
publishing and 20 pages for contest purposes only).
3. School papers should prioritize putting more stories in a page rather than investing page
space for cliches, massive infographics, oversized pictures and other irrelevant elements
that does not benefit the readers nor increase the content quality of the publication.
4. Please properly cite the pictures, illustrations and article parts that were
lifted from the internet. ​Using incomplete Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or
webpage link is a serious ground for disqualification. Links should always be complete to
make a citation valid. (e.g. avoid using ​www.google.com​ but instead use:
www.samplewebsite.com/2017/images/samplephoto.jpg​)
5. Balance of pictures/graphics and content elements are encouraged to maintain the
expected standards for publication.
6. Avoid overdecoration of pages or use of excessive, unreadable, and unrecognizable
typefaces and elements that are in no purpose to support the content.
7. Avoid stretched and warped treatment of photos. Alteration of the photo’s subject is both
unethical and visually incompetent.
8. Color usage should only involve 2-3 shades at maximum (excluding photographs). Using
plenty of colors for page design are covering the attention allotted for the content. More
so, color with more than 2-3 shades will look visually unprofessional. Unless special
instances such as “message delivery” that might require the use of more.
9. Hierarchy of headlines is encouraged to properly distinguish amount of relevance per
article in every page.
10. Make sure all the photos used in news, feature, science and sports section should contain
caption and proper photo credit.
11. Avoid using oversized folios, page guides and navigational elements. Jump stories should
have accurate navigational address to avoid misdirection of readers.

Charles T. Maquiling 
Judge, Laying-out and Page Design 
School Paper Category