Write a news release about an upcoming event. News releases are written by PR folks and sent to reporters or calendar editors to promote newsworthy events for the organization. You may write one on a campus event or community happening.
It should be in present or future tense, not in the past tense, because it would then be old news. You’re not writing the story to go in the media; you are trying to persuade a reporter to follow up.
Let’s talk about the components of the news release:
On letterhead
Contact information on the right – who is going to answer questions from the press
For Immediate Release and the date on the left
Headline – use a verb – Subhead if desired. Be clever
Dateline – City and state where it’s occurring
First sentence is the lead – be creative – not just the facts. Make the reader want to continue reading.
Include all the WWWWWH information – use AP or Associated Press Style – that’s how my release is written and that’s how the newspaper if written. It gives you direction on how to write dates, times, locations, titles, etc.
Include a quote – only use 1st person – I and We — if it’s in a quote
Write the release in 3rd person – don’t use “you” (second person).
Write the release in the inverted pyramid style – put the least important facts last.
Have contact information or a call-to-action at the end.
Always have a boilerplate paragraph, following the three pound signs. This paragraph gives standard information about the organization. If your organization doesn’t have one, write one.