Press Release

Press releases should be written in AP Style, as this is the most-used journalism writing style in the US.

Press Release contents

Press releases must contain the following items:

• IMBARGO INFORMATION: A press release will lead with either, in bold, capitalized letters, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, or FOR RELEASE ON (DATE). This should be placed in the upper left-hand corner.
• The SNAFU Con logo, centered.
• A headline describing the gist of the press releases' contents, in bold and also centered.
• Place (Usually where the Con is being held that year) and the date of the release. The place should be in allcaps and italicized, and the date should be italicized and use proper capitalization technique. Following this, an em dash.
• Directly after the place and date, a strong leading sentence and paragraph.
• A "nut 'graph," which explains the purpose of the press release clearly.
• A small paragraph explaining the dates, times, and locations of the Con for that year.
• "For more information about SNAFU Con, visit www.snafucon.com or e-mail [email protected]
• Either ### or ENDS, bolded and centered, to indicate the end of the information that should be made available to the public. ### is more standard.

Press releases can also contain:

• A sub-heading elucidating on the header beneath the headline, in regular, non-bold and non-italicized text.
• A center paragraph enhancing upon the topic at hand, if there is more information that the press should know, beneath the nut 'graph.
• Beneath ### or ENDS, information on how to apply for press credentials.
• Beneath ### or ENDS, the contact information of the press liaison who wrote the press release.

Example

The following is an example of a properly-formatted press release.

Sending out releases

When sending out a paper copy of a press release, print in color so that the SNAFU Con logo pops out.

When sending out an e-mail version of the press release, include the contents of the press release in the body of the e-mail, properly formatted, and include an attached .pdf version. E-mail versions should be done in a "media blast," where one e-mails the press release to multiple press contacts at once.