Part 1: Write a 250- to 300-word press release. Ideally, you’ll cover something

Part 1: Write a 250- to 300-word press release. Ideally, you’ll cover something you want others to know about, something that could use a little publicity. That might be a campus club, an organization, an upcoming event, a local shop or restaurant, maybe the place you work, or even a course or academic department other students might want to know about. It can be a profit or a nonprofit entity, but it must be a real thing with a real person you can interview about it. This person can be a friend, family member, professor, co-worker, store owner, as long as it’s someone who represents this thing and who you can easily reach (i.e., probably not a Rutgers vice-president). Think small, local, and accessible.If in doubt, run it by me.
The key is to write it as if you are this group’s PR person, who’s getting paid to tell the world about it. Imagine your release will appear in PRNewswire or Rutgers Today.
You must interview at least one person who represents this campus club, shop, nonprofit, etc. You will need two quotations total: so, two quotes from one person representing the organization or company; or, one quote from that representative and a second quote from a second person, perhaps a member of the campus club or patron of a restaurant.
Remember: the purpose of a press release is to convince the press–that is, reporters at a news site–to pick up the story and spread the news. You, as the PR person, know they’ll need to verify your statements, so make sure they’re accurate and truthful. And don’t turn them off with exaggerations or adjectives like incredible, amazing, or the greatest. The more over-the-top you sound, the less the reporters will believe you. (See “The No. 2 Problem: Lack of Objectivity,” textbook p. 424 12th ed; p. 465 13th ed)
Write this press release as you would a news story: It should have a compelling headline, a subhead that adds to rather than repeats the headline, a dateline, and a lead that emphasizes what is new or different. It must use AP style, an inverted pyramid structure (most important news at the top). Be sure to read “Checklist for PR Practitioners” (p. 427 12th ed; p. 465 13th ed).
Your press release must list a media contact (that’s you!) at the top, and an About section at the bottom.
Note: Word count doesn’t include the headline or subhead, but it does include the About section.  
For the end, center three hashtags:   ###  
The press release should follow this format:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (or EMBARGOED UNTIL TK DATE)
HEADLINE (all CAPS, centered)
Subhead (upper and lowercase, centered)
Contact: Name of PR Person (that’s you), 732-123-1234 (you can use this fake number)
CITY IN ALL CAPS, Abbreviation for the state (if it’s not a major city), date (an abbreviated month, day as a numeral, year), followed by a dash (a dash is two hyphens, not one). Start the body of the release on the same line as the dateline. Here’s an example of a dateline leading right into the first line of the body of the release: 
PRINCETON, N.J., Nov. 9, 2023  — Global temperatures set a new 12-month record, exceeding 1.3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels from November 2022 through October 2023, according to a new analysis of international data released today by Climate Central. This marks the hottest year-long period in recorded history.
Body of the release.
–The lead should emphasize what’s new or different, and develop the head and subhead without repeating them. If the release is about an upcoming event, the lead should include the what, when, and where. 
–The body of the release must answer the 5Ws: who, what, where, when, why, and how. It should stick to AP style and the inverted pyramid structure. Remember that the point is to convince journalists to cover the story. 
–Keep a neutral tone, just as you did for your news story. Make clear what is new and different about your event, organization, club, or shop, but don’t exaggerate or use superlatives like “incredible” or “amazing.” Avoid exclamation points. (Save them for your social media post!) 
–Your must include at least two properly formatted quotations–ideally, one in the second or third paragraph–preferably with mid-quote or end-quote attributions. 
–At this point in the semester, your punctuation and grammar should be impeccable. 😉 That means commas and periods go to the LEFT of quotation marks.
“About” section: Two or three sentences at the end of the story, including the basics about the club, organization, or company: the full proper name, where it’s based, when it was founded and by whom, and its basic goal or product line. If it’s a campus club, when does it meet? If it’s a shop, who owns it and for how long? This is info that can be attached to any press release from that organization regardless of the specific news. Check out “About” sections in other press releases. 
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Part 2: Write a social media post for the same event, orgranization, or product you wrote about in your press release. But this time, the purpose of the post is to convince the public to share the story or participate in the event. 
Write the post for X/Twitter (140 characters max)
Image: You must include an image in the post.
Use the active voice
Use a call to action at the end.
Include two hashtags. Be sure to check that your hashtags cannot be easily misinterpreted or are too hard to understand. You want: #short #memorable #easytoread. 
Use Tweet GenLinks to an external site. to create a X/Twitter post: copy the TweetGen image and paste into your Google doc. (With Tweet Gen, it won’t really go into X.)