Local newspapers and TV stations love a good 'local students do impressive things' story, but only if you hand it to them in the format they expect. A press release is a one-page document a reporter can lightly edit and run.
The format (top to bottom):
- Header:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEin caps, top-left. - Contact block: a named media contact (an adult mentor for off-hours calls), phone, email, and your team website/socials.
- Headline: active, specific, ~10 words. Bad: 'Our Team Did an Event.' Good: 'Local FRC Team 1234 Teaches 200 Elementary Students to Build Robots.'
- Dateline + lead:
CITY, STATE — Month Day, Year —followed by a lead paragraph answering who, what, when, where, why in 2-3 sentences. Reporters may print only this paragraph, so it must stand alone. - Body (2-3 short paragraphs): the details and one human quote from a student or mentor. Quotes are gold — reporters love a printable line like, 'Watching a third-grader's face light up when their robot moves is why we do this,' said team captain Jane Doe.
- Boilerplate: a standard 'About Team 1234' paragraph you reuse every time (founding year, school, mission, sponsors).
- End mark:
###or-30-centered, the traditional journalism signal that the release is over.
Length and timing: Keep it to 300-500 words, roughly one page. Journalists prefer concise. Send event announcements 2-4 weeks ahead for coverage; send results within 24-48 hours while they're still news.
Worked example lead:
SPRINGFIELD, IL — March 14, 2026 — Springfield High School's robotics team, FIRST Robotics Competition Team 1234 'The Voltage,' clinched a spot on the winning alliance at the Central Illinois Regional this weekend, earning enough qualification points to advance the all-student team to the FIRST Championship in Houston for the first time in school history.
That single sentence gives a reporter a complete, runnable story.
Photos and consent: Attach 2-3 high-resolution horizontal photos with caption text and a photographer credit. Reporters often skip stories with no usable art. Important: it is FIRST policy not to print a minor's name with their picture without specific permission from the parent or guardian, so confirm permission before captioning students by name (or use first names / unnamed wide shots).
Distribution:
- Build a media list: the education or community reporter at each local outlet (find the byline, email them directly — not the generic newsroom inbox).
- Follow up once, politely, 2-3 days later.
Keep a reusable template and your boilerplate in your team drive so any student can fill in the specifics and send within an hour of an event.
the part worth keeping
Key takeaways
- Use the standard structure: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, contact block, headline, dateline lead, body with a quote, boilerplate, and ###.
- Keep it to 300-500 words and make the lead paragraph stand alone — that may be all that gets printed.
- Email the specific education/community reporter by name, not the generic newsroom inbox, and attach hi-res horizontal photos.
- Send announcements 2-4 weeks ahead and results within 24-48 hours; never caption a minor by name without documented parent permission (FIRST policy).
Media, Branding & OutreachWorked Examples & Mini-Projectslesson 4 of 5
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Sources and corrections
This lesson is AI-assisted: drafted from primary sources, then reviewed and edited by hand. Errors still get through. When one is reported we fix it and write down what changed, in public, in the corrections log.
sources and further reading
- firstinspires.orgFIRST Inspires — Resource Library (outreach & PR materials)
- blog.hubspot.comHubSpot — How to Write a Press Release (free template)
clipped to this lesson
Articles that go further on this
The lesson gets you through the topic. These go wider on it, and they read in one sitting.
- 13 min readThe FRC Mentor Guide: Your First Season Without Taking OverWhat a first-year FRC mentor actually does: the teaching/building line, the real week-by-week time commitment, youth protection rules, and how to last past./blogread it
- 6 min readFRC Scouting Sheet Template: Printable Paper Sheet + Google Form to Sheets SetupA ready-to-print FRC scouting sheet plus a Google Form to Sheets setup that auto-averages one row per scout into per-team stats, with a 2026 REBUILT note./blogread it
- 8 min readYour First FRC Competition: What to Actually ExpectWhat to expect at your first FRC competition: the day-by-day schedule, pit setup, robot inspection, matches, and a full what-to-bring checklist for rookies./blogread it
answer sheet
Lesson quiz
All 3 right completes the lesson. Miss one and only that question comes back, anything you already answered correctly stays banked.
0 of 3 answered
01You just won an award at your regional. When should you send the results press release to local outlets?
02What should the lead (first) paragraph of your press release accomplish?
03Which element is the standard closing block of a press release that gives a short, reusable description of your team or organization?
Answer every question to submit.
All 29 lessons in Media, Branding & Outreachopenclose
01 / prerequisites
02 / team-brand-identity
03 / content-creation
04 / digital-presence
05 / outreach-awards-sponsorship
06 / worked-examples-mini-projects
- Not read yet:Mini-Project 1: A Repeatable Match-Day Photo Workflow
- Not read yet:Mini-Project 2: A 60-Second Highlight Reel in DaVinci Resolve (Free)
- Not read yet:Mini-Project 3: A CAD-to-Render Robot Reveal
- Not read yet:Mini-Project 4: A One-Page Press Release for Your Local Paper
- Not read yet:Mini-Project 5: Auto-Pull Match Results from The Blue Alliance API
07 / common-mistakes-troubleshooting
08 / advanced-techniques-case-studies