This press release template turns an event fact packet into a complete review draft, with a factual headline, lead, schedule, organization description, and media-contact fields. The worked example leaves release approval visible instead of treating an event date as permission to publish.
Start with a complete review draft
This is an original fictional announcement for Cedar Lane Reading Room. The organization, event, and supplied facts are teaching material. The release has not been issued; draft date, release approval, and media contact remain to confirm.
Draft for review. Release approval: TO CONFIRM.
Draft date: TO CONFIRM
Cedar Lane Reading Room plans new Saturday story sessions starting November 14
Cedar Lane Reading Room plans a new series of free Saturday story sessions for families with children, beginning November 14, 2026, in its main room.
Sessions are scheduled for November 14, 21, and 28, 2026, from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m. each day, in the America/New_York time zone. No registration is required.
About Cedar Lane Reading Room
Cedar Lane Reading Room offers shared reading activities.
Media contact
Name and role: TO CONFIRM
Phone and email: TO CONFIRM
The draft uses the facts available. A real release would need its approved contact details and any location information the intended audience needs, such as the actual address. A spokesperson quotation is not supplied, so the example has none.
Check the headline and lead against the fact packet
| Fact ID | Supplied teaching fact | Where the draft uses it |
|---|---|---|
| F1 | Cedar Lane Reading Room plans a new Saturday story-session series. | Headline and lead identify a new series. |
| F2 | Sessions are November 14, 21, and 28, 2026; the series starts November 14. | Headline/lead give the start; the second paragraph lists all three dates. |
| F3 | Each session runs 10:00–10:45 a.m., America/New_York. | Schedule paragraph gives the time and zone. |
| F4 | Sessions take place in the reading room's main room. | Lead names the supplied venue area. No street address is supplied. |
| F5 | Intended audience is families with children; attendance is free; no registration required. | Lead gives the audience and cost; the next paragraph explains registration. |
| F6 | The reading room offers shared reading activities. | Organization description contains only that supplied background. |
Choose Headline, Lead, or Session dates in the example to see the supporting facts beside the selected wording. A reader should be able to trace the series start separately from the full schedule.
Purdue OWL's press-release guidance recommends making the news useful to its audience, answering the relevant who, what, where, when, why, and how questions, and identifying release timing and a media contact. Use those questions to find gaps in your own packet. They do not authorize you to fill the gaps with plausible details.
For this event, the practical information is the new activity, its intended audience, its dates, and how attendance works. No supplied fact establishes literacy gains, expected turnout, or local demand. Those claims would need their own support before entering the release.
Replace the promotional claim with the actual news
Choose Compare headline drafts:
| Draft | What a fact check finds |
|---|---|
| "Cedar Lane's most-loved storytelling program returns" | "Most-loved" has no supporting audience evidence. "Returns" implies an earlier program that the packet does not describe. |
| "Cedar Lane Reading Room plans new Saturday story sessions starting November 14" | Names the organization, the new activity, and its supplied start date. |
Changing "most-loved" to "popular" would leave the unsupported judgment in place. Rebuild the sentence around F1 and F2 instead. Keep the full series dates in the following paragraph so the headline does not have to carry every detail.
Use the same check on quotations. If no approved quote is available, omit it. Do not invent a director's name or put promotional wording in quotation marks to make it appear sourced. The release can explain these sessions with the facts already supplied.
Keep event timing separate from release timing
November 14 is the first session date. It is not the draft date, an approval date, or an instruction to issue the release. Release details in the example keeps those missing fields beside the known event schedule.
Avoid "starts this Saturday" when the wording may be read on another day. An exact date stays understandable while the draft moves through review. Include the actual time zone when readers could otherwise interpret the time differently.
Before distribution, confirm the location details, contact person, required submission format, and the person who can approve the announcement. Apply the organization's actual release-timing instruction once agreed. A tidy draft with empty contact fields is still a draft.
Review one sentence before using the release
Ask a program colleague to read the lead beside F1–F5 and point out any word that goes beyond the packet. If you prepare the review copy as HTML, put it in your NOS workspace for that prepublication check. Correct the static event wording directly when it misstates the facts, then put the correction into the maintained release.
For example, replace "returns" with wording that identifies the new series. Keep that text correction separate from release approval. Saving a review page does not issue an announcement, notify journalists, or create permission to distribute it.
Copy a prompt for your release and fact review
Create one complete HTML press-release review page.
Organization and new announcement: [PASTE]
Audience, supplied event/product facts and exact dates: [PASTE]
Location, attendance/action instructions and time zone: [PASTE]
Approved quotation with speaker name/title, if supplied: [PASTE or NONE]
Supplied organization description and media contact: [PASTE]
Actual draft date, release timing/approval and required format: [PASTE]
Write a concise factual headline, lead, essential supporting details,
organization description and contact block. Use only supplied facts.
Keep fact references available in a separate review view. Do not invent
popularity, previous events, quotes, names, benefits, turnout, approval,
addresses, links or release instructions. Preserve unknowns TO CONFIRM.
Include this separate original fictional Cedar Lane Reading Room example:
F1: new Saturday story-session series, proposed program plan.
F2: November 14, 21, 28, 2026; starts November 14.
F3: each 10:00–10:45 a.m., America/New_York.
F4: reading room's main room; no street address supplied.
F5: families with children; free attendance; no registration required.
F6: reading room offers shared reading activities.
No actual organization/event, outcomes, demand, quote, photo or URL.
Draft date, release approval and media contact TO CONFIRM. Never mark
For immediate release from event dates or a formatting action.
Complete teaching release:
Draft for review. Release approval: TO CONFIRM.
Draft date: TO CONFIRM
Headline: Cedar Lane Reading Room plans new Saturday story sessions starting November 14
Lead: Cedar Lane Reading Room plans a new series of free Saturday story sessions for families with children, beginning November 14, 2026, in its main room.
Next paragraph: Sessions are scheduled for November 14, 21, and 28, 2026, from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m. each day, in the America/New_York time zone. No registration is required.
About: Cedar Lane Reading Room offers shared reading activities.
Media contact: Name and role TO CONFIRM; phone and email TO CONFIRM.
Omit quotation section. Location details/required format still to confirm.
Switch Supplied fact packet / Complete teaching release. Headline,
Lead and Session dates selections show the exact supporting F IDs.
Compare headline drafts: Cedar Lane's most-loved storytelling program
returns versus the supplied factual headline. Explain unsupported
popularity and previous-program claims. Preserve original facts.
Release details separates known event dates from unknown draft date,
release approval and media contact. No Send, Publish, share creation,
newsroom integration or approved status from a missing source field.
Add a blank release scaffold and temporary review notes; preserve
typing across views and confirm reset. No saved approval/workflow claims.
At least 16px text, labeled native controls and visible focus. Stack
fact/release records at 360px without horizontal page overflow. Inline
CSS/JavaScript only; no external assets, network or storage. State notes
last only in this open page. Return full HTML. Actual media submission
format, maintained release and approval process remain authoritative.
Read the generated headline and schedule against the original dates. Then inspect the contact and release-status fields. The example should preserve the unanswered approval question even when every paragraph is in place.
Finish with the facts and permission confirmed
Obtain the missing contact and location details, confirm the schedule with the program owner, and ask the authorized reviewer to approve the final wording and release timing. Use the organization's media-distribution route only after those decisions are recorded.