Helpful tips from the Village News - Guidelines for press releases, Letters to the Editor, announcements and photo submissions

FALLBROOK - The Village News looks forward to receiving submissions from members of the community. It is a vital part of providing a well-balanced newspaper! Please use this as a guide to help ensure the prompt placement of an item in the newspaper:

• Deadline for all submissions is Friday at 4 p.m. for the following week’s paper. The only exception is obituary notices, which are accepted up until noon on Tuesday.

• Press releases should be written in the third person as if the writer were writing about someone else’s group (i.e. “The ABC Club invites the public to their open house,” not “We invite you to our open house”). The information provided should tell who, what, when, where and why of an event in complete sentences. The information should be kept brief because long submissions frequently have to be edited down due to space considerations. Keep it as short as possible with the most vital information. E-newsletters and flyers are not considered press releases; information contained in them needs to be reworked into sentences before being submitted as a press release.

• Press releases need to have an element of “news,” not everyday happenings or normal business, and should be kept to 300 words or less. Unlike advertising, press releases are not printed to solely promote businesses or other for-profit ventures. When nonprofits’ fundraisers are publicized, the ticket price of the event may be printed just once. A phone number should be given for people to call for more information. The number of times an event can be promoted in the paper is limited to space availability.

• We strongly encourage the emailing of press releases (to [email protected]). For those who do not have a computer or Internet service, typed or handwritten items are acceptable by fax or mail. The preferred format is 12-point type, single-spaced, with no underlining or boldface type. Typing in all capital letters or in color is not helpful. Emailed press releases should be sent as Word documents, not PDF or zipped files.

• Photographs may also be e-mailed; they should be sent as JPEG files (at 300 DPI resolution/at least 100K); photographs printed on photo paper can be brought in to the Village News office to be scanned or on CD to be downloaded. All photos need to be accompanied by captions identifying the people in them.

• Requests for coverage should be made at least two weeks in advance, either by phone or e-mail, and are subject to photographer and/or writer availability. Groups are welcome to submit photos of an event along with captions.

• Wedding, engagement and anniversary announcements should be limited to 100 words or less and are encouraged to be accompanied by photographs.

• Letters to the Editor are limited to 250 words. "Thank you" letters are limited to thanking no more than six organizations/businesses/people in total. More than that requires an ad to be placed. (Groups are encouraged to extend their "thank you" notes periodically throughout the year to stay within the number limit.) Photographs are not allowed with Letters to the Editor. The writer’s name, address and phone number are required for verification; only the name will be printed with the letter.