Students on the dean’s and graduates lists aren’t the only ones eligible for news releases. With the upcoming season of award presentations and scholarship grants, many students could be featured in their hometown newspaper — if the occasion is announced to the Office of Communications and Marketing. These releases help distribute positive information about the school and students while helping colleges, departments and students receive statewide publicity. They’re also guaranteed parent pleasers.
“Hometown releases celebrate the accomplishments of students and make sure hometowns know about the quality experience the students are having at school,” said Karen Lykins, News Bureau director.
Releases are not limited to award information.
“If you have a story about something you think is newsworthy you can contact us. We can’t tell papers when to run a story or whether to run it at all but we can send it to them. Most of the time they are more than willing because their audience is the hometown,” Lykins said.
Hometown releases are distributed by county and can also be sent to multiple counties in order to reach additional family members if requested.
Pictures play an important role by making releases more visual and increasing the likelihood of publication. To help with this, Photographic Services is available for photo assignments and encourages including the time, date, location, and descriptions of the desired photos when scheduling. Also, scheduling the assignments as early as possible helps ensure availability. Pricing rates are available on the Tech web site or by calling the Photographic Services office at 931-372-3305.
Personal photos meeting print requirements are also accepted. These photos should be in jpeg, tif or eps format, and must be 300 dots per inch. Submitters are encouraged to use group shots whenever possible to increase the chance of newspapers using the image.
Lykins encourages anyone who has a story they believe has social or community benefit to submit event information through the web at http://www.tntech.edu/news/hometownsubmit/. By following the directions given on the web site the information will be properly prepared and will, as a result, have an increased likelihood of being published.
