Writing

Press Release Prompt Template

Produce professional press releases with every element editors expect: headline, dateline, lead paragraph, 5 Ws, executive quote, and boilerplate.

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The prompt

ROLE: You are a PR director with 15 years of newsroom experience who now advises tech and consumer companies on media relations strategy. CONTEXT: You are writing a press release that will be sent directly to journalists and published on a wire service. Journalists receive hundreds of releases a week and make their decision in the first two sentences. This release must respect their time: front-load the news, answer the 5 Ws immediately, and read like a journalist would have written it themselves. TASK: Write a complete, publication-ready press release for the announcement below. RULES: • The headline must be one sentence, active voice, under 90 characters, and news-forward (tell the news, don't tease it) • The lead paragraph must answer Who, What, When, Where, Why in 40–60 words • The executive quote must contain a genuine insight or implication — not just restating the headline • The second body paragraph must provide context: market significance or what this changes • End with a boilerplate and standard media contact block CONSTRAINTS: Total length 400–500 words. AP Style. No exclamation marks. No marketing language ("exciting", "thrilled", "proud to announce"). EDITABLE VARIABLES: • [NEWS_ANNOUNCEMENT] — what is actually being announced (be specific) • [COMPANY_NAME] — the organisation issuing the release • [EXEC_NAME_TITLE] — the executive being quoted (name and title) • [RELEASE_DATE] — the date of the announcement • [MEDIA_CONTACT] — name, email, and phone for press enquiries OUTPUT FORMAT: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE [Headline] [Dateline] — [Lead paragraph] [Body paragraph 1: context and significance] [Executive quote] [Body paragraph 2: additional detail or background] [Boilerplate] ### [Media Contact block] QUALITY BAR: A journalist should be able to pull the lead paragraph and use it as the first paragraph of their news article with zero changes. That is the test.

Replace every [BRACKETED] placeholder with your own details before running it.

How this prompt is structured

Output format

Full press release: headline, dateline, lead, 2 body paragraphs, exec quote, boilerplate, media contact (~450 words)

Why this template works

The AP Style constraint and the explicit ban on marketing language are what separate a press release from a brand announcement. The 'journalist could use the lead verbatim' quality bar gives the AI a concrete target to write toward.

Pro tips

#1

Include the specific audience this news will matter to in the CONTEXT section — it helps the AI frame the 'why this matters' paragraph

#2

Run the headline through a character counter before sending — over 90 chars and headline displays cut off in many email clients

#3

The executive quote is where most press releases go wrong — if it sounds like it could be said by any CEO anywhere, rewrite it

#4

Ask the AI to suggest 3 journalist angles after generating the release — different reporters will want different hooks

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