For the first part: You will write a 400-word news release for an organization (a company, a charity, a foundation, etc.) that you invent. The release can cover anything about the company that would traditionally be handled by a news release: a product launch, an event, an executive hiring or promotion, and so on. The release should include invented quotes from at least one source and follow this format:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (or EMBARGOED UNTIL Date)
Headline
Subhead
Contact: Name of PR Person (That’s you!), 732-123-1234 (you can use that number)
DATELINE, Date —
Body of Release, written using the inverted pyramid structure. It must answer the essential questions: who, what, where, when, why. Remember that the point is to convince journalists to cover the story.
ABOUT THE COMPANY
A couple of sentences of background information about your company