Press release format is one of the few things in PR with a genuinely right answer. The structure below has been standard in newsrooms for decades, editors expect it, and wire services will sometimes reject releases that break it. Get the format right and nobody notices. Get it wrong and it's the first thing everyone notices.
Here is every section, in order, with what belongs in each.
1. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The first line of the document, in capitals, usually top-left. It tells editors the news is publishable the moment they receive it.
The alternative is an embargo line ("EMBARGOED UNTIL 9:00 AM ET, SEPTEMBER 4, 2026"), which asks journalists not to publish before a set time. Two things to know: embargoes are a courtesy, not a contract, and they only make sense when you're sending directly to journalists in advance. For a standard distributed release, use FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE and move on.
2. Headline
One factual sentence, present tense, with the news verb in it: raises, launches, opens, hires, partners, acquires, reports. Aim for under 80 characters, because long headlines get truncated in email clients, news aggregators, and Google results.
- Format-correct: "Meridian Logistics Raises $12M Series A to Expand Cold-Chain Network"
- Format-broken: "EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!!! Meridian Is Changing Logistics Forever"
Capitalize in title case, skip the exclamation points, and never write the headline in all caps. Full rules and examples live in our headline guide.
3. Subheadline (optional)
One sentence under the headline, italicized by convention, adding the most important detail that didn't fit: the investor name, the customer count, the launch date. Use it when it earns its place, and skip it when it would just restate the headline in more words. Most releases under 400 words don't need one.
4. Dateline
The opening of your first paragraph, not a separate line:
AUSTIN, Texas, August 18, 2026 — Meridian Logistics today announced a $12 million Series A.
City in caps, state or country per AP style abbreviations, full date, then an em dash into the lede. The dateline is the city where the news is happening, which is usually your headquarters, not the wire service's location. Editors read it to judge local relevance, which is why "remote-first company" releases usually anchor to the founder's or largest office's city.
5. Lede (first paragraph)
The entire story in one paragraph of 25–40 words: who did what, when, where, and why it matters. A reader who stops here should still know the news.
The most common format failure isn't a missing section. It's a lede that teases instead of tells. "Meridian Logistics announced a major milestone today" is not a lede, it's a delay. Name the milestone.
6. Body (two to four paragraphs)
Supporting facts in descending order of importance, which is the inverted pyramid. Paragraph two carries your strongest number or detail. Paragraphs three and four add context: the market problem, the mechanism, the timeline, prior milestones.
Keep paragraphs to two or three sentences. Attribute any market claim to a source. If you're formatting a specific announcement type, our templates, including funding and product launch, show exactly which facts go in which paragraph.
7. Quote
One quote from a named person with a title, placed after the core facts (typically paragraph three). Format is simple: quote, attribution, done.
"Cold-chain capacity hasn't kept pace with demand since 2023, and mid-size shippers feel it worst," said Ana Reyes, CEO of Meridian Logistics.
Everyone follows the formatting rule. Almost nobody follows the content rule, which is that the quote must add perspective, not repeat facts. "We are thrilled to announce this funding" is formatted correctly and completely unusable. We wrote a full guide to writing quotes journalists actually use.
8. Boilerplate
The "About [Company]" paragraph: three or four sentences covering what you do, who you serve, a scale fact, and where to learn more. It sits after the body, before the contact block, under a heading like "About Meridian Logistics."
The boilerplate is written once and reused verbatim on every release, and that consistency is the point. Ours has a 4-sentence formula with examples if yours doesn't exist yet.
9. Media contact block
A real, named human:
Media Contact: Jordan Blake Head of Communications, Meridian Logistics jordan@meridianlogistics.com (512) 555-0184
Not info@, not a contact form, not "press inquiries welcome." A journalist on deadline emails exactly one address, and if it looks unmonitored they don't email at all. This block is arguably the highest-ROI three lines in the document.
10. The ### end mark
Three hash marks, centered on their own line, after everything else. It's a telegraph-era convention marking "end of transmission," and yes, editors still expect it. Some outlets use "-30-" instead, but ### is the safer default. Anything below the ### (a note to editors, downloadable asset links) is understood to be for the journalist, not for publication.
The full skeleton at a glance
- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- Headline
- Subheadline (optional)
- Dateline + lede paragraph
- Body paragraph: strongest supporting fact
- Quote from named executive
- Body paragraph: context and background
- Boilerplate ("About Us")
- Media contact block
- ###
Total length: 300–500 words. Single page. No images pasted into the document itself, since wires handle multimedia as separate attachments.
Formatting details that quietly matter
- Send as text, not PDF. Editors copy-paste, and PDFs make that annoying.
- No first-person. "We" belongs in quotes only. The release body is written in third person, like the news story it's imitating.
- Spell out numbers one through nine, use digits for 10+ (AP style). Nobody rejects a release over this, but it signals you've done this before.
- One font, no colors, no logos mid-document. The release is a document for editors, not a brochure.
Format is the entry fee, not the product. A perfectly formatted release with no news in it is still a deleted release. But since the structure is completely standardized, there's no reason to lose points on it. Every RepuPR template outputs this exact skeleton with your facts slotted in.
Want your next release formatted right without memorizing any of this? [See how it works](/how-it-works).