News Submission Policies and Guidelines
University News and Public Relations welcomes the submission of short news announcements for publication in one of the university’s e-newsletters or story ideas for consideration of production and dissemination to external audiences, including the media.
Please review the policies and guidelines outlined on this page before making your submission.
Submitting News for University Newsletter
UNC has one main weekly e-newsletter that serves as the official means of communication for faculty, staff and students. Around UNC is designed to keep our community and friends informed about key university initiatives and policies, engagement opportunities on and off campus and to share the honors, achievements and celebrations of our faculty, staff and students.
Announcements and news items for our e-newsletters should be from a UNC department or office, a registered student organization or other UNC-affiliated program and will be accepted only from UNC faculty, staff and students with email addresses ending in unco.edu or bears.unco.edu.
Depending on associated deadlines and the amount of news content in any given week, submitted items may not immediately appear in a newsletter. Please let us know in the submission form’s “Additional comments” section if there’s a news peg (an event, holiday, deadline) that makes your item more timely.
If your announcement is about an event that is open to the university community, consider also adding it to UNC’s Event Calendar, the main source of event information for UNC students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni and the Greeley community.
UNC Weekly Newsletter
Around UNC
Around UNC is a weekly e-newsletter sent to students, faculty, staff and external
stakeholders. It is published on Monday mornings.
The deadline for content is the Thursday prior to publication at 5 p.m.
Submitting Story Ideas for Media / Public
Our best stories often come from our university community members. We're always looking for stories that:
- Demonstrate the university’s commitment to being a Students First institution
- Showcase the impact of our teaching and research
- Celebrate the talents and achievements of our faculty, staff and students
- Illustrate our work toward the five vision elements of UNC’s strategic plan
- Are relevant to current events or trending news topics
- Have a compelling human-interest angle, or that are just fun and speak to UNC’s brand
Story ideas should also support of the university’s 2030 strategic plan goals as currently defined in University Advancement’s Strategic Marketing and Communications plan:
- Raise the visibility and perception of the UNC brand, showcasing the university’s commitment to student success, diversity, faculty excellence and community impact
- Drive engagement and deepen relationships with UNC alumni and friends
- Establish UNC as a thought leader, influencer and expert
Policies and Guidelines
News and Public Relations follows the University of Northern Colorado’s Editorial Style Guide, which is based on the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook. It is the university’s official resource for use in all non-academic, promotional written communications, ensuring we provide a consistent, cohesive, coordinated message and image to our key audiences and to the public.
When submitting news or announcements using our News Submission Form, be sure to include complete information, including who, what, where, when, why and how.
The channels used to distribute submitted news are at the discretion of University News and Public Relations. Submissions may appear in one or more newsletters, on UNC’s News Central website, social media or in a press release.
Submitted items that are incomplete or inaccurate or do not meet guidelines will be emailed back to the submitter for additional details.
Content for newsletters should be brief and easy to navigate for readers. All submitted items should have a story or event to link to for complete information.
Acronyms should always be spelled out on first reference for newsletter submissions. New staff and students join the university every semester and may not be familiar with our jargon.
Newsletter submissions will be edited for accuracy, brevity, clarity and suitability using Associated Press (AP) style.
Include a URL for your newsletter announcement, when possible, even if it goes to your department or office’s website. For example, include a URL(s) for:
- A webpage with additional/complete information
- An online registration or nomination/application form
- An online PDF of a flyer or poster containing additional information. Avoid linking to Word or Excel documents due to load time.
The editor reserves the right to review, suspend or deny announcement requests for any reason.
For more detailed information about communicating information to members of the university community, read pages 130-132 of University Regulations (PDF).
To ensure accuracy and consistency with the university’s brand, voice and editorial style guidelines, employees working with external writers or organizations on editorial content that represents the university must inform Marketing and Communications so that content can be reviewed and approved prior to publication. This includes joint press releases or other news or articles about the university or members of the university community written by outside writers or organizations.
All editorial content produced by UNC employees on behalf of the university, including press releases and feature articles, must be reviewed and approved by Marketing and Communications to ensure accuracy and consistency with the university’s brand, voice and editorial style guidelines.
