How long should a press release be?

One page. Around 300 to 500 words. An editor decides whether to cover the story from the headline and lede alone, so anything past the first paragraph is supporting detail.

Does this work as a news release or event press release template?

Yes. A news release and an event press release use the same five-part structure. For an event, the lede answers what is happening and when, and the body adds location, tickets, and a contact.

Where should the company boilerplate go?

At the end, after the body and before your media contact. It is the one part you reuse unchanged across every release, so keep a canonical copy in your wiki and paste it in.

Press Release Template — Template

Q: What is the standard press release format?

Five parts in order: headline, dateline, lede, body, and boilerplate. The lede carries the news in two sentences; the body adds detail and one quote; the boilerplate is your standing company description.

TL;DR. A press release is five parts — headline, dateline, lede, body, boilerplate. The lede carries the news; everything after it is supporting detail. Copy the body of this page into a new wiki page and overwrite each part with your announcement.

A press release exists to make an editor’s decision easy. They read the headline, then the first two sentences, then decide. Write for that order. Put the whole news in the lede and treat the rest as evidence the reporter can lift verbatim.

What goes in a press release

Headline. The news in one line. Active verb, no adjectives you cannot defend.
Dateline. City and the date the news breaks.
Lede. Who, what, when, where, why — in two sentences.
Body. Two or three short paragraphs of detail, plus one quote from a named person.
Boilerplate. The standing description of your company, reused unchanged across releases.

How to use this template

Copy the body below into a new wiki page in your space.
Write the lede first. Headlines are easier to pull from a finished lede than to write cold.
Fill the body with detail a reporter can quote directly. One quote is enough; three is filler.
Paste your canonical boilerplate at the end.
Show it to one person outside the project. If they can repeat the news in a sentence, send it.

The template — copy from here

Headline

<The news in one active-verb line. No more than 12 words.>

Subhead (optional): <One line of context that the headline earned but could not fit.>

Dateline

<CITY, State> — <Month Day, Year> —

Lede

<Company> today announced <the news>. <One sentence on why it matters to the reader, with the most important number or fact.>

Body

<Paragraph one: the detail behind the lede — what changed, for whom, and by how much.>

<Paragraph two: context — why now, what came before, what happens next.>

“<One quote from a named person, by role and full name. Say something a person would actually say, not a slogan.>” — <Name, Title>

Boilerplate

About <Company>. <Two or three sentences. What you do, who you do it for, and one verifiable fact about scale or history.>

Media contact: <Name, email, phone.>

Common questions

What is the standard press release format? The five parts above, in that order. The lede is load-bearing; the body is quotable detail; the boilerplate is reused unchanged.

How long should it be? One page, 300 to 500 words. The decision to cover the story is made from the headline and lede.

News release or event press release? Same structure. For an event, the lede answers what and when, and the body adds location, tickets, and a contact.

Keep the boilerplate and your media-contact block as their own wiki pages so every release pulls the current version. Pair this with the Case Study Template when the announcement needs a customer proof point, and browse the rest of the template library for launch checklists and briefs.