Schools across the country, like Margate Middle School in Florida, Midlothian Middle School in Virginia, and Chavez High School in Texas, have received great coverage in their local media about their success in the Vocabulary Bowl. If you're an administrator or educator, you can get your school in on the action by sharing your school's achievements in the Bowl with your local media. Here's how you can make it happen.

Downloads:
PR Toolkit
Press Release Template

Step 1. Identify a Vocabulary Bowl achievement or event for your school.

In your school's participation in the Vocabulary Bowl, there are many opportunities for students, teachers, and the school as a whole to excel. By setting goals that your school can reach, you will have the opportunity to publicize the achievement of these goals with the local press. (Check out our guide, "Inspire Your Students to Play the Vocabulary Bowl," for ideas on how to drum up enthusiasm at your school through setting goals.)

Is your school celebrating a position in the top 10 for your state? Have you won a state monthly leaderboard? Did you finish the day on top of the Vocabulary Bowl daily leaderboard? Perhaps you have achieved a school goal, such as reaching a words-mastered milestone (say, 1,000 new words). You can monitor your school's achievements on your Vocabulary.com school profile page by going to your account page and clicking on the name of your school. No matter the size of your school, you'll be able to find achievements that are worthy of publicity.

One type of goal that is sure to attract local interest is creating a rivalry with another school in your district. After issuing a challenge to a rival school, you can see which school masters the most words in the month. Then at the end of the month, the winning school will have bragging rights and can share the news with the local media.

Another opportunity to publicize Vocabulary Bowl involvement is planning an in-school celebration of student achievement. An in-school event is also a great way to build momentum during the Vocabulary Bowl. Think about celebrating your achievements at an assembly, pep rally or other school-wide event. You can present certificates to your students, which you can find in our Vocabulary.com Starter Kit. You can also invite local celebrities and officials to attend. Then follow the steps below to involve local media.

Step 2. Create a press package.

When you have decided on a Vocabulary Bowl-related achievement or event that you would like to publicize, you can share the news by writing a press release for distribution to local media. If you need help in creating an appropriate press release, we have created a template for you to use here. Along with the press release, you can create compelling visuals for the media to use, such as photographs of your students using Vocabulary.com or standing in front of a Vocabulary Bowl bulletin board.

Step 3. Send the press release to local media.

Make a list of local media in your community. You may be able to get help from a media relations coordinator in your district, or you can put together your own distribution list. Start with the local newspaper, where you can ask for the name of the Community Editor. Contact your local TV station, community cable unit, or radio station. Is there a local morning news show? Do you have a town Patch? Are there bloggers who cover happenings in your town? Is there a newsletter for your school district? Make sure to put them on your list as well, and then email (or fax) your press release to all the media outlets on your list and follow up with phone calls.

Winning examples:

  • Check out how Margate Middle School in Margate, Florida got their local paper to publish a short, spirited article on their ranking on the Florida and national leaderboards and their ongoing rivalry with another Broward County school.

  • Another example of a district celebrating its Vocabulary.com success with its larger community is this VillageNewsOnline.com article, "Seven Chesterfield Schools Rank Top 15 Nationally" on Midlothian Middle School's ranking in the Vocabulary Bowl.

  • Chavez High School of Houston TX, winner of the 2014-15 Vocabulary Bowl, received glowing coverage in their local media. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Lisa Falkenberg wrote about their achievement in the Houston Chronicle, describing how "the students and teachers at Chavez got really fired up once they took on the prestigious Bellaire High School during a monthly matchup." Read all about it here.

When you reach out to your media contacts, you can explain that the Vocabulary Bowl is a nationwide competition with more than 16,000 schools competing. By explaining how the Bowl works and its significance to your school's larger goals of building vocabulary, you can build community coverage for your school over the course of the year.

If you are planning a Vocabulary Bowl event, make sure to contact local media outlets two weeks before the event. Explain the larger goal of building vocabulary within the school community. Often news outlets do not cover school events because they do not learn about the details beforehand. Designating a staff member at your school for public relations efforts can also help to keep the community updated on planning for an event.

To download our PR toolkit, including a press release template, click here. Or to download just the press release template, click here.