News releases are a tried and tested PR tactic used to get stories published by the mass media. A news release (also known as a press or media release) is a written statement issued to entice the journalist, editor, blogger or influencer to cover a specific story. 

A common news release follows the classic formula of Who, What, When, Where and Why. These five points should be covered off in the opening paragraph. The rest of the news release should then be used to expand on these points. 

Your primary goal is to make the journalist's work as easy as possible. If your news release conforms to a format that a journalist is familiar with, odds of your story getting published are higher. So, when you’re writing a press release, you’ll have to adopt a journalistic style of writing, - factual, logical and straightforward. A journalist may only skim your document for 30 seconds, thus it has to be also concise and short, preferably under 500 words.

A great news release is accompanied by a short email pitching the story to the journalist – a sort of cover letter which summarizes the content in the release. It is designed to shock and awe the journalist and make it curious to read the news release itself.

If you don't know how to create a news release for the upcoming World Vitiligo Day, you can easily learn how to do so by following our example below. Other examples like an email to journalists or an invitation to a press-conference are available in our Download Center. A sample Letter to the Medical News Editor can be helpful, too. And have fun with other ideas like a special Google's Doodle for the World Vitiligo Day!

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On June 25th, 2021 A Light Will Shine On Vitiligo - The World’s ‘Forgotten’ Disease
 
The eleventh annual World Vitiligo Day (WVD) will take place on June 25th, 2021 - with Jakarta, Indonesia playing host. This annual event unites researchers, doctors and patients to drive awareness and celebrate the diversity, resilience and determination of the nearly 100 million vitiligo sufferers worldwide.

Vitiligo causes the skin to lighten in patches across the face and body. It is an unpredictable, non-communicable, autoimmune skin disease that affects one in every hundred people to some degree. As yet, there is no known cure. The burden of vitiligo falls particularly hard on developing countries, due to misdiagnosis of the disease, little or no access to effective treatments, and widespread stigmatization and discrimination.

World Vitiligo Day was born in 2011 from the determination of non-profit organizations VR Foundation (USA) and VITSAF (Nigeria), and their supporters across the world, to bring this ‘forgotten’ disease into the public eye. The onset of the campaign has been fueled by Aksenov Family Foundation, whose generosity has been vital in ensuring that WVD has become a global force that’s enriched many lives and brought vitiligo onto the mainstream health agenda.

Huge progress has been made. Ten years ago, two or three companies (at most) were developing vitiligo drugs – a number that now stands at 30-plus. And just this year the U.S. FDA held its very first public meeting on vitiligo, where the community had a unique opportunity to speak directly to key stakeholders in vitiligo drug development. Another indication of WVD’s success is that 18 U.S. State governors and numerous city mayors declared June ‘Vitiligo Awareness Month’. 

However, there is still much work to be done and WVD aims to persuade major organizations such as the UN and WHO to give vitiligo the attention it deserves and instil change in the national healthcare policies of member states. Organizers are also looking to the big pharmaceutical companies to introduce more products that satisfy the growing demand for effective treatments.

Each year WVD is officially hosted by a different city and in 2021 it is the turn of Jakarta to act as campaign headquarters. The honorary captain is Dr. Srie Prihianti Gondokaryono, supported by a strong team from the Indonesian Society of Dermatology & Venereology (Advisor: Dr. Yulianto Listiawan, Vice-President: Dr. Andreas Widiansyah, and Secretary: Dr. Hanny Nilasari). The Indonesian team has chosen the official theme of the year:  'Embracing Life with Vitiligo.’

Unfortunately, the large-scale, in person activities that typify WVD are not possible this year, due to COVID restrictions, so an online event will take place. This is likely to be broadcast from the offices of the dermatological society, and invites patients, doctors, volunteers, journalists and anyone who is interested to drop in and learn more. One key theme will be that patients with vitiligo have the same COVID experience as anybody else and should not fear vaccination. 

As ever, the event will be a truly global affair. Other major activities on June 25th include a media event at Aula Magna of Università degli Studi Guglielmo Marconi in Rome – where the World Vitiligo Day campaign was officially announced nearly 10 years ago. This will be hosted by Dr. Torello Lotti, Full Professor and Chairman of Dermatology at UniMarconi and Yan Valle, Vitiligo Research Foundation CEO.

Then, the WVD-USA 2021 event will take place online, from 12 noon -3 pm Central Time on June 26. Event host will Sharon King (creator of Litty Ligo); Eric Peacock (co-founder of MyVitiligoTeam); and Dr. Iltefat Hamzavi (co-chair of the Global Vitiligo Foundation).

“World Vitiligo Day is a massive event and gets bigger every year,” says Yan Valle, CEO, VR Foundation.“COVID-19 may have changed things this year, but it will still be a huge day – both celebrating all we have achieved and shining a light on the prejudice and ignorance that still affects the millions of people who suffer from this poorly understood and misrepresented disease.”
 
More information available at the WVD campaign website – www.25June.org
 
CONTACT details for quotes and queries:
 
Indonesian Society of Dermatology & Venereology
Ruko Grand Salemba Jl. Salemba 1 No. 22, DKI Jakarta 10430 Indonesia
Visit: www.perdoski.org or email at: ppperdoski.org@gmail.com
+62-213-904-517
 
VR Foundation
1, Penn Plaza #6205 New York, NY 10119 USA
Visit: www.vrfoundation.org or email at: info@vrfoundation.org
+1-855-966-3555