Eagle Scout Publicity Plan

Letting the world know about a new Eagle Scout

Earning Eagle is a rare accomplishment, making it newsworthy. Eagle Scout information can be provided to the local news in different ways, and many of the following tips will also be included in your Eagle Scout packet we give to all new Eagle Scouts.

Contacts

Prepare a list of the newspapers/community news websites in your area. Consider those you read or online sites you visit including daily, weekly, religious, and school newspapers as well as newsletters.

Detailed Biography

Put together material about the new Eagle Scout and a 4" x 5" (or larger) photo. It could be a portrait or an action shot of the Eagle project. Include Scouting honors and leadership positions, education, church, civic and school activities, and names and city of parents and Scoutmaster.

Press Release

Prepare a one-page double-spaced news release from the biographical material. Check the website of the publication. It may be best to email this as an attachment with the photo and a brief overview in the body of the email message or the publication may have a special web form to use for submitting copy and images. Be brief, use short words, always use exact dates, give age of youth member and name of chartered organization, and above all, SPELL CORRECTLY.

A sample press release and tips for submitting a suitable photo are available on this page. This is a great chance to use your new portrait photo! In some cases, the uniqueness of the ceremony, participants, or presenters involved will make the ceremony of interest to daily newspapers (or even television in rare instances). If this is the case, or if you have questions, contact us using the contact below.

Six Press Release Tips

When preparing a press release, there are six important points to remember: Who . . . What . . . When . . . Where . . . Why . . . How . Get all those points into the first two or three sentences. Then go into the details of your story.

Send It In

Email/upload the news release to editors of all newspapers and newsletters a week in advance of the presentation. Because of space limitations, most large metropolitan newspapers deal exclusively with photos and captions of Eagle Scout recipients, while smaller suburban newspapers welcome photos and longer articles and are more likely to use them.