From what we hear from our readers, our announcements page is of great value to the members of the communities we cover.
We’ve run a full page of happenings in The Spotlight every week for years now, and we’re extending that practice out to our Colonie, Loudonville, Schenectady County and Saratoga County editions.
Every week, you’ll see a page filled with community news and events. We don’t charge these folks to appear here; it’s a community service and because of that fact, we do our best to make every column inch count.
For those intending to submit an announcement to us, whether it’s a fundraiser, school play, good news, photo or other item of community interest, there are a few cardinal rules that will make life easier not only for the staff at our offices, but for you as well.
Please consider using email to submit your event. While we still collect our snail mail every day, any announcements we receive as a hard copy will eventually have to be digitized by hand or sometimes-unreliable software. Either way, it’s more likely errors will be made. The same goes for faxes. You can reach us at [email protected].
If for some reason you’re unable or don’t want to use email, there’s also an option to “Contact the editor” on our website under the “About” tab.
Be clear
Let us know what your email is all about up front. Writing in the subject line “Announcement,” “Press release” or “Attention: editor” means it’s indistinguishable from hundreds of other items. Labels like “Malta event for 6/16,” “Play showing in Ballston Spa” or “Letter to the editor” will help us out immensely and put your pertinent item on our radar.
A note on attachments
If you’re submitting something for our community announcements, please put the text (or at least a short summary) in the body of the email so an editor isn’t forced to spend time downloading and opening files. You might be surprised how much time we spend downloading fliers for bake sales in Indiana. Speaking of which, we can’t print a copy of an event flier for space reasons, so please put the pertinent information in text form. That way, nothing will be lost in translation.
Inform early
Our deadlines demand we set up some parts of the paper well in advance of the press time. That and the volume of the releases we receive means the announcement space fills up quickly. Allowing us time, and thus flexibility, to place an item is much appreciated. That definitely applies to event notices.
Follow up
Don’t hesitate to give us a jingle to ensure we’ve received your information. Mistakes are sometimes made, but this is a good way to head them off.
Remember our online calendar
There’s so much happening in our communities that despite our best efforts, we unfortunately cannot fit it all in every week, even if you follow the above guidelines. But it’s also free to submit an event listing to our online calendar at spotlightnews.com/events.
Thank you for helping us and all of our readers stay up to date with what’s happening in the community. We couldn’t do it without you.
