Read For 2003 is a great opportunity to foster interaction with parents and members of your local community.

Who to Invite | Getting Parents Involved | Getting Media Coverage

Getting Media Coverage for Your Event

Here are some helpful tips to help you get news coverage for your Read For 2003 classroom events, and let your community know how important reading is to your students!

Getting the Press and Community Involved
Information for Reporters
Customizable Printable Press Alert

Getting the Press and Community Involved

• Be sure to get approval from your school/principal in order to let media attend your event.
  
• Get approval from the parents of your students. Have the parents sign a release/permission form that allows students to be photographed or filmed by the media. Your school can give you guidance on what is required.
  
• Have a parent or a student teacher help you compile a list of local daily newspapers, community papers, television stations, and radio stations in your area.
  
• Contact the education editor, metro editor, and/or child youth editors at the papers. Contact the news producers and/or assignment editors at your local television and radio stations. Let them know what your class will be doing. Invite newspaper photographers and news camera crews to cover your classroom event. Provide them with a press alert—the who, what, where, when and your contact information.
  
• Follow up with the press over the coming weeks. Compile a list of the names and phone numbers of the press that will be attending your event.
  
• Check with your school principal to coordinate security for your Read For 2003 event. Make sure security has the names of the press people who are planning to attend; if a reporter comes to cover your event who is not on the list, ask him/her to show press credentials. Perhaps a parent can help you by escorting the press from the main entrance to your classroom or auditorium.
  
• Be sure to send Scholastic any newspaper articles or video clips from the event (Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 Attn: Corporate Communications).
  We wish you a successful event!
  

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Information for reporters

• Read For 2003 is Scholastic Book Clubs' fourth annual reading campaign encouraging children all over the world to stop and read together for 2003 seconds (about 33 1/3 minutes) on Friday, December 6, at 12 noon.
  
• On this day, classrooms around the world will observe Read For 2003 by inviting parents and special guests to read to them, reading individually, dressing as favorite book characters, acting out skits, sharing their best-loved books, and creating other fun reading-focused activities.
  
• We anticipate well over 7 million teachers and students will be participating in this worldwide event.
  
• Students and teachers from across the country and around the world are connecting to other classrooms and sharing their favorite books through our Web site www.scholastic.com/ReadFor2003
  
• Through the Web site, www.scholastic.com/ReadFor2003, students and teachers are also sharing Read For 2003 with Governor's spouses from 26 states, and an array authors and celebrities.
  
  

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Share your ideas for Read For 2003! — Click here!