You've Submitted News, What Happens Next?
Helping the Bryn Mawr Community understand how we share stories, research, and achievements across platforms.
Overview
The Office of Communications and Marketing is committed to sharing the compelling stories of our faculty, students, staff, and alumnae/i. Because we receive many ideas and operate with finite resources, we use a framework to guide decisions about what content gets published where and in what format. This guide explains how we assess story ideas and determine the best medium for amplification.
The best way to ensure your news gets the attention it deserves is to use the office's intake form. This form feeds into our project management software, which is accessible to the entire editorial team to act on. News submitted through the intake form gets an initial review each workday morning. Unless an item is extremely time sensitive and requires immediate action, the editorial team does a thorough review of each submission at our weekly meeting and decides what the appropriate format and distribution methods are for each item. Depending on when we meet and when an item is submitted, you should expect to hear from us within a week of submitting an item.
See examples of how we promote the college in our portfolio section
Key Criteria We Consider
- Strategic Relevance - Does it support institutional goals or highlight our mission? Is it relevant to prospective students, alumni, external media, or peer institutions? Does it align with the positioning platform developed from our comprehensive strategic positioning project.
- Audience Appeal - Will it resonate with a general audience or a key stakeholder group? Is it accessible to non-experts?
- Timeliness - Is there a specific window during which the story is most effective?
- Visual Potential - Are there dynamic, high-quality images or video opportunities?
- Capacity - Do we have the resources to give the piece the attention it deserves?
What to Expect When You Submit...
You might see it included in the weekly Lantern newsletter.
You might see a web article and/or social media post.
You might see a feature story, photo essay, or video.
You might see a news post with a campus-wide promotion, an additional promotion when findings are released.
Social post or event photo coverage.
A press release and direct engagement by the Office of Communications and Marketing with journalists and media outlets.
How We Decide Where a Story Lives and gets Covered
Groundbreaking research, institutional news, major awards, new academic initiatives, high-profile publications, large grants. public-facing projects.
Groundbreaking research, major awards, new academic initiatives, high-profile publications, and large grants. For inclusion in The Bulletin, it must also have a broad appeal to the alumnae audience.
Event coverage (poster sessions, conferences and symposiums, student events, etc.), faculty speaking engagements and media appearances, class snapshots such as field excursions and experiments
Niche publications, smaller departmental news, and faculty papers.
National or regional news interest, alignment with current media conversations, research findings with broad public relevance.
How Faculty Can Help
- Submit Early - The earlier you share an idea, the more options we have for coverage.
- Provide Context - Include background, significance, and potential visuals.
- Share Outcomes - If you’ve published or presented something, let us know!