Campus News and Storytelling Guidelines

The Georgia Tech community operates much like a small town within the larger metro Atlanta area. As in any city, the news aims to serve a wide range of people with varied interests and levels of participation in campus life.

On the whole, campus news should be timely, accurate, relevant, and interesting to a large proportion of the Georgia Tech community.

What are we looking for in campus news stories?

  • Timely: The subject is a recent event, upcoming event, or breaking news or issue.
  • Accurate: Information is taken from reliable campus sources, cross referenced, copyedited, and fact checked.
  • Relevant: The information is relatable or tied to people’s lives within the Tech community. Or, it localizes a national issue or topic.
  • Interesting: People will enjoy reading about the subject and it could, in some way, enhance their Georgia Tech experience.
  • Strategic: The information aligns with Georgia Tech's strategic plan and goals.

Areas of Emphasis

Campus communication covers a broad spectrum of information. It will emphasize those stories that support any of several key areas:

  • Diversity
  • Safety
  • Sustainability
  • Teaching and learning
  • Campus leadership
  • Tech’s influence
  • Life at Tech
  • Working at/for Tech

How Do We Find News?

  • Meetings with campus communicators, administrators, faculty, and students
  • Social media
  • Campus listservs and other communications
  • External media

Determining Whether to Cover a Story

  • How does the story connect to an area of emphasis or strategic goal?
  • Who would be interested in knowing this information, or who does this affect?
  • What is the value in sharing this with the rest of campus?
  • Does sharing this story serve me, or others?
  • Is now the time to write about or share this news? If you can only tell the story once, is there a better time to do it?

Elements of a Campus News Story

  • Firsthand interviews with students, faculty, or staff members
  • Supporting facts or data
  • Background context and links to related content
  • Accompanying media, such as photo or video
  • Direction for more information (a website or other point of contact)

Other Things We Value

  • Accuracy
  • Timeliness
  • Writing quality
  • Consistency
  • Brevity
  • User experience

Editorial Guidelines

  • Stories should be written in a clear, engaging, and accessible style that minimizes jargon and buzz words.
  • Stories can range anywhere from 300 to 1,200 words.
  • Articles must include at least one visual asset (photo, infographic, illustration, video, audio, etc.).
  • Each photo or illustration should have a one-sentence caption, plus a photo credit, if possible.
  • Authors are responsible for verifying all facts, including dates, as well as the correct spelling of names of people and organizations.
  • Please refer to and use our Editorial Guide
  • Gatech.edu requires all authors to transfer exclusive copyright, including the right to electronic distribution, to the Georgia Institute of Technology.