AP Style Basics for Press Releases

AP style is the newsroom convention most editors expect a press release to follow: consistent handling of dates, numbers, titles and punctuation so the release reads like copy that could run without changes. The rules below cover the basics that show up in almost every release. The Associated Press Stylebook is the actual authority on all of this, and it is revised regularly, so check the current edition for anything unusual or not covered here.

Why AP style matters for a press release

An editor who has to fix a release’s style before running it is doing extra work, and extra work makes a release less likely to get used as written. Following the common conventions below does not guarantee a story runs, but it removes one easy reason to set the release aside.

Datelines

A dateline opens the lead paragraph: the city name, followed by the state or country abbreviation when the city is not widely known on its own, then the date. A handful of major cities are commonly used alone without a state or country. Example: Denver, Sept. 19, 2026. The exact list of standalone cities and the current state abbreviations are set by the Stylebook and are worth checking directly if you are unsure about a particular one.

Dates and times

A common convention abbreviates months when used with a specific day, such as Sept. 19, and spells the month out when it stands alone or with only a year, such as September 2026. Numerals are used for the day without “st,” “nd,” “rd” or “th,” so Sept. 19 rather than Sept. 19th. For times, figures are used with a.m. or p.m., and the top of the hour is written without “:00,” so 7 p.m. rather than 7:00 p.m.

Numbers

A common convention spells out one through nine and uses numerals for 10 and above, with exceptions for ages, percentages, money and dimensions, which generally take numerals even below 10. This is one of the areas where editions and exceptions vary the most, so check the current Stylebook if the number in question is a date, an age or a measurement rather than a plain count.

Titles

Capitalize a formal title when it comes directly before a name, such as Chief Executive Priya Anand, and lowercase it when it follows the name or stands alone, such as Priya Anand, chief executive of Brightloop. Avoid stacking a long, invented title before a name; if a title runs more than a few words, put it after the name instead.

State names

Spell out state names in the body of a release. When a state name needs to be abbreviated, such as after a city in a dateline, AP uses its own abbreviations, which are not the same as the two-letter postal codes used on envelopes. Check the current Stylebook for the exact abbreviation, since a few of them are easy to get wrong from memory.

Percent

The handling of “percent” versus the percent sign has changed between editions of the Stylebook. Because this rule has moved over time, do not assume either form is always correct; check the current edition and stay consistent within a single release.

Quotation punctuation

Commas and periods go inside closing quotation marks; colons and semicolons go outside. Question marks and exclamation points go inside the quotation marks when they are part of the quoted material, and outside when they apply to the whole sentence rather than just the quote.

The serial comma

AP style generally does not use the serial, or Oxford, comma in a simple series, such as red, white and blue. It does use one when leaving it out would create ambiguity. This is a rule worth applying carefully, sentence by sentence, rather than as a fixed habit, since the exception exists precisely for the cases where it matters most.

When you are not sure

These are the conventions that come up most often when writing a press release. The Associated Press Stylebook is the actual authority on all of this, it is revised on a regular schedule, and specific rules, abbreviations and exceptions change between editions. If a release hinges on a rule not covered here, or one you are not confident about, check the current edition rather than guessing. See the format guide for where these details fit inside the release, and the quotes guide for how quotation punctuation applies around attribution.