How to Submit

FP Weekly – Email your submission to fpweekly@firstparish.org following the guidelines below.

Sunday Announcements – Use the Sunday Announcements form to submit your announcement following the guidelines below.

The submission deadline for both FP Weekly and Sunday Announcements is noon on Wednesday, for publication that Friday (FP Weekly) and Sunday (Sunday Announcements) respectively.

Website Updates – Use the Website Updates form to submit any changes (ex: new announcements, updates, remove outdated events) you would like to make to your group or committee’s webpage. 

Facebook – Email your submission to chill@firstparish.org. 

FP Weekly Submission Guidelines

FP Weekly is our weekly email newsletter that is sent out each Friday morning.  Sign up and/or review past editions here.  Email submissions to fpweekly@firstparish.org by Wednesday at noon to be published that Friday.

FP Weekly Guidelines

• Submit all files in Word or .TXT; no PDFs.
• Images (.JPG or .PNG) must be attached separately from Word document. Do not paste the image you want to include into the Word document.
• Any links must not be embedded into the text. Paste links clearly in the submission. For example, do not have a button that says, “Click Here,” but instead write “Click Here: examplewebsite.com.”
• FP Weekly submissions can be submitted once and included each week until the event is over. There is no limit to how often they can run, although their position in the email may change week-by-week to help highlight other submissions.
• Include event title, day of week, month, date, time (range), and location (either the room name or Zoom).
• Include a description, along with sponsoring committee/organization (events not sponsored by a First Parish group or committee cannot be publicized).
• Include a contact person with name, email, and phone number.
• There is no word limit for FP Weekly, but we ask that you keep the information concise as to not overwhelm the size of the email, and to hold the attention of your readers.
• Be sure to spell check.
• If you are meeting in person, always be sure to reserve your room with the space reservation form, before publicizing an event. If you make changes to your room or timeslot but have already submitted a blurb for publication, you must resubmit the blurb with updated information by the next applicable deadline. The same rules apply to Zoom meetings.

Example Submission: 

Annual Tea Party

Tuesday, September 14, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in the Parlor

Join the us for a lovely afternoon of tea, snacks, and fellowship. This beloved tradition comes but once a year, we hope to see you there! Hosted by the First Parish Social Gathering Committee. For reservations or more information, please contact Suzie Wish at suziewish@gmail.com or 617-8211.

Page Formatting:

• Times New Roman, Size 12 is standard.
• Do not add creative formatting. FP Weekly is sent through Mailchimp, which cannot handle some of the same formatting as a document.
• No bolding, italics, tabs, or spaces to position text.
• Please do not use “&.”
• Write out the full state name, no abbreviations.
• You are responsible for spelling errors and correct dates. We do not send retraction emails if a mistake is made.

Sunday Announcement Submission Guidelines

“Sunday Announcements” are printed and handed out by ushers to those attending Sunday morning worship services in person, as well shared digitally with those attending on Zoom.  Use the Sunday Announcements form to submit your announcement.

Sunday Announcement Guidelines

• Submissions must be 600 characters or less (approximately 100 words), no exceptions.
• Your event must be sponsored by a First Parish group or program to be included.
• Your submission will appear each week until your event has occurred.
• You are responsible for proofreading and editing your submission, which will be printed exactly as submitted. Staff will not be editing announcements for spelling, grammar, or content, so please make sure your announcements are ready to go as is.
• Sunday Announcements are generally for upcoming events. If you have a general announcement you’d like to have made that’s not linked to an event, please contact the staff person in your group’s area of ministry (Rev. Paul Langston-Daley for Social Action, Beth Norton for Music/Choir, etc.).
• If you wish to submit an update to your announcement leading into your event, you are welcome to do so.
• You must reserve your space with the space reservation form, before announcing any in-person events in church buildings or on church grounds.
• For virtual events or events with a virtual attendance component, you should share your Zoom link in FP weekly or on the church website. “Sunday Announcements” will not include Zoom links. We will include a note each week referring people to FP Weekly for Zoom links.