The following suggestions will help you develop a variety of approaches for working with your local newspapers.

Letters to the Editor
Producing a Newspaper Supplement
Fillers
Editorials

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor can be an effective way to convey a message. When you see an article about a technology, business or education issue that impacts the profession, write a letter to the editor and include information about how local organizations are addressing the issue, then work in a reference to National Engineers Week. The letter should be signed by the local National Engineers Week chair or other representative of your committee.

Interviews

If you appoint a prominent business or civic leader to chair Engineers Week, work with that individual's staff to try and arrange interviews with local reporters.

Features

Many of your activities may lend themselves to feature stories, which are generally longer and take on more of a human interest flavor than straight news stories. Does an award recipient have a unique story? Is there a little known engineering feat or historical monument in your community? Could a reporter be taken on a tour of a new facility or shadow a student participating in an "Engineer-for-a-Day" program?

Producing A Newspaper Supplement

An Engineers Week supplement in your local newspaper offers you an opportunity to provide in-depth coverage of the week and your activities, and also offers local organizations a chance for visibility. It is an attractive project for the newspaper because it generates advertising revenue.

Producing a supplement is time consuming so you should start early. First, contact your local newspaper's advertising department and arrange a meeting. Often the department is willing to help recruit advertisers and to assemble the supplement. You can also find out whether the paper will help sponsor the supplement or if it must be supported entirely by advertising revenue. If one newspaper is not responsive, try another.

You will need to determine whether there is enough of an advertising base to generate the revenue you will need. If you decide to proceed, organize a committee to approach potential sponsors. The most likely sponsors are those who employ engineers and suppliers to engineering businesses.

In addition to generating advertising, you will need to develop the news and feature material. Talk to your ad sponsors about their ideas. They may have exciting new projects to feature.

Perhaps engineers' volunteer work with local schools can be highlighted. Additionally, you might need some "filler," interesting facts to take up dead space.

Fillers

Fillers are used to take up space in publications like newspaper supplements and engineering society newsletters. Some examples include:

• Next to teaching, engineering has the largest number of professional practitioners, and electrical engineering encompasses the largest number of engineers. (Source: The Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers, Inc.)
  
  
• The median first-year salary for graduating engineering students, as of January 1, 2002, was $47,000 The highest paying branch of engineering for experienced professionals was in petroleum engineering, with an annual median at $114,600. (Source: National Society of Professional Engineers)
  
  
• National Engineers Week always coincides with George Washington's birthday. Washington's surveying skills led to his title as first U.S. engineer. On June 9, 1778, at Valley Forge, PA, General George Washington issued an order calling for engineers and engineering education. This order is considered to be the genesis of a U.S. Army Engineers School which was eventually headquartered at Ft. Belvoir, VA. (Source: American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
  
  
• The word engineer has its roots in the Latin word ingeniare, which means to devise in the sense of construct, craft, etc. Several other words are related to this word, including ingenuity. (Source: Professor John Lienhard, University of Houston)
  
  
• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the first quarter of 1999 there were 1.5 million employed engineers.