This page provides an outline for how to build a Merit achievement that covers multiples types of honors lists (Dean's/President's etc.) in one story. In order to personalize the achievement for your students you will need to prepare a spreadsheet of student data to use as placeholders throughout the achievement. Here are the placeholders used in this story:
- FIRST NAME*
- LAST NAME*
- HOMETOWN*
- ZIP CODE*
- EMAIL ADDRESS*
- MAJOR
- CLASSIFICATION - The student's year on campus (eg. freshman, junior)
- HONORS LIST - The name of the honors list that the student was named to (eg. Dean's List, President's List)
*= Data required by Merit
Achievement Title & Summary
Your achievement title and summary will be used for the online version of your story and shared across social media. They will also appear on your school's Merit page.
Your summary should act as a comprehensive overview of the achievement. After your summary, readers will see a list of students who are part of the story.
|
Achievement Title: Merit University Announces Spring 2026 Dean’s and President’s List Achievement Summary: Merit University congratulates more than 250 students who were named to the Spring 2026 Dean’s and President’s Lists. To be named to the Dean’s List, a student must maintain a 3.5 GPA or higher while also taking a course load of at least 12 hours. To be named to the President’s List, a student must maintain a 4.0 GPA while also taking a course load of at least 12 hours. |
Individual Story
|
Headline: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME] Named to Merit University’s Spring 2026 [LIST] Body: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [HOMETOWN], was named to the Merit University’s Spring 2026 [HONORS LIST]. [LAST NAME] is a [CLASSIFICATION] majoring in [MAJOR]. [LAST NAME] was among more than 250 students named to an honor list this semester. To be named to the Dean’s List, a student must maintain a 3.5 GPA or higher while also taking a course load of at least 12 hours. To be named to the President’s List, a student must maintain a 4.0 GPA while also taking a course load of at least 12 hours. |
Note: The spreadsheet used in this sample story includes placeholders for the student's year on campus (eg. freshman, junior) and the honors list they were named to (eg. Dean's List, President's List)
Group Press Release
This is the version of your press release that will be sent to newspapers interested in multiple students from your spreadsheet. It's a local story that will include a list of only the students from a paper's coverage area.
Your group press release will have an opening, repeating and closing section. The opening and repeating sections will be the same for every newspaper. The repeating section will contain all of your placeholders and will be the only part of the press release that varies from paper to paper. Use the last sentence of your opening to introduce your list of students.
|
Headline: Merit University Announces Spring 2026 Dean’s and President’s List Opening: The following local students were named to the Merit University Spring 2026 Dean’s or President’s Lists: Repeating: [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME], of [HOMETOWN], a [CLASSIFICATION] majoring in [MAJOR] was named to the [HONORS LIST]. Closing: More than 250 students were named to the Spring 2026 Honor lists at Merit University. Help us in celebrating their academic susses in making the Dean’s or President’s Lists. To be named to the Dean’s List, a student must maintain a 3.5 GPA or higher while also taking a course load of at least 12 hours. To be named to the President’s List, a student must maintain a 4.0 GPA while also taking a course load of at least 12 hours. |
Note: Merit will automatically add your saved boilerplate to the closing section of your group press release.
Add Images and Publish
Achievements are at their best with images included. If possible, include a photo with your story. Get a picture of the achievement in action or a group shot of the students involved. If you're unable to include a photo, instead consider using a school or department logo. The image(s) you choose will appear on your online stories and also go to media recipients.
Use this template as inspiration to publish your next achievement. Log into your Merit account here. If you’re looking for more details on how to build this template into the Merit achievement workflow you can follow the step by step tutorial here.