Free Throw Championship Press Releases

Spread the Word!

By starting early on publicity, your council’s public relations chairman can use his media contacts to attract competitors and notify the community about the contest.

After reserving a basketball court and setting a date for the competition, use the sample press release from the Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship Rules, Regulations and Information Guide (#1928) to announce the event. Retype it, double-spaced, on council letterhead, filling in the necessary information.

Consider the following possible announcements.

Contest Announcement
Local K of C to Sponsor Youth
Free Throw Championship

All boys and girls ages 10 to 14 are invited to participate in the local level of competition for the Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship. The local competition will be held (competition date) at (time) at (location ).  


 The Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship is sponsored annually, with winners progressing through local, district, and state (or province ) competitions. International champions are announced by the K of C headquarters based on scores from the state-level competitions. All boys and girls will compete in their respective age and gender divisions. Since its beginning in 1972, over 2.5 million youths have participated in the contest.  


All contestants on the local level are recognized for their participation. Participants are required to furnish proof of age and written parental consent. For entry forms or additional information contact: (name and telephone number of contact person ).


 With more than 1.7 million members, the Knights of Columbus is the world’s largest Catholic lay organization. It provides members and their families with volunteer opportunities in service to the Catholic Church, the community, families, and young people. In (year), the Knights of Columbus at all levels of the organization raised and distributed $(number) million to charity and rendered (number ) million hours of volunteer service.

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 Deliver or mail the release to the sports and local news editors of nearby newspapers. Make sure to include the name and phone number of the contact person. Ask editors to publish a reminder closer to the date of the championship or to list it in the community or weekend calendars. Talk with assignment editors and suggest the championship as a great opportunity for a feature story.

Once the competition is over, make arrangements for a story about your winners. Here is a sample champions announcement:

 

Knights of Columbus
Free Throw Champions

 (Number of winners) boys and girls from (town or towns), ages 10 to 14, were named local champions of the Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship, and have earned the right to compete at the district level. (Council name and number) in (location) sponsored the local competition at (location). All youngsters ages 10 to 14 were eligible to participate.

(Name) was the 10-year-old girls' champion and (name) was the winner of the 10-year-old boys’ division. In the 11-year-old bracket, (name) was the girls’ champion and (name) was the boys’ champion. Twelve-year-old winners in the girls’ and boys’ divisions were (name) and (name). The 13-year-old girls’ division was won by (name) and the boys’ by (name). Fourteen-year-old champions were (name) in the girls’ bracket and (name) in the boys’.

Each contestant attempted 15 free throws in the contests. All ties were settled by successive rounds of five free throws per contestant until a winner emerged. Each of these winners will compete in the district competition to be held on (date) at (location) with an eye toward moving on to the state and international levels.