Format for bulletin announcements:
YES | SHORT DESCRIPTIVE TITLE: Day, Month (3 letter abbreviation), Date (see below), Time (see below), One or two sentences describing the event, including any other relevant information, contact name, phone (if desired), email, or website.
GRIEFSHARE CLASS: Thursdays, Jan. 16 – Apr. 9, 3:30-5:30pm, LC5. Rev. Scott Mitchell will be leading a “GriefShare” class to help those struggling with the recent loss of a loved one. The cost is $25 for materials. Scott Mitchell, 858-729-5595, scottm@ljpres.org.
1-DAY PARENTING CONFERENCE: Saturday, Jan. 25, 8:30am – 3pm, Fellowship Hall. We are thrilled to be hosting National Speakers, Jim & Lynne Jackson for a special 1-Day Parenting Conference! We promise it will be a day that will transform your parenting and give you practical tools to parent in a way that connects with your kids. Grandparents welcome. Breakfast and lunch included, childcare available. ljpres.events/parenting.
NO | Titles like “SAVE THE DATE:” or YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS!!!!:”. Including wording like “For more information please contact so and so by email. Their email address is…”
Time
La Jolla Pres style is to use pm or am. When showing time, do not include the :00 for a time on the hour. Use “space dash space” between the times if it includes both am and pm. A single dash between numbers is preferred. It increases readability to show the time in as succinct a manner as possible.
YES | 7am – 2pm, 8:15am – 2pm, 1 – 2 pm
NO | 7:00 a.m.—2:00 p.m., 8:15 AM to 2:00 PM, 1:00 PM—2:00 p.m.
Dates
Always include day of the week and date. On dates do not add “th” “nd” or “st” after the numeral of the date. Spell out the day, use a three liter abbreviation for the month.
YES | Friday, Jan. 29, Monday – Friday, Jun. 3—7
NO | Monday thru Friday: June 3rd thru 7th January 29th
Website
Always include the La Jolla Pres web address (ljpres.org) in your communications. It gives people a way to find out more about your event or how to contact the church.
We do not use the www before the web address; lljpres.org is all that is needed.
The web address should be displayed in all lower case.
Phone Numbers
Dashes, not dots or parenthesis
YES | 858-454-0713
NO | 858.454.0713 or (858) 454-0713
Who We Are
BEST | La Jolla Pres
YES | La Jolla Presbyterian Church, LJPC
NO | LJP, The Pres, Paul’s Church (It’s God’s Church)
Where Am I?
YES | Sanctuary, Life Center (referring to the building), Fellowship Hall (referring to the large room), LC1, LC2, etc., Children’s Wing, SunHouse, The Courtyard, Narthex (back of the church), Chancel (front of the church)
NO | Great Hall, big church, big room, youth building, lobby, stage (OK in Fellowship Hall, not in the Sanctuary)
We read email without capital letters.
YES | email: jims@ljpres.org
NO | email: JimS@LJPres.org
Commas
Use the Oxford comma: a list of three things should have two commas.
YES | The event will feature games, food, and prizes.
NO | The event will feature games, food and prizes.
Apostrophes
To show ownership or contractions.
YES | FAQs, DVDs, The dog’s collar, 30s, etc.
NO | FAQ’s, DVD’s, 30’s, 1950’s, etc.
Hyphenation
Avoid ending a line with a hyphenated word, even if it means re-writing the sentence. Hyphenated words kill readability, especially as widows.
Try and avoid breaking up La Jolla Pres on two lines.
Bulleted copy
Our style is to create inside hanging indents when we have bulleted copy with turnover lines:
- La Jolla Pres is an amazing place to experience God, grow with other Christians, and serve out in the community.
- La Jolla Pres is an amazing place to experience God, grow with other Christians, and serve out in the community.
NOT:
• La Jolla Pres is an amazing place to experience God, grow with other Christians, and serve out in the community.
- La Jolla Pres is an amazing place to experience God, grow with other Christians, and serve out in the community.
Orphans and widows
Orphans are unsightly short lines left at the top of a page or column of text. (See Widows.)
As the Bible says, care for the widows. Please don’t leave them
standing on a line all by
themselves.
Using ! And ?
One is enough, thank you!!!!!
Smart Quotes
Don’t use inch and foot marks in place of “smart quotes” and apostrophes.
Punctuation
Goes inside the smart quotes.
To capitalize or not?
Capitalize pronouns for God.
Don’t capitalize the words biblical or scriptural (or their derivatives).
Avoid capitalizing for effect.
Elipses
Be sure you are using … and not .. or ….. .
Quoting Scripture
YES | Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men… 1 Corinthians 3:13
NO | 13Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men… 1 Cor 3:13 NIV
Numbers
Spell out numbers from one to ten. Use numerals for numbers higher than ten.
Space
We use only one space after a period at the end of a sentence.