AP Style is the house style of American journalism and, by extension, the house style of press releases. News editors expect it, wire services assume it, and releases that ignore it look amateur. This post is the working set of AP rules that actually matter for press releases in 2026.

Why AP Style still matters

A few reasons it hasn’t gone away.

Editors enforce it. Newsrooms run on AP Style, and editors catch deviations instinctively. A release with wrong number formatting, wrong date formatting, and wrong title capitalization reads as sloppy before the content even registers.

Wire services expect it. Cision, Business Wire, PR Newswire, and other wire services edit submissions to AP standards. Releases that already follow AP pass through cleanly; releases that don’t get rewritten or rejected.

It signals professionalism. In PR, small details matter. Getting the style right is a low-cost way to show the reader you know what you’re doing.

It’s consistent. Consistency matters in written communication. AP Style gives you a default for every edge case so you don’t have to reinvent conventions for each release.

The rules that matter

The full AP Stylebook runs over 600 pages. Most of it doesn’t apply to press releases. These are the rules that show up in almost every release and that editors notice immediately.

Numbers

Spell out one through nine. Use numerals for 10 and above.

Exceptions:

Numbers at the start of a sentence: spell them out, always. Don’t start a sentence with a numeral. Rewrite the sentence if the number is large.

Good: “Fifteen employees joined the company in April.” Good: “The company added 15 employees in April.” Bad: “15 employees joined the company in April.”

Large numbers: use the word form for millions, billions, trillions.

Dates

Format: Month Day, Year.

Month abbreviations in datelines. AP abbreviates months with 5+ letters when used with a specific date: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. March, April, May, June, July are never abbreviated.

When the month stands alone or with only a year, spell it out: “August 2026,” not “Aug. 2026.”

States

Use AP’s state abbreviations in datelines and addresses, not postal codes.

States that are never abbreviated: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, and Utah.

When a city stands alone (no state needed because it’s recognizable), don’t add the state. “New York” alone is fine. “Manhattan, New York” is wrong because Manhattan doesn’t need a state.

Titles

Capitalize formal titles only when they precede a name.

Abbreviate Mr., Mrs., Dr., etc. only with names. Most of the time in press releases, you’ll skip the honorific entirely and just use first and last name.

Don’t use courtesy titles. AP dropped “Mr.”, “Mrs.”, “Ms.” in second references years ago. Use the last name alone.

First reference: “Chief Executive Officer Jane Doe said…” Second reference: “Doe added that…”

Quotations

Use double quotation marks for direct quotes, single for quotes within quotes.

Commas and periods go inside quotation marks, always.

Attribution format: [Quote],” [Name] said. The word “said” is almost always the right verb. Avoid “stated,” “exclaimed,” “noted,” “opined,” “pointed out.” “Said” is neutral and invisible; fancier verbs distract.

The Oxford comma

AP Style does not use the Oxford comma in simple lists.

Exception: if omitting the comma creates ambiguity, include it. This is rare.

Company names

Use the company name as it’s officially written.

Drop “Inc.,” “LLC,” “Corp.” in second references and most contexts. Include the formal designation only in the boilerplate or in legal contexts.

First reference: “Acme Corp. reported earnings…” Second reference: “Acme said revenue grew…”

Don’t use all caps for company names unless the company’s brand is actually all caps (e.g., “NASA,” “IBM”). “APPLE” is wrong; “Apple” is right.

Time

Format: 10 a.m., 2 p.m., noon, midnight.

Dateline

The dateline is the first line of the release body.

After the dateline, space, em dash, space, and then the lead sentence.

Addresses

Use abbreviations for street types with specific numbered addresses.

Spell out when no specific number: “on Main Street” (not “on Main St.”).

State the full address only in contact info or legal sections. The body of the release should reference general locations (city, state) rather than specific street addresses.

Email, URLs, and social handles

Lowercase email addresses and URLs unless a specific part is case-sensitive.

Social handles use the @ format.

Don’t put URLs at the end of sentences with punctuation that blends in. “Visit www.acmecorp.com.” is fine, but “Visit www.acmecorp.com/about” can confuse readers about whether the period is part of the URL.

AP vs. web style

Press releases published on your own website, blog, or news page have some latitude to diverge from AP in small ways (clickable links, emoji in subheads, etc.). But the core text of a release you’re distributing to journalists and wire services should follow AP closely.

When in doubt, be stricter rather than looser. Editors would rather read a slightly formal release than one that plays fast and loose with conventions.

The AP Stylebook itself

If you write press releases regularly, buy access to the AP Stylebook. It’s the definitive reference for every rule and updates several times a year.

The online version is worth it for the search function. When you hit an edge case in a release (abbreviations for an unfamiliar country, punctuation with a specific verb, formatting for a technical term), the stylebook saves you from guessing.

The tolerable exceptions

A few places where strict AP adherence isn’t worth fighting.

Product names with unusual capitalization. If a brand is genuinely written “X.ai” or “iPhone,” use it that way, even if AP would normally flag it.

Industry-specific jargon. Some technical fields have terms AP hasn’t addressed. Default to the industry convention if the release is for an industry audience.

Internal company terminology. If your company has a specific way of writing product names, team names, or initiatives, use it, even if AP would recommend otherwise.

The point of AP Style in press releases is to make the release easy to read and edit for news professionals. When an AP rule conflicts with the thing that actually makes the release clear, use judgment.

The bottom line

AP Style is worth learning because it’s the shared language of American journalism. Get the big rules right (numbers, dates, titles, attribution, quotations, commas, state abbreviations), and your releases will look professional to every editor who opens them. Skip the rules and you’ll mark yourself as an amateur before the reader finishes the first paragraph.

The rules aren’t hard. The Stylebook is searchable. Take an afternoon to internalize the big ones, and every release you write from that point forward will land better with the people whose attention you’re trying to earn.