National Publicist Day™ is celebrated annually around the world on October 30th.
Founded in 2015, it is a day of appreciation and recognition of public relations professionals. National Publicist Day™ was created by Jordanna Stephen, owner and principal of Just Good PR. With so many other national days being celebrated, she realized that hardworking publicists didn’t have a day of their own. She looked into some dates that would have meaning for those in the PR industry and came across October 30th as a date of significance.
The very first press release
On October 30th, 1906, The New York Times printed verbatim the very first press release written by Ivy Lee (“the father of modern PR”). The press release came in response to a tragic accident from his client, The Pennsylvania Railroad. A couple of days before, 50 people lost their lives due to a three-car train jumping a trestle in New Jersey and plunging into a thoroughfare creek.
Mr. Lee created the first press release that afternoon on October 28th. He convinced the railroad to distribute a public statement and to provide a special train to get reporters to the scene of the accident. The New York Times was so impressed with this innovative approach to corporate communications that on October 30th, it printed his “Statement from the Road” press release.