How the Story Came to Be: UM archaeologist Mark Leone continued three decades of historic Annapolis excavation by unearthing a unique North American find -- a 300 year-old relic of public African spirit worship -- so early that it's purely African; decades older than the Americanized relics previously found. He worked with a Yale expert to help ID the "bundle."
How University Communications prepared for release to the media:
University Communications put together a complete package. Our release had quotes from the independent expert and we enlisted our design staff (Margaret Hall and Brian Payne) to create compelling images of a crumbling pile of dirt. We secured New York Times coverage by offering them an exclusive.
University Communications strategic input to overcome challenges:
*Framed the release to emphasize international significance
*Highlighted UM's long-term archaeological impact on our state capital
*Offered the exclusive to the Times to solidify the story (in which the identity of the particular find could not be conclusively ascertained
*Secured graphic elements that guaranteed front page placement.
Significance in the media marketplace:
The New York Times/ carried the story as the lead in its weekly science section. The story showed UM's commitment to the state's heritage. In a National Geographic story, a UCLA expert called the find "spectacular." Subsequently the story got saturation regional and world-wide coverage through the Associated Press and international wires, public radio's The World, French public radio, and the two main U.S. archaeology publications.
UM Newsdesk: UM Archaeologists Find Unique, Early U.S. Relic of African Worship
--Neil Tickner