Infomailer Submissions [New]
Share your events, workshops, seminars and notices with the staff and students of the Faculty of Health Sciences.
1. Important Information
- Each monthly issue will now be distributed on the last Tuesday of the month. (Previously it was on a Monday)
- The submission deadline is on the Tuesday a week before the distribution date. The exact date will also be indicated in the Infomailer.
- Please also view our Infomailer Submission Guidelines below, as well as our Editorial Guidelines for detailed instructions on submissions.
- Complete the form at the bottom of this page to make your submission.
We would also like to encourage you to advertise your event/workshop/academic activity/opportunity via the following platforms:
- Your own departmental, divisional or entity websites.
- Your departmental, divisional or entity social media accounts. Please tag the Faculty's social media accounts and we will repost these:
- Facebook: UCT Faculty of Health Sciences
- LinkedIn: UCT Faculty of Health Sciences
- Instagram: ucthealthsci
- Twitter: @UCTHealthSci
- Your preferred networks.
Please contact the FHS Communications & Marketing Department with any queries.
2. Infomailer Submission Guidelines
ℹ️ Please familiarise yourself with these guidelines before making a submission as this will ensure that it is more likely to be seen, read, and acted on by all who receive the Infomailer each month.
The FHS Infomailer reaches approximately 19,000 staff and students each month. Engagement data shows a clear pattern: the longer and more text-heavy the infomailer, the less of it readers actually see.
Most readers spend less than 60 seconds scanning a newsletter on a mobile device or desktop. If your content is buried in a long email, it is unlikely to be seen.
What the data tells us
Most content heavy items below the midpoint of the infomailer receive little to no engagement. After layout improvements we noticed click activity spread far more evenly across the infomailer. Key changes included shorter descriptions, clear action buttons, and a more scannable structure. These guidelines exist to give every submission the best possible chance of being seen and acted on.
These guidelines apply to all FHS departments, units, and external contributors submitting to the Infomailer. They sit alongside the existing Editorial Guidelines and do not replace them - they complement them with practical formatting rules.
1.1 Clarity and specificity
Your title becomes the heading of your submission. It should be specific and descriptive on its own - many readers see only the title before deciding whether to read further.
- Avoid leading with the organising body e.g "Department of Human Biology - Annual Family Day". This buries the event behind the department name - flip it: "Annual Family Day - Dept of Human Biology, 10 January."
1.2 Frontloading
- Put the most important word first. Email clients and mobile devices may sometimes truncate subject lines and preview text - the first 40 characters are usually the most read. "Hackathon at GSH - R100k prize pool, 10-20 January" works far better than "Join us at the FHS Hackathon 2026 at Groote Schuur Hospital."
1.3 Audience signalling
- Where the submission has a specific target audience, attempt to say so in the title rather than the description. "Basic HIV Counselling — open to nurses, social workers and community health workers" immediately self-selects the right readers.
✓ DO | ✗ DON'T |
"Basic HIV Counselling - 1 day hybrid course" | "Save the date!" |
"Health Hackathon 2026 @ Groote Schuur Hospital" | "Exciting opportunity for FHS students and staff" |
"PhD in Public Mental Health — Call for Applications" | "Workshop" (with no further context in the title) |
Closed
2.1 Copy length
Every additional line of text in the newsletter increases the total scroll length of the email. Keeping your submission concise does not diminish it; it ensures it is read.
The scroll problem
The Infomailer contains 20–30 items each month. If every submission includes a full event description, a speaker biography and programme outline, the email becomes the length of a document and not an infomailer. Readers close it. Your event goes unnoticed.
2.2 What to include in your description
Your description is the only body text that appears in the infomailer beside your title and event details. It should answer one question for the reader: why should I care about this? It is not a place to repeat information that is already in the structured fields (date, time, venue, contact), nor to reproduce your full event programme.
✓ DO | ✗ DON'T |
Write 1–3 short sentences (max 300 characters) | Do not write more than 300 characters |
Lead with the benefit or relevance to the reader | Do not repeat the date, time or venue in the description |
Let the 'More Info' link carry full programme detail | Do not paste in a full event programme or course outline |
"Join us for a hands-on two-day course on obstetric emergency management — open to midwives and nurses. R3,000 per person." | "The Essential Steps in Managing Obstetric Emergencies (ESMOE) course, designed and presented by the Division of Nursing and Midwifery at UCT in collaboration with Dr Jason Marcus from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, aims to address critical skills shortages..." |
Closed
3.1 Why visuals matter — and where they go wrong
A well-chosen image helps your submission stand out in a long newsletter. The most common problems we receive are: portrait-format event posters that stretch the email layout, images packed with text that is unreadable at thumbnail size, and graphics with button-shaped elements that readers assume are clickable but are not. Keep in mind that many people will read this email on a mobile device, so ensure the image displays clearly on smaller screens.
3.2 What to put on your image
Your image is a thumbnail and not a poster. The most effective thumbnails use a single strong visual (a photograph, an icon, or a simple graphic) that draws the eye and identifies the subject. Text and detail on the image should be minimal.
The button problem
In email newsletters, readers expect anything that looks like a button — a rounded rectangle with text like 'Register Now', 'Click Here', or 'Find Out More' — to be clickable. When these appear inside an image (and are therefore not clickable), readers click them and nothing happens. This creates a poor experience. The Comms and Marketing team will add the CTA button; you do not need to include one in your image.
✓ DO | ✗ DON'T |
Use a single strong image or graphic element | Do not include the full event title, speaker names, programme and date all on one image |
Limit text to event name only (max 5–6 words) | Do not repeat information already in the body text |
Use high-contrast colours so the image reads at small size | Do not use very small text — it will be unreadable as a thumbnail |
Include your department or UCT logo if relevant | Do not include graphic elements that look like buttons (e.g. 'Register Now' banners with rounded corners and fill colours) — readers expect these to be clickable and are confused when they are not |
Closed