How to write an obituary for a newspaper

The funeral home gives you a form. Or maybe they email a Word document with blanks to fill in. Either way, you're staring at it with a deadline of tomorrow at noon because the newspaper needs the obituary submitted two days before it runs, and the service is Saturday.

Nobody teaches you how to do this. You probably haven't read a newspaper obituary closely since you were a kid flipping past them to the comics. Now you need to write one that honors a person you love while fitting inside a format designed for efficiency, not emotion.

Here's the thing about newspaper obituaries: they operate under constraints that online obituaries don't. Word limits and per-line charges dictate what you can say. You can't just pour your heart out and hit publish. You have to say something real inside a box that's measured in column inches. That restriction, awkward as it feels, can actually help. When you only have 250 words, every sentence earns its place.

Newspaper obituaries are not the same as online ones

If you've already written something longer for a memorial website or the funeral program, you might be tempted to just trim it down. That sometimes works, but newspaper obituaries follow a different logic than what you'd post online.

Newspapers are read by the whole community, not just people who knew the deceased. A neighbor three streets over, a former coworker from 1987, someone from the congregation who hadn't seen your dad in years. They need enough information to recognize who died and enough detail to feel like they've been told something true about that person.

Online obituaries can sprawl. They can include slideshows, comment sections, unlimited text. Newspaper obituaries can't. They exist in a physical space alongside other obituaries, and the paper's formatting requirements reflect that.

According to the National Newspaper Association, community papers typically run obituaries at a per-line or per-word rate, with a base price for a standard-length notice and additional charges for longer content or photographs. Pricing varies enormously. A weekly community paper in Iowa might charge $75. The Boston Globe charges over $400 for a standard obituary with photo.

Before you write: call the newspaper

This step saves more headaches than anything else in the process. Before you write a single word, call the obituary desk (sometimes listed under "classified advertising") at your chosen paper and ask:

What's the word or line limit for a standard obituary? What's the cost per line or per word? Is there a flat-rate option? Do they accept photos, and what format? What's the submission deadline for your desired print date? Do they have a template or style guide?

Some papers will email you a template. Others have submission portals online. The Associated Press Stylebook, which most U.S. newspapers follow, dictates specific formatting for dates, addresses, and survivors' names. Knowing this upfront prevents back-and-forth edits under deadline pressure.

One practical note: many funeral homes will handle newspaper submission for you as part of their services. If you're working with one, ask whether they submit directly or whether you need to contact the paper yourself.

The standard newspaper structure

Newspaper obituaries follow a loose template. You don't have to stick to it rigidly, but deviating too far can cause confusion for readers who scan obituaries quickly. Here's the general sequence:

Start with the full legal name, age, and city of residence. This is the lead. "Margaret Ellen Torres, 74, of Wichita, Kansas, died June 10, 2026, at Via Christi St. Francis." Some papers use "passed away" instead of "died," but either works. If the person went by a nickname, include it in quotes after the first name: Margaret "Maggie" Ellen Torres.

Next come brief biographical facts. Born where, to whom. Married whom, when. Major career. Military service if applicable. Education if relevant to the person's story.

Then survivors, listed in order: spouse, children (and their spouses), grandchildren, siblings. The standard format uses semicolons between family groups. "She is survived by her husband, Robert; sons David (Jennifer) of Austin and Michael of Denver; four grandchildren; and sister Patricia."

After that, those preceded in death (family members who died before the deceased, kept brief), then service details covering where, when, who is officiating, and whether the service is public or private.

Finally, memorial donations if the family prefers contributions to a specific organization instead of flowers.

That's the skeleton. Within that framework, you have room for one or two sentences that actually sound like the person. Those sentences are what separate a real obituary from a form letter.

Where to put the personality

Maggie Torres worked at the public library for thirty-one years. That's a fact. But the real Maggie is in the details: she kept a jar of Jolly Ranchers at the reference desk and could recommend a book for any mood, including "my mother-in-law is visiting and I need to seem busy."

In a newspaper obituary, you have maybe one to two sentences for this kind of specificity. Use them well. Pick a detail that would make someone who knew the person smile with recognition.

Some options that work in tight formats:

A characteristic habit. "He never left the house without a crossword puzzle in his back pocket." A phrase they always said. "She ended every phone call with 'don't be a stranger.'" How they spent their free time, specifically. Not "she enjoyed gardening" but "she grew tomatoes every summer and gave away more than she kept."

If you're struggling to choose just one detail, think about what a stranger would find interesting. The biographical facts handle the resume. The detail handles the person.

I wrote about this at more length in how to write an obituary that sounds like a person, which covers the full creative process. For newspaper purposes, you're working with less room, so one good detail is enough.

Death notice vs. full obituary

Many families don't realize these are two different products at most newspapers. A death notice is a bare announcement: name, date of death, service information. It might run three to five lines. The cost is lower and the purpose is purely informational. Think of it as the classified listing.

A full obituary includes biographical content, survivors, and personal detail. It's what most people picture when they think of a newspaper obituary. It costs more and takes more space.

Some papers run death notices for free if the funeral home submits them, while charging for full obituaries. Others charge for both. If budget is a concern, a death notice in the newspaper combined with a full obituary on a free memorial site is a reasonable approach. The people who want the full story can find it online; the newspaper notice tells the community that the person died and where to pay respects.

Formatting pitfalls that delay publication

Newspaper editors send obituaries back for revision more often than you'd expect. Common reasons:

Inconsistent name formatting. If you write "David Torres" in one place and "Dave" in another, they'll flag it. Pick one and stick with it throughout, except the first mention where you can include the nickname in quotes.

Survivor lists that are unclear about relationships. "She is survived by John, Mary, and Sarah" doesn't tell the reader who these people are. Each name needs a relationship identifier: "daughter Mary Thompson of Portland."

Missing dates or locations for services. Papers won't run "service to be announced" in most cases. They want specifics or they'll hold the obituary until you provide them.

Exceeding word count. If the paper allows 300 words and you submit 450, they'll either charge you substantially more or ask you to cut it. Better to write within the limit from the start.

Photos that are too low-resolution. Newspapers need at least 300 DPI for print. A small Facebook profile picture won't reproduce well. If you have a physical photo, scanning it at high resolution at a library or office supply store works.

A sample 250-word newspaper obituary

Here's what a complete newspaper obituary might look like at standard length:

Margaret "Maggie" Ellen Torres, 74, of Wichita, Kansas, died Tuesday, June 10, 2026, at Via Christi St. Francis, surrounded by her family.

Born March 15, 1952, in Hutchinson, Kansas, to Gerald and Dorothy (Miller) Novak, she married Robert Torres on August 22, 1975, in Wichita.

Maggie worked as a reference librarian at the Wichita Public Library for 31 years, retiring in 2014. She kept a jar of Jolly Ranchers at her desk and never let a patron leave without a book recommendation. She was a member of St. Anne's Catholic Church and a volunteer with the Kansas Humane Society.

She is survived by her husband, Robert, of the home; sons David (Jennifer) Torres of Austin, Texas, and Michael Torres of Denver, Colorado; four grandchildren, Lily, James, Sofia, and Oliver; and sister Patricia Novak-Cole of Hutchinson.

She was preceded in death by her parents and brother Gerald Novak Jr.

Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, June 13, at Downing & Lahey Mortuary. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 14, at St. Anne's Catholic Church, followed by burial at Calvary Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to the Kansas Humane Society or the Wichita Public Library Foundation.

That's 237 words. It includes the required information, service details, and a sentence about the Jolly Ranchers that makes Maggie feel real.

Working with funeral homes on newspaper submissions

Most funeral homes have a standard obituary form they use to collect information from families. They'll ask for biographical details, survivors, and service information, then draft something or submit your written version directly to the newspaper.

A few things worth knowing about this process:

Funeral homes often have established relationships with local papers, which speeds up submission and reduces back-and-forth. They know each paper's formatting requirements. If your funeral home offers to handle the submission, let them, unless you have a strong preference for writing it yourself.

However, funeral-home-drafted obituaries tend toward the generic. They get the facts right but may not include the details that make the obituary personal. You can ask to review and edit the draft before submission.

If you're handling everything yourself, you might want to write a condolence letter to the family alongside the obituary work, or if you're planning the broader service, our guide to planning a celebration of life covers the full picture.

Timing and deadlines

Newspaper obituary deadlines are strict in a way that online submissions are not. Here's a general timeline:

For a daily newspaper, submit at least two business days before you want the obituary to appear. If someone dies on Monday and you want it in Wednesday's paper, submit by Monday evening or Tuesday morning.

For weekly newspapers, submit by the paper's weekly deadline, which is often two to three days before publication. A paper that publishes on Thursday might need submissions by Monday or Tuesday.

Weekend editions are tricky. Many papers have separate weekend obituary deadlines that fall earlier in the week. Call and ask specifically about weekend timing.

If you miss a deadline, the obituary runs in the next available edition. This matters if you need it published before the funeral so attendees know when and where to come. When timing is tight, some families publish a brief death notice immediately and follow up with the full obituary in a later edition.

When a newspaper obituary isn't necessary

It's worth saying: you don't have to publish a newspaper obituary. There's no legal requirement. Some families skip the paper entirely and publish online only, especially if the deceased was younger and their community lives primarily on social media.

Reasons you might still choose a newspaper: the person was active in a local community that reads the paper, you want to reach older friends and neighbors who aren't online, or the family has a tradition of newspaper announcements.

Reasons you might skip it: cost, the person lived in multiple cities with no single paper serving their whole community, or the family prefers privacy.

Either way, having the words written down matters. The eulogy writing process is separate from the obituary, but much of the biographical research overlaps. If you've already gathered the dates and details for one, the other gets easier.

When I Die Files gives you a place to draft and store things like this before they're needed. You can write your own obituary, save service preferences, and keep everything organized so your family isn't doing this work under deadline pressure while grieving.

Keep a copy

Newspaper obituaries get archived, but not always accessibly. Papers go behind paywalls, change their websites, or fold entirely. Once yours is published, save a copy. Clip the physical paper. Screenshot the online version. Store the text somewhere your family can find it later.

Years from now, a grandchild doing a school project or a cousin tracing family history will want this. The newspaper version is the public record. Make sure it survives in your own files too.