Summer seems to have finally arrived in the UK with a recent mini heatwave. If that’s distracted you from getting your features filed for July, then don’t worry as we have some ideas for you. From events happening right now like Glastonbury to pieces you can cover later in July such as the London Craft Beer Festival – here is how the Journalist Enquiry Service can assist you in getting the information you need. 

What to cover right now?

Wimbledon kicks off on 30 June and starts two weeks of action at the home of British tennis. The venue is famed for its strawberries and cream so you may want to speak to a food expert or chef about summer treats that readers could enjoy while watching the tennis, or get insight as to who the favourites are to win and what chances the British hopefuls have.

The sporting action doesn’t stop there, either. From 3 to 6 July, F1 fans’ attention will be on the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The UEFA Women’s Euro’s start in Switzerland on 2 July, as the Lionesses look to defend their title. Plus, the Tour de France will be taking place across July, with the event kicking off on 5 July. If you need sport experts to comment on these events, check out our handy list.

If you’re not interested in covering any of these major sporting events, then perhaps the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival will be of more interest to your audience. This year’s event takes place from 1-6 July, with spectacular garden designs and floral displays on show. An interview with a gardening expert sharing top tips on how to re-create similar ideas at home could make for an interesting feature.

What’s coming up?

The whole of the month is Plastic Free July, a movement designed to help cut the amount of plastic pollution there is globally. To tie in with this, you could look for a case study of someone that has significantly reduced their plastic waste and in turn benefitted financially. Need expert comment on this area? Then we already have a list that could help with that.

All the attention right now may well be on the UK’s biggest and best-known festival in Glastonbury, but at the end of July (24-27) the attention will be on the music and arts festival of Latitude. The likes of Snow Patrol and Fatboy Slim will be performing as well as comedy from Greg Davies and Bridget Christie. You may want to try and get an interview with one of this year’s acts or provide a guide on some festival essentials.

A different kind of festival but on the 18 and 19 July it’s the London Craft Beer Festival. There will be over 800 beers to try from over 100 brewers. Get ahead of the game by writing a listicle about some of the must-have beers that are on offer this year, or get comment from a drinks expert on what’s trending in the world of beer right now.

Still stuck? Here are common trends for the Journalist Enquiry Service for July

The school holidays may only be beginning in July for students but requests are already coming in for ‘back to school’ information at this point. Last year about 2% of enquiries were looking to cover this topic. These tend to focus on reviews of the best school uniforms, bags and stationary. Plus, there will be requests looking to cover University essentials as well.

July is on average the warmest month of the year in the UK which means we get more enquiries about coping with the ‘heat’ and ‘heatwaves’, with those two keywords accounting for just under 2% of requests in July 2024. Some advice from a health expert on ways to stay cool this summer could work well or possibly speaking to a weather expert or meteorologist about what we can expect from this year’s forecast.

Finally, and this seems way too early to say it… but you might want to look for Christmas content. Just over 2% of requests this time last year were about ‘Christmas’. The need to get features filed months in advance for magazine copy means it becomes a popular term on the Journalist Enquiry Service from July onwards – so much so that we have previously put together a list of experts to help you out.

Feeling festive and want to get your Christmas features sorted ASAP? Send a request via the Journalist Enquiry Service and get exactly what you need. Or if you’re looking more for stats and figures to accompany your article then you can grab some useful bits of information by looking through the Press Release Wire.