AP Style Rules to Remember in December and Early 2026
We know journalists are busy, and it can be difficult to keep up with recent AP Stylebook changes. So we’ve done the work for you, rounding up a few of the recent significant — and just plain interesting — updates to the AP Stylebook.
Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.
Writing an article about Christmas or New Year’s (at this point, who isn’t)? Are you planning to cover the innovations on display at CES in early January? What about the NFL championship in February? Below, we cover the AP Style rules and reminders to help ensure you’re using the related terms accurately.
Upcoming Holidays
December writing is full of holiday terminology, but since this is a quarterly recap, we also want to set you up for success in your early 2026 stories. Here are a few reminders for upcoming holidays:
- Never abbreviate Christmas to Xmas or any other form.
- Christmastime is one word.
- Capitalize Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
- Capitalize New Year’s, New Year’s Day and New Year’s Eve.
- Writing a holiday recipe blog? Due to popular usage, AP Style recently changed its rule and now allows the term “preheat.”
- It’s New Year’s resolutions (note the apostrophe).
- Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, will run from the evening of Dec. 14 through Dec. 22 this year. A menorah (lowercase) is the seven-branch candelabrum used throughout the holiday.
- Capitalize Black History Month, which will be celebrated in February.
- There is no apostrophe in Presidents Day, an exception to Merriam-Webster’s style. In 2026, it will fall on Monday, Feb. 16.
- One day later, on Feb. 17, 2026, will mark the celebration of Mardi Gras, literally Fat Tuesday. It describes a day of merrymaking on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.
Winter Olympics
The 2026 Winter Olympics will be held in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, from Feb. 6 to 22, 2026. New events at the 2026 Winter Games include ski mountaineering, dual moguls for men’s and women’s freestyle skiing, and a mixed-gender skeleton team event.
As the news surrounding the Games starts to ramp up, we have a few reminders:
- Always capitalize the Olympics, Olympic Games, Winter Olympics and Winter Games.
- The official name for February’s event is Milano Cortina 2026.
- When used alone, Games should still be capitalized.
Other popular terms include:
- Olympic Village and athletes village.
- Olympic flame.
- Olympic opening ceremony (singular) and closing ceremony (singular).
- IOC and International Olympic Committee (both acceptable on first reference but use the full name in the story).
The Paralympic Winter Games will take place from March 6–15, 2026.
CES
The massive consumer tech tradeshow and expo is coming up in early January, and PR Newswire is already seeing early press releases for Innovation Awards, keynotes and more. To help prep for your CES 2026 coverage, here are a few key terms:
- Consumer Electronics Show is the event’s old name and should not be used. CES is acceptable in all references.
- AI is acceptable in headlines and on the second reference.
- Lowercase generative AI if it’s not at the beginning of a sentence or headline. AP Stylebook doesn’t use the shorthand gen AI.
- Read the full AP Style chapter on artificial intelligence.
- Write out virtual reality and augmented reality on the first reference. VR and AR are acceptable on the second reference.
- Esports is one word and capitalized when at the beginning of a sentence. Use alternate forms like eSports or e-sports only if part of a formal name, like an organization or arena.
- Use hyphens in terms like next-gen, cutting-edge, e-commerce and future-proof.
- Writing about electric vehicles? EV is acceptable on the second reference when referring to vehicles that run only on electricity and have no internal combustion engine. Do not use HEV on the second reference for hybrids or PHEV for plug-in hybrids (EV isn’t a catch-all term).
- Smart devices is two words, but ditch the space for smartphone and smartwatch.
When covering CES, consider your audience. Are they tech insiders or general news consumers? Avoid jargon as much as possible and write clearly to ensure your story is accessible to the largest possible audience.
The Big Game
The NFL championship will be played on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. Before the advertisement announcements, new food launches, promotions and other tie-ins are shared via PR Newswire in the coming weeks, brush up on some of the related terms:
- Halftime, touchdown, quarterback and kickoff (n., adj.) are written as one word.
- Onside kick, tight end, running back, kick off (v.) and end zone are two words.
- Include a hyphen in out-of-bounds and phrases like fourth-and-1.
- Unless you’re including them in a stats box for your article, don’t abbreviate player positions like QB or RB; write them out.
- Super Bowl LX will be held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
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Rocky Parker is the Manager of Audience and Journalist Engagement at Cision PR Newswire. She's been with the company since 2010 and has worked with journalists and bloggers as well as PR and comms professionals. Outside of work, she can be found trying a new recipe, binging a new show, or cuddling with her pitbull, Hudson.
