Summer in focus, wellness experts and Father’s Day gift ideas: How to get UK press coverage in May 2026

In a busy and constantly changing news cycle, knowing what to pitch when can be difficult. The ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service (also now part of the Vuelio platform too) gets hundreds of journalists using it each month looking for experts, case studies and more. To help with your media outreach, here is what the media were searching for in April and how you can secure coverage in May and beyond.

Summer in sight

Journalists, especially those that work on consumer and trade magazines, often look to get their content well in advance of publication and that’s why one of the main keywords for April was ‘summer’. Nearly 7% of the total requests this month contained ‘summer’, despite the change of season still being a month or so away.

It’s a pretty broad topic and requests varied from looking for luxury UK summer spa packages, to advice on how Britons can keep their gardens from drying out, as well as healthy recipes and a medical expert to speak about hay fever and summer cold symptoms. Journalists have sent requests from outlets such as Ideal Home, Capital FM, The Caterer, Newsweek, HELLO! Fashion, and The Times.

Going forward? The amount of summer-related requests will only continue to rise in May and beyond and last year over 7% of all requests included ‘summer’ in them. The focus from journalists tends to be more on topics such as gardening, travel, fashion, beauty, and food & drink but there should be plenty of opportunities to hook onto a news story.

Health & wellness experts in demand

It’s currently Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK and journalists have already been keen to not only cover ‘mental health’ but also ‘wellness’ too. ‘Mental health’ cropped up in 1.5% of all requests in April and ‘wellness’ appeared in just over 2%.

Both of these topics are regularly sought out by journalists on the service and last month wellness requests included looking for an expert in advertising/marketing in the health/wellness medical space and wellness retreats that fit into the ‘quietcation’ holiday trend. While mental health enquiries included asks for information on mental health support for retail staffers and a psychologist or therapist to talk about loneliness.

Going forward? Personal health and wellness is normally in demand around this time of year, and in May 2025, ‘wellness’ appeared in 2.5% of the total requests. This remains a priority topic for journalists this year and they tend to focus on getting experts to share their tips and advice. Make sure yours are ready to provide comment and you could feature in Psychologies, PA Media, Men’s Health, Red magazine, or Conde Nast Traveller, as they all sent enquiries last month.

Gift guide items needed for Father’s Day

It’s still over a month until Father’s Day in the UK (21 June) but journalists have already been sending in plenty of requests around the celebration. 2% of all enquiries in April were for ‘Father’s Day’ and categories like Men’s Interest and Consumer Technology performed well as a result of this.

The majority of requests are for products to feature in a gift guide but there is some variety in here with journalists looking for everything from gadgets and tech, to grooming products and food and drink. There are also several enquiries seeking experiences including travel and family days out and wine/whisky experiences. Bella, Great British Food, Travel & Retreat, woman & home, and Dadsnet all sent requests last month.

Going forward? The number of enquiries around Father’s Day will only rise this month – in May 2025, it cropped up in nearly 3% of the total requests. This is a great opportunity to get products featured in consumer media titles or share information about experiences or days out.

Other opportunities for PRs in May and beyond

The FIFA World Cup is now less than a month away from starting but journalists have already been keen to cover this football extravaganza with just over 1% of enquiries in April featuring ‘world cup’. Enquiries so far have ranged from looking into the financial situation behind the ticket prices to wanting information about the best places to watch the tournament at. If you’ve got football experts or former players, there is a good chance of media coverage in the lead up to the World Cup.

It’s not quite festival season yet but again, the media have been looking to get ahead of this and last month around 1% of the enquiries contained the keyword ‘festival’ in them. This is likely to ramp up in May (in May 2025, ‘festival’ cropped up in 2% of the total enquiries) as the first few music festivals and events take place. Journalists tend to look for products to review as festival essentials and accessories so have these ready to send out and you could get featured in a national media title.

Want to get the most out of the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service? Find out how here.