diff --git a/docs/releases/1.3-alpha-1.txt b/docs/releases/1.3-alpha-1.txt
index 550c329c666..843dbd22670 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.3-alpha-1.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.3-alpha-1.txt
@@ -54,6 +54,27 @@ error emails sent on a HTTP 500 server error are now handled as a
 logging activity. See :doc:`the documentation on Django's logging
 interface </topics/logging>` for more details.
 
+Extended static files handling
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Django 1.3 ships with a new contrib app ``'django.contrib.staticfiles'``
+to help developers handle the static media files (images, CSS, Javascript,
+etc.) that are needed to render a complete web page.
+
+In previous versions of Django, it was common to place static assets in
+:setting:`MEDIA_ROOT` along with user-uploaded files, and serve them both at
+:setting:`MEDIA_URL`. Part of the purpose of introducing the ``staticfiles``
+app is to make it easier to keep static files separate from user-uploaded
+files. For this reason, you will probably want to make your
+:setting:`MEDIA_ROOT` and :setting:`MEDIA_URL` different from your
+:setting:`STATICFILES_ROOT` and :setting:`STATICFILES_URL`. You will need to
+arrange for serving of files in :setting:`MEDIA_ROOT` yourself;
+``staticfiles`` does not deal with user-uploaded media at all.
+
+See the :doc:`reference documentation of the app </ref/contrib/staticfiles>`
+for more details or learn how to :doc:`manage static files
+</howto/static-files>`.
+
 ``unittest2`` support
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.3.txt b/docs/releases/1.3.txt
index 118d4e1e36e..90aeaa8b838 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.3.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.3.txt
@@ -46,6 +46,27 @@ error emails sent on a HTTP 500 server error are now handled as a
 logging activity. See :doc:`the documentation on Django's logging
 interface </topics/logging>` for more details.
 
+Extended static files handling
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Django 1.3 ships with a new contrib app ``'django.contrib.staticfiles'``
+to help developers handle the static media files (images, CSS, Javascript,
+etc.) that are needed to render a complete web page.
+
+In previous versions of Django, it was common to place static assets in
+:setting:`MEDIA_ROOT` along with user-uploaded files, and serve them both at
+:setting:`MEDIA_URL`. Part of the purpose of introducing the ``staticfiles``
+app is to make it easier to keep static files separate from user-uploaded
+files. For this reason, you will probably want to make your
+:setting:`MEDIA_ROOT` and :setting:`MEDIA_URL` different from your
+:setting:`STATICFILES_ROOT` and :setting:`STATICFILES_URL`. You will need to
+arrange for serving of files in :setting:`MEDIA_ROOT` yourself;
+``staticfiles`` does not deal with user-uploaded media at all.
+
+See the :doc:`reference documentation of the app </ref/contrib/staticfiles>`
+for more details or learn how to :doc:`manage static files
+</howto/static-files>`.
+
 ``unittest2`` support
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~