diff --git a/announcement/plugin.jelly b/announcement/plugin.jelly
index dee93dd1..58911f2e 100644
--- a/announcement/plugin.jelly
+++ b/announcement/plugin.jelly
@@ -40,6 +40,17 @@
     <maven:property var="announcementFile" name="maven.announcement.file" 
         defaultValue="${maven.gen.docs}/announcements/announcement-${versionVariable}.txt"/>
 
+    <!-- If from email address is empty, find the first non empty email 
+         address from the POM. -->
+    <j:if test="${context.getVariable('maven.announcement.mail.from') == null}">
+       <j:forEach var="developer" items="${pom.developers}">
+          <j:if test="${not empty(developer.email)}">
+             <j:set var="maven.announcement.mail.from" value="${developer.email}"/>
+             <j:break/>
+          </j:if>
+       </j:forEach>
+    </j:if>
+
     <!-- Ensure the directory where the announcement will be created exists -->
     <ant:dirname property="announcementDir" file="${announcementFile}"/>
     <ant:mkdir dir="${announcementDir}"/>
@@ -49,6 +60,8 @@
     <maven:property var="distributionUrl" name="maven.announcement.distributionUrl" 
         defaultValue="${maven.repo.remote}/${pom.groupId}/plugins"/>
 
+    <j:useBean var="stringUtils" class="org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils"/>
+
   </goal>
 
   <goal name="announcement:check-version" prereqs="announcement:init">
@@ -97,6 +110,13 @@
     
   </goal>
 
+  <goal name="announcement:mail" prereqs="announcement:generate"
+    description="Send an email containing the release announcement">
+
+    <announcement:mail file="${announcementFile}"/>
+
+  </goal>
+
   <!-- Define common jelly script used by different goals as a jelly tag -->
   <define:taglib uri="announcement">
     <define:tag name="generate">
@@ -118,6 +138,36 @@
       </j:file>
 
     </define:tag>
+
+    <define:tag name="mail">
+      <!-- @file: Announcement file location -->
+
+      <maven:param-check value="${maven.announcement.mail.server}" fail="true">The SMTP server name must be specified using the maven.announcement.mail.server property</maven:param-check> 
+      <maven:param-check value="${maven.announcement.mail.from}" fail="true">The From address must be specified using the maven.announcement.mail.from property or by ensuring that at least one developer in the POM has an email address specified</maven:param-check> 
+      <maven:param-check value="${maven.announcement.mail.to}" fail="true">The To address must be specified using the maven.announcement.mail.to property</maven:param-check> 
+      
+      <!-- Resolve dynamic %% templates from maven.announcement.mail.subject -->
+      <j:set var="maven.announcement.mail.subject"
+          value="${stringUtils.replace(context.getVariable('maven.announcement.mail.subject'), '%VERSION%', versionVariable)}"/>
+      
+      <echo>Sending mail using SMTP server "${maven.announcement.mail.server}", client ${maven.announcement.mail.client} and subject "${maven.announcement.mail.subject}"...</echo>
+      <echo>Sending from "${maven.announcement.mail.from}" to "${maven.announcement.mail.to}"...</echo>
+
+      <util:loadText uri="file:${file}" var="announcementContent"/>
+      <j:invokeStatic className="org.apache.maven.announcement.MailUtils" method="sendMail" var="result">
+          <j:arg type="java.lang.String" value="${maven.announcement.mail.server}"/>
+          <j:arg type="java.lang.String" value="${maven.announcement.mail.client}"/>
+          <j:arg type="java.lang.String" value="${maven.announcement.mail.from}"/>
+          <j:arg type="java.lang.String" value="${maven.announcement.mail.to}"/>
+          <j:arg type="java.lang.String" value="${maven.announcement.mail.subject}"/>
+          <j:arg type="java.lang.String" value="${announcementContent}"/>
+      </j:invokeStatic>
+      <j:if test="${result != 'ok'}">
+         <fail>Could not send message. Reason: ${result}</fail>
+      </j:if>
+
+    </define:tag>
+
   </define:taglib>
 
 </project>
diff --git a/announcement/plugin.properties b/announcement/plugin.properties
index 6bc2f112..e1d8aefb 100644
--- a/announcement/plugin.properties
+++ b/announcement/plugin.properties
@@ -33,3 +33,19 @@
 
 # Stylesheet to use to generate the text announcement
 maven.announcement.stylesheet.path = ${plugin.resources}/announcement.jsl
+
+# IP address or name of the SMTP server used to send an announcement email
+# maven.announcement.mail.server = 
+
+# IP address or name of the host used to log on the SMTP server
+maven.announcement.mail.client = localhost
+
+# From address to use when sending an announcement email. If not defined, 
+# the first email address found in the POM will be used.
+# maven.announcement.mail.from =
+
+# Comma-separated list of addresses to use when sending an announcement email.
+# maven.announcement.mail.to =
+
+# Mail subject to use when sending an announcement email.
+maven.announcement.mail.subject = [ANN] ${pom.name} %VERSION% released
diff --git a/announcement/project.xml b/announcement/project.xml
index df663237..0438a82d 100644
--- a/announcement/project.xml
+++ b/announcement/project.xml
@@ -87,5 +87,15 @@
       <version>20030211.142705</version>
       <url>http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/jelly/libs/xml/</url>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <id>commons-lang</id>
+      <version>2.0</version>
+      <url>http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/lang/</url>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <id>commons-net</id>
+      <version>1.2.1</version>
+      <url>http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/net/</url>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
 </project>
diff --git a/announcement/src/main/org/apache/maven/announcement/MailUtils.java b/announcement/src/main/org/apache/maven/announcement/MailUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..01466c3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/announcement/src/main/org/apache/maven/announcement/MailUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+package org.apache.maven.announcement;
+
+import java.io.PrintWriter;
+import java.io.Writer;
+import java.util.StringTokenizer;
+
+import org.apache.commons.net.smtp.SMTPClient;
+import org.apache.commons.net.smtp.SMTPReply;
+import org.apache.commons.net.smtp.SimpleSMTPHeader;
+
+/* ====================================================================
+ *   Copyright 2004 The Apache Software Foundation.
+ *
+ *   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ *   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ *   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ *   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ *   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ *   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ *   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ *   limitations under the License.
+ * ====================================================================
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Send an email message using Jakarta Commons Net
+ * 
+ * @author Felipe Leme
+ * 
+ * @version $Id: MailUtils.java,v 1.1 2004/08/07 15:49:37 vmassol Exp $
+ */
+public class MailUtils
+{
+    private static final String ADDRESS_SEPARATOR = ",";
+
+    public static String sendMail(String server, String client,
+        String from, String to, String subject, String msg)
+    {
+        // Check arguments
+        if (server == null)
+        {
+            return "no smtp server configured";
+        }
+        if (client == null)
+        {
+            return "no smtp client configured";
+        }
+        if (to == null)
+        {
+            return "no to address specified";
+        }
+        if (from == null)
+        {
+            return "no from address specified";
+        }
+        if (msg == null)
+        {
+            return "no message specified";
+        }
+        if (subject == null)
+        {
+            return "no subject specified";
+        }
+
+        // create a SMTP connection
+        SMTPClient smtpClient = new SMTPClient();
+        System.out.println("Connecting to SMTP Server [" + server + "]");
+        try
+        {
+            smtpClient.connect(server);
+            // checks the server reply
+            int reply = smtpClient.getReplyCode();
+            if (!SMTPReply.isPositiveCompletion(reply))
+            {
+                smtpClient.disconnect();
+                return "SMTP server [" + server + "] refused connection.";
+            }
+            // Login
+            smtpClient.login(client);
+            // Set the sender and recipient(s)
+            smtpClient.setSender(from);
+            // parse out the to addresses
+            StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer(to.toString(),
+                    ADDRESS_SEPARATOR);
+            while (st.hasMoreTokens())
+            {
+                smtpClient.addRecipient(st.nextToken().trim());
+            }
+
+            System.out.println("Sending message from [" + from + "] to [" 
+                + to + "]");
+
+            // Use the SimpleSMTPHeader class to build the header
+            Writer clientWriter = smtpClient.sendMessageData();
+            if (clientWriter == null)
+            {
+                return "Could not send data to the SMTP server";
+            }
+            PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(clientWriter);
+            SimpleSMTPHeader header = new SimpleSMTPHeader(from, to, subject);
+
+            //NOTE: if would be nice to add some Maven info here
+            //            header.addHeaderField("Organization", "xxx");
+
+            // Write the header to the SMTP Server
+            writer.write(header.toString());
+
+            // Write the body of the message
+            writer.write(msg);
+
+            // Close the writer
+            writer.close();
+            if (!smtpClient.completePendingCommand())
+            {
+                return "Could not send the SMTP message";
+            }
+
+            // Logout from the e-mail server (QUIT)
+            smtpClient.logout();
+
+            // Close the connection
+            smtpClient.disconnect();
+
+            // everything is fine
+            return "ok";
+        } 
+        catch (Exception e)
+        {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+            return e.getMessage();
+        }
+    }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/announcement/xdocs/changes.xml b/announcement/xdocs/changes.xml
index f87671fd..16d20ef8 100644
--- a/announcement/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/announcement/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@
   </properties>
   <body>
     <release version="1.3-SNAPSHOT" date="in CVS">
+      <action dev="vmassol" type="add" issue="MPANNOUNCEMENT-9" due-to="Felipe Leme">
+        Added new <code>announcement:mail</code> goal to automatically
+        send the generated announcement by email.
+      </action>
       <action dev="vmassol" type="add" issue="MPANNOUNCEMENT-11" due-to="Felipe Leme">
         Added new optional <code>maven.announcement.stylesheet.path</code>property 
         that defines what stylesheet to use to generate the text announcement.
diff --git a/announcement/xdocs/goals.xml b/announcement/xdocs/goals.xml
index 5b78dbc1..eef20866 100644
--- a/announcement/xdocs/goals.xml
+++ b/announcement/xdocs/goals.xml
@@ -48,6 +48,12 @@
             found in <code>changes.xml</code>
           </td>
         </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>announcement:mail</td>
+          <td>
+            Send the generated announcement message by email.
+          </td>
+        </tr>
       </table>
     </section>
  </body>
diff --git a/announcement/xdocs/properties.xml b/announcement/xdocs/properties.xml
index e0595a1e..9edce1cf 100644
--- a/announcement/xdocs/properties.xml
+++ b/announcement/xdocs/properties.xml
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
+
 <!-- 
 /*
  * Copyright 2001-2004 The Apache Software Foundation.
@@ -71,6 +72,53 @@
             <code>${plugin.resources}/announcement.jsl</code>
           </td>
         </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>maven.announcement.mail.server</td>
+          <td>Required for announcement:mail goal</td>
+          <td>
+            Address of the SMTP server used to send the email message.
+          </td>
+          <td>none
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>maven.announcement.mail.client</td>
+          <td>Yes</td>
+          <td>
+            Name of the host/domain used to log on the SMTP server.
+          </td>
+          <td>localhost
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>maven.announcement.mail.subject</td>
+          <td>Yes</td>
+          <td>
+            Subject of the announcement email message.
+          </td>
+          <td>
+            <code>[ANN] ${pom.name} %VERSION% released</code>
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>maven.announcement.mail.from</td>
+          <td>Yes</td>
+          <td>
+            Sender (email address) of the announcement message.
+          </td>
+          <td>
+            First developer email found in the POM
+          </td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>maven.announcement.mail.to</td>
+          <td>Required for announcement:mail goal</td>
+          <td>
+            Comma-separated list of To: address used as recipients of the announcement message.
+          </td>
+          <td>none
+          </td>
+        </tr>
       </table>
     </section>
   </body>