Writing Feature Stories

The best way to learn how to write a persuasive press release for a feature story is to read a lot of feature stories. Find
feature stories written by the reporter to whom you plan on sending the press release. Try to tailor your information
and writing style to the individual reporter. This will not work for every press release you write, especially if you are
sending them to different places, but the strategy can work as a guide for your first feature press release.
In a feature story, just as in a news story, place the most important points in the first few paragraphs. Don't keep your
audience guessing about your reason for writing. After you make your point, you may want to provide more background
information. Or, you may prefer to outline the background in order to better illustrate your point. Feature stories often
conclude in a circular way that refers back to the lead sentence, so use your conclusion to tie up any loose ends.
Each story will differ, so try writing several press releases emphasizing different points. Then, choose the press release
that best conveys your message.
You have much more freedom in pitching feature stories than you do in news press releases. Be creative and don t be
afraid to try new styles of writing. Have a colleague read and evaluate your press release, and give you feedback.
Finally, edit, edit, edit. Then, spell check.
Notes on Quotations: In feature stories, use quotations to humanize your subjects. By presenting the story in their own
words, you can better reflect your subjects. Try to find memorable quotes that will move or surprise the reader. By
showing the reporter the depth of feeling inherent to the subject, you increase the likelihood that they will cover your
suggestion.

Examples of Feature Stories

Example #1
The flames grew higher and threw orange and black shadows on the walls. Outside, the frigid wind brushed against the old
house and entered through tiny passageways under the doors and around the windows. The battle between fire and ice raged
on in the dwelling, with only an eighty-year old woman for witness and referee.
Bernadette Coddel is a retired postal worker who now stays up nights trying to control the temperature in her old home. Most
nights, she says, she can t sleep because she has to tend to the wood stove in the middle of her living room. The stove is her
only source of heat.
"There are some nights when I wake up and I think my feet about to freeze off," Coddell said. "And so I sit in my chair, up real
close to the flame, but then I get too hot. I just can't get comfortable in this house."
Coddell and several others senior citizens in the Chicagoland area are about to get their homes weatherized under a federal
program that has been doing so since 1976.
[Continue story with details about Weatherization...use an individual story to illustrate national trends and the overall effects
of the Program]
Example #2
At a Parent-Teacher conference last spring, Carolyn Dunhearst learned that her daughter's performance in school was on the
decline. Twelve year-old Katie just wasn t the same energetic seventh grader who had started the year at Lincoln Elementary.
After the conference, Dunhearst thought about the teacher's comments and Katie's recent new and mysterious fatigue. She
realized that ever since they had purchased their first home and moved out of the old apartment, the whole family had been
feeling sluggish. Concerned, she decided to investigate.
Acting on advice from a neighbor, Dunhearst contacted Peggy Miles, director of the Lincoln Area Housing Association, which
administers the federal Weatherization Assistance Program. When Weatherization auditors visited the Dunhearst s home, they
discovered dangerous levels of carbon monoxide leaking from the ancient furnace. The carbon monoxide could have
eventually killed the Dunhearst family in their sleep if it had not been detected.
Through their participation in the program, the Dunhearsts received a new, energy-efficient furnace and a number of other
cost-effective, energy conserving measures. Today, the Dunhearts sleep comfortably, no longer worrying about the effects of
carbon monoxide poisoning. In addition, their house is warmer and their monthly utility bill has decreased by 30%.
[Continue story with details about Weatherization...use individual story to illustrate national trends and the overall effects of
the Program; include local and national data on carbon monoxide poisoning]

Feature Story
A feature story is usually the longest article in your newspaper, above 1000 words. Typically, you only want to have
one of them per issue. It is a blend of a news article with a bit of interpretation of the facts without giving an opinion as
to what the solution should be.
It can be written like a News Article, but it does more than just report the news. It interprets the news. It makes
predictions on the consequences of the event or action being reported. It provides a reader with a clearer
understanding, hopefully, of the long term effects of the subject of your article.
For example, if the principal of your school institutes a new dress code policy, a feature article on the subject might
include (in no particular order):
The facts of the new dress code (the who, why, where, what, when, and how).
A prediction on how it will be received by the student body and the staff and faculty.
Predictions of potential problems the dress code might create.
Comparison to other schools with similar dress codes.
An analysis of the reasons behind the new dress code.
Quotes from various sources.
References to other articles from other reputable sources on dress codes.
An analysis of problems the dress code is supposed to solve and if it will be effective based on data supplied by other
schools doing something similar.
Like most news articles, you start with all the important facts first so that your readers dont have to guess what the
articles is about or why youre writing it:
Tomorrow, the principals new and stricter dress code will go into effect school wide. Among the newly banned clothing
items are gang colours and short shorts. All students have by now signed an agreement to abide by the new dress
code, and teachers have been tasked with the responsibility of enforcing the new requirements. This new code does,
however, come with some unintended consequences that the administration may not have considered.
This answers most of the main questions, and from here a feature article can launch into the analysis and predictions
as to the outcome of the new dress code policy. Take the reader on a journey of in-depth analysis and thought. You
want your article to be thought provoking, but also very thorough, covering as many angles as you can. End with a
concluding paragraph that wraps up the most salient points of your article.
A feature story is the main, front-page article found on your newspaper. It should have the largest title, the most
compelling images, and provoke the most thought and discussion.

GuideLines
Feature articles are a smart addition to your website and marketing strategy. This compelling content makes you an
expertmakes your website more stickyand makes your prospect want to take action.
With these 5 simple tips, writing a feature article couldnt be easier. I use these steps every day for my clients and my
own marketing as well, and Ive found it makes the whole process absolutely painless.
1. Know your reader
Decide whom youre targeting. Picture the reader in your mind, not just as a broad category but as a real, living,
breathing person. What do you know about that person? Where does he work? Where does he live? What is he worried
about? What information is he looking for?
Be as specific as you can, to the point where you can imagine that person is sitting down right in front of you.
2. Know your end goal
When the person has read your article, what do you want him to feel? Do you want him to feel confident? Insecure?
Warm and fuzzy?
Even more than feeling, what action do you want him to take? Do you want him to go to a product page on your
website? To forward the article to his boss? To call you?
Know what you want to happen as a result of your article.
3. Explain why the reader should care
This is the classic benefits over features marketing rule. Why should the reader bother with your article? Whats in it
for him?
Dont make the article all about you. Make it relevant to the reader, too. And tell him why.
4. Share your information
This is the nuts and bolts of what you want to say. What information is important for you to share? What is important
for the reader to know?
Create a bulleted list of topic points.
5. Anticipate questions
Imagine youre having a face-to-face conversation with your reader, where youre sharing your information. What
additional questions might come up?
Be proactive. Anticipate and answer those questions.
So heres the great part. Once youve gone through these steps, youll find that the article is essentially written for
you. Heres how it works:
Numbers one and two set the tone and style youll use in the article. They tell you if youll be writing with a
professional voice, or light and conversational, or even wry and humorous. Tone and style sets the stage for everything
that follows.

Number three grabs your readers attentionwhich makes it a perfect introduction. Even better, it makes for a perfect
way to wrap up the article, that is, a perfect conclusion as well. So now youve got your first and last paragraphs
written. Moving right along!
Numbers four and five are your body, the bulk of your content. But now you know what you want to say, so its just a
matter of organizing those bullet points and writing them out into complete sentences and paragraphs.
And voila! Youve got great, compelling content that establishes you as an authority, holds your prospects attention,
and helps to convert prospects into buyers.
In marketing, content counts. Now that youve got these 5 simple tips for writing a feature article, its never been
easier.

The dynamic duo of Brighton Beach

Music and dance teachers help make annual theater production a memorable event
BY LINDA OCASIO | JULY 7, 2016 NEW YORK TEACHER ISSUE
Its a Broadway hit with great music that speaks to contemporary ideas of equality and justice no, not Hamilton, but The Pajama
Game. At PS 100 in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, 5th-graders performed the musical under the direction of music teacher MaryAnn
Spinner and dance teacher Kim Wojcieszek, who formed a dynamic tag team.
The play is a memorable end-of-year event for the 5th-graders, but the teaching pair also sees it as a chance to launch students into
middle school with the confidence that stage performance can endow even the shyest student.
Wojcieszek, who choreographs the schools annual play, sees the transformation every year. They begin the school year a little shy
and timid, she said. After January, theyre different children.
The two teachers start looking for the right play in August. In past years, theyve selected such Broadway classics as South Pacific
and The Sound of Music. Spinner said this year they chose The Pajama Game, which won the Tony Award for best musical in 1955,
because the plot involving union members in a pajama factory is still relevant today. Its about factory workers who work very hard and
want a raise, she said. They fight to get it, including staging work slowdowns and rallies.
After they choose the years play, the two teachers get to work condensing it and making it age-appropriate. Romantic intrigue is
considerably edited. Students are introduced to the songs first; once theyre familiar with the music, the dance numbers are introduced.
An instrumental CD is used for the show, but the vocals are all student voices. When a student shows outstanding talent, Spinner and
Wojcieszek often write in a solo for the child to perform.
Families flock to the end-of-year event. Theres not an empty seat in the 530-seat house for the official performance.
Spinner oversaw all facets of the plays production before Wojcieszek arrived nine years ago. I was doing it for 20 years, Spinner said.
The principal asked me, How can I support you? I told her, Hire a dance teacher.
Principal Katherine Moloney sees the show as integral to the schools mission PS 100 is a magnet school of media arts and
communication. Students here start performing as early as kindergarten, doing stage recitations and understanding theater and
audience, Moloney said.
The school of 730 students draws largely from the Russian immigrant community of Brighton Beach, and sometimes Spinner and
Wojcieszek have to explain a colloquialism or a phrase in the play that is no longer in common use.
We have to work on literal language, Wojcieszek said. For example, the phrase I had a ball. Some of our students might take that
literally.
Every 5th-grader 109 are in the class this year is involved in the play, including the 5th-graders in a District 75 school that
occupies a floor at PS 100. Three students in Tamara Chekalovs District 75 class are involved in the dance scenes, and she stood in
the back during the rehearsal watching them. In the beginning, they were worried about the dances. I told them, Dont worry; you can
learn. They do very well.
Each production has a number of crucial off-stage roles, from raising the curtain to managing props, microphones and the music. These
roles allow students to participate if they dont have the performing bug.
As the students gain confidence, they take a bigger part in shaping the production.
During the rehearsals, theyll tell us, I think this would be better this way and we listen to them, Spinner said. A lot of things in the
play are their ideas.

By including the childrens ideas in the production, Wojcieszek explains, We give them ownership of the play. Its about making every
child feel he or she is special, even in ensemble. Were cheerleaders for them all year long.
During a rehearsal in the auditorium two weeks before the May 25 performance, its clear the students have embraced the rhythms and
responsibilities of a musical production. As soon as Spinner sits down at the piano and begins to play scales, the animated hubbub of
students chattering with each other dissolves into something magical: students vocalizing in the appropriate key.
At the end of rehearsal, students practiced their curtain calls with crisp bows and big smiles.
When they graduate, theyre not afraid of anything, Spinner said with a smile.

The Teacher
They explore every means within their purview to make us feel comfortable and encourage us to learn. They comforted us
when were in distressed situations. They mourn with us when we are bereaved. They ululate by rejoicing with us in most
of our endeavors depending on the situations we find ourselves.
Out of the smile on their faces when they teach, it illuminates the entire class with delectation that, you dont want to hear
the sound of the closing bell. Embarrassing situations are always turned into badinage and humor to make us feel
relaxed. Their words of encouragement always mollycoddle you to wake up in the midnight full of enthusiasm ready to go
to school in the morning. If you come across such dedicated teachers, nobody in their class goes to school late and most
do their best no matter how dullard they may have already been assessed.
In the class, they showed exemplary leadership skill, in the field of study they are so patient and tolerant albeit our
shortcomings and will assist along the way without any sign of resentment. In our moments of success, when we do great
in our exams, they rejoice with us exhilaratingly. Will encourage us to cogitate and to feel so good about ourselves; edge
us to envision theres nothing impossible we cannot achieve in this world. They will call or visit our homes to ascertain the
reason why we abstained from school. Thats the distinguishing mark of a true dedicated teacher.
Their insistence for the right things to be done has shaped our lives tremendously. Their compelling guidance for us to
obey our parents, respect our elders, leaders, and to fear God will forever be the guiding principle for the rest of our lives.
Teachers have played pivotal parental roles in our lives and continue to do so in the lives of our children. Taking care of
one or two children has never been an easy task in our homes, come to think of a teacher taking care of a whole class of
about twenty (20) to thirty (30) students. Some even take care of the students under trees without repining.
Teachers in diverse ways have encouraged, motivated and sometimes even sponsored students crawl to higher pedestals
in their lives that, the students themselves never thought was possible. There are some students, in brief distress
moments in their lives would have stayed out of school if not for the insistence of the teachers. Those who had the
privilege to be in the classes of these dedicated teachers know exactly what Im talking about.
Having said that, Im equally cognizant there are few unscrupulous ones amongst them. The actions of those ones should
not be used to punish the overwhelming dedicated patriotic teachers who have over the years sacrifice their lives to serve
humanity and their country.
I can recall during the occasional admonitions at school, the headmaster said, I cannot do any other work apart from
teaching, not because I enjoy a huge paycheck out of it but, the joy to educate and to shape a worthy human being into
the society. Your success replenishes our hearts with joy and your failures saddened our hearts. Go into this world with
the TEN COMMANDMENTS and Im very confident youll do well in this world. He ended by saying with a choking voice;
do unto others just as youll want them do to you. At that point, you can envisage insuppressible unadulterated emotions
that could no longer be hidden from his persona. Thats exactly how most teachers feel towards their students. This
narrative came up because; recently I came across a statement in which Members of Parliament were shamelessly
agitating for increment of their salaries. They even cited examples of what Members of Parliament of other nations receive
at the end of every month in those countries. Out of greed, what they refused to tell us was how much teachers and civil
servants were paid in those countries.

They were not and could not be luculent enough to sensitize the public to support that selfish interest due to inward guilt.
In spite of all the privileges and the largesse our Members of Parliament receive at the end of every month and every four
years, they still wanted more. If you think you are not compensated enough to serve your constituency and your country,
honorably bow out of the parliament and witness how contestants will congratulate you for that emprise.
Some of the MPs had the mordacity to retort to the public when they were challenged, and their answer was; If you want
quality service you should be prepared to pay for it arrant brazen display of impertinence. They refused to remember
nobody pleaded with them to represent them in parliament; they begged and spent sleepless nights canvassing for votes.
In most instances, they raved and ranted at the top of their voices in every corner of their precincts for the people to vote
for them. When they entered the parliament they refused to represent the people who sent them there but rather became
so much overwhelmingly narcissist.
One would postulate, evocative of our Members of Parliaments past with teachers will compel them to lend a sympathetic
ear to their plight, yet none of them cared to raise their voices in support of the teachers, who deservingly were
demanding their overdue remuneration for a livable wages as civil servants. Every teacher who protested had a Member
in that Parliament yet, none of them raised their voices to support them.
Teachers rejoice to see their students become doctors, engineers, scientists, parliamentarians and presidents. Why then
do you neglect the people who shove you to those higher levels in life? Every parliamentarian had their tutorials or
lectures from the elementary to the university level from the teacher. Some were teachers themselves and knows exactly
what teachers go through financially. In spite of the fact that you are well paid compared to teachers you were still
requesting for more money. Why would you keep quiet when it came to teachers who rightfully deserve it? Now Ill
paraphrase our noble headmasters admonition, did the parliamentarians do what they expect others do to them?
Teachers at any level play significant role in our lives and will continue to do so if only we still want to have a healthy,
educated, tolerant society called Ghana. Teachers were highly respected in our societies until when their service did not
commensurate with the remuneration they receive at the end of the month. Until, the people at helm of affairs buried their
heads in the sand not to listen to their plight. Teachers received very little at the end of the month and the repercussion
has been the declining morals in our schools.
In our society, its often very difficult for individual civil servant to come out with the problems they face due to
vindictiveness that will follow from anonymous sources. People at the helm of affairs may listen and that may lead to the
end of your paycheck. They will find every means necessary to terminate you from the service. A lot of our teachers go on
pension without money to sustain them in life. A very pathetic situation nobody wants or refuse to acknowledge. When the
teacher is thinking of what to eat or to feed their families at the end of the day, how do they gather momentum to teach
with clarity? How do they continually assume quality leadership roles in the lives of these students? Teachers do a lot for
students, substituting parental roles in the schools. Counseling and molding our future leaders in the schools for no
commensurable compensation at all yet, they dont complain about it. They sometimes trudge through the forest in most
cases alone to areas that are not motorable, to render their services. This has been possible due to the enthusiasm they
put into their skill, the love for their work and country.
Inflation is so high that, it has become so unbearable to cope with the little they receive at the end of the month. Its my
humble opinion it will do a lot of good to the nation if, the government seriously consider giving them livable salaries and
do something about their end of service benefits. Add accommodation to the new schools they are constructing to ease
the burden on our teachers. Accommodation takes a sizable chunk from their salaries. What Im enumerating here is just
a tip of the iceberg, meet any teacher and youll palpably have the feel of what they go through.
Its the responsibility of every Ghanaian to take care of those who took care of us and continue to take care of our
children. Let me take this opportunity to say we Ghanaians salute every teacher past and present. We value your
sacrifices over the years to our country. We support you and will continue to firmly stand by you in this grim moment of
yours and appeal to the Government to seriously consider your petition with alacrity. We hold you in high esteem and will
always respect whoever stood and continue to stand in front of a class to impart knowledge to others, from the elementary
school to the university level. We humbly plead with the government, especially now that we have both the President and

the first lady being teachers themselves in the castle, we expect them to take to heart the pathetic situations our teachers
go through due to inflation. We are convinced; the government will do well to lend a sympathetic ear to ease the plight of
the teachers. And to find a lasting solution to the crucial predicament our first role models and the role models of our
children being teachers who end up in life miserably, after their unflinching selfless dedicated services to our dear nation.

A good read brightens a dark world

UFT First Book events have now distributed more than 250,000 books across city
JULY 7, 2016 NEW YORK TEACHER ISSUE
Sybrina Keane, a speech teacher at PS 57, picks up books at the Tito PuenteComplex in Manhattan for her middle school students.

The UFT and its partners have distributed more than a quarter of a million free books to New York City children in need through First
Book over the past three years. This school year alone according to Anthony Harmon, an assistant to the president of the UFT and
the unions director of parent and community outreach more than 140,000 books were given out.
While the numbers are impressive, what sticks with you is the look on a childs face when he or she has the ability to look through
thousands of books and pick the one that speaks to them, Harmon said. You know when they have made that connection because
they just sit down wherever they are and start reading. Thats what is so powerful about First Book, and why we are so pleased to be
part of this effort.
This spring, the union organized First Book events in East Harlem and Coney Island.
I am looking for books that my students might not choose for themselves, but if they try it, they will find out they like it, saidSybrina
Keane from PS 57 as she scouted out her choices spread out at the Tito Puente Complex in Manhattan on May 14. It is all about
getting them reading and broadening their reading experience.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew, who attended both events, could not have been happier with the turnout and results. Nothing lights up
a childs face like seeing stacks and stacks of books, he said. And when they get to select their very own books, that helps build a love
of reading.
While some UFT members came out to find books for their students, others volunteered to set up the two events and then to help kids,
parents and other teachers make selections.
Reading comprehension is applied in all components of learning, said physical education teacher Joanne Carillo, the chapter leader
at PS 186, who helped out at the June 4 event at Abraham Lincoln HS in Brooklyn. The gift of a book is priceless for that reason, and if
I can play a part in helping a child and other teachers get free books, Im there!