‘Sir! I have broken a leg, sir!’
When copyeditors at The Oregonian needed a headline for a piece on car seat safety, they wrote:
NO, YOU’RE NOT THERE YET
New pediatric guidelines call for the little ones to stay in their safety seats a lot longer
Searching for a good headline? Use a quote, colloquialism or sound bite. That’s what these winners of the American Copy Editors Society’s (ACES) National Headline Contest did. How can you model these masters?
Five … four … three … two … ‘one more time’ for NASA
With Atlantis liftoff, shuttle program is just days from end
— copyeditors at The Star-Ledger
This divorce just isn’t working out: Will you (re)marry me?
Brain chemistry and the simple passage of time can bring couples back together
— Rick Schindler, copyeditor at Today.com/MSNBC.com
Omaha chamber asks business to come, stay
Efforts to lure entrepreneurs from Illinois brought a do-it-yourself dog wash to Omaha.
— copyeditors at Omaha World-Herald
Honestly, who is Abe Lincoln?
Nationwide test reveals history to be American students’ worst subject
— copyeditors at The Dallas Morning News
Sir! I have broken a leg, sir!
At Marine boot camp, injuries once routinely disdained are now treated with a sports medicine approach.
— copyeditors at The Los Angeles Times
What colloquialisms could you use for your next feature headline?
How can you reach non-readers with words?
“Readers” don’t read. Even highly educated web visitors read fewer than 20% of the words on a page.
So how do you reach “readers” who won’t read your paragraphs?
Learn how to reach people who spend only two minutes — or even just 10 seconds — with your message at Catch Your Readers, our persuasive-writing workshop, starting April 5.
There, you’ll learn how to put your key messages where your readers’ eyes are. You’ll discover how deliver your key ideas to people who don’t read the paragraphs. And you’ll find out how to draw even reluctant audience members into your message.
Save up to $100 with our group discounts.
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