Headline Writing

Old school journalism students were required to take a course in writing headlines. Rules were simple.

Don’t use a word with an apostrophe, or a complete sentence as a headline, avoid numbers and punctuation and make it catchy like the ones below.

Here’s a grabber: “Why I stopped eating shrimp.” Stop the presses, A+ for that headline writer.

What a story! Breaking News.

Always check spelling and grammar as this headline proves, “Missippi’s Literacy program show improvement.”

Fact check needed for these headlines, “Federal agents raid gun shop, Find weapons” and “County to pay $250,000 to advertise lack of funds.” What about this head scratcher? “Threat disrupts plans to meet about threats.”

is me, very sad news as these headlines announce, “Students cook and serve grandparents” and “17 Remain dead in Morgue Shooting Spree.”

Finally, a well written headline that also makes sense, “Contest Crowns most Glamorous Goat.”

Not to be outdone by headlines, The Monticello News ran an ad a few years back that challenged our math skills for sure. “Collards for sale, 1 bunch for $2 or 2 bunches for $1.” Let me get out my calculator.