Wikinews:Article wizard/Headline

1. News event

2. Sources

3. Headline

4. Lede

5. Inverted pyramid

Now that you've chosen a news event, and read your sources, it's time to write your headline.

Tell the most important and unique thing. You want a descriptive and enduring headline.
Avoid generic titles like "Los Angles bank robbed"; find the unique angle of the story you're writing. Perhaps "Trio robs Los Angeles bank, escapes on motorcycles".

Keep it short. Don't try to fit everything into the headline — just the most important and unique thing.

Use verbs, present tense, active voice. Draw the reader into the action.
"Kangaroo attacks Mumbai crowd", not "Mumbai crowd attacked by kangaroo", nor "Kangaroo attack on Mumbai crowd".

Use downstyle capitalization — "Powell to lead U.S. delegation to Asian tsunami region".  

Write in a neutral point of view — headlines should not be biased in tone or word choice.  
Avoid jargon and meaningless acronyms — write for a general, international audience.
Use comma, not 'and' or '&' — "Huckabee, Obama win Iowa caucuses".

You may wish to read the detailed headline guidelines at Wikinews:Style guide#Headlines.

Go to the next step: Lede.