From senior staff writer Emily Belz: In a world of scrolling, headlines are so important to draw a reader into a story.

The style of headline will depend on the tone of the piece; sometimes a very straightforward news headline is the right move. Other times, you want headlines to be conversational. You want active verbs and keywords. You want to keep a variety of styles; it’s easy to do “How” or “Why” a lot or to have a headline ask a question too often (something like “Will the Church Survive AI?”). We try to mix it up. 

My favorite string of CT headlines from the archives were ones that began with “Sorry.” “Sorry, Old Testament: Most Theologians Don’t Use You.” Maybe the all-timer: “Sorry 666: Churches Fear 990 More.” 

My first editor was at the tabloid the New York Daily News, which prides itself on headlines, and I remember she won an award for one. I can’t find the record, but it was a story about an exploding toilet injuring a police officer responding to a call, and her headline was something like “INJURED IN THE LINE OF DOODY.” 

Recently we on the news team have been admiring the headline work of Smithsonian magazine—like “A New, Shape-Shifting ‘Flapjack’ Octopus Has Been Discovered in the Deep Sea Off the Coast of Australia.” You had me at flapjack octopus!