Title Writing Contest™

Kristopher suggests that I have yet again crossed the line in my headline on the Olestra story. I’m pretty sure Kristopher was just giving me the business, but it got me to thinking about headline (or title) writing in the blogosphere. This is one area that has always fascinated me. Perhaps the fact that I read many blogs via a newsreader makes me more sensitive to top quality headline writing. The first thing I see when clicking on a blog’s newsfeed is a list of post titles. Often I don’t look at the article summaries for all of the post, just the ones whose titles capture my attention. This is especially true for blogs or news sources I visit infrequently. The post title has to grab my attention, hint at the subject of the story, and be captivating. If the post title doesn’t draw me in, that’s a post I probably miss.

The premise of the Title Writing Contest™ is that I will provide you with an actual blog post in the extended entry, and you provide the post title in the comments. The winning entry will be used as the post title when the post is made Tuesday evening at 11:00PM EST. Sorry for the short turnaround time, but odd news has a shelf life… The winning title will be used and the author linked at the end of the post.

The actual blog post is presented below:

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More proof Louisiana is a little bit different than any other state in the union, By the way, no one has found the whorehouse disguised as a dry cleaning business either. For those of you getting a little “starch” in your shirts, mums the word…

NEW ORLEANS, La. (Reuters) – A car crash in a town near New Orleans revealed that a building thought to be a home improvement business was actually a white supremacist church, police said on Friday. The vehicle smashed into the brick storefront in Chalmette, Louisiana, after colliding with two other cars and came to rest amid stacks of racist books and pamphlets, including Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” they said.

A sign proclaimed the building the “Southern Home Improvement Center,” said Lt. Mike Sanders of the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Department, but investigators found out it was the New Christian Crusade Church and headquarters of the Christian Defense League. Both organizations were the projects of building owner James Warner, a founder of the American Nazi Party and associate of former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard and Republican gubernatorial candidate David Duke, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which monitors hate groups.

14 Comments

margi August 5, 2003

Whitewash’d
Tiger August 5, 2003

Dateline Lousiana: Kar Krash Komedy
Tiger August 5, 2003

make that: Kar Krash Kalamity
Ian S. August 5, 2003

Takkken to the Cleaners
Jeff August 5, 2003

Car Crash Clips “Church” Concealing Controversial Crap
Ith August 5, 2003

Stupid question #4000 🙂 Blog Newsfeed?
Stevie August 5, 2003

Don’t feel bad, Ith, I have no idea what they are, either…
Kevin August 5, 2003

Ith – If you look at the Syndicate This Site (XML) link at you blog in a browser you’ll see what I see of your blog. It doesn’t look that great in a browser, but you get the idea…
Norbizness August 5, 2003

Variety Headline: “Van Slam Cans Klan”

NY Post: “Tim Allen, Call Your Agent”

Local Paper: “Welll, Lookee Heyah! Dat Car Crash Done Storred Up A Hornet’s Nest, I Gua-ron-tee!”
michele August 5, 2003

Indymedia Headline:

Bush Support Center Involved in Car Crash.
Tiger August 5, 2003

MVA Reveals Rural Church Teaching Three “K’s”
James Joyner August 5, 2003

DO THE WHITE THING.

or

IT’S A WHITE THANG; YOU WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND.
Graham Lester August 5, 2003

“Nasty Crash Identifies Unidentified Identity Nazi Trash”
Rodney Dill August 5, 2003

Klu-less Klutz Kar Krash Kracks Klan

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Kevin

14 Comments