FEATURE

WRITING
[Reporting
from/for the Heart]
by Ben G. Domingo Jr.
Chairperson, Technical Committee for Journalism
Commission on Higher Education
 The Feature Story
1. Newspaper’s heart, emotional core and
humanizing element

2. Factual and verifiable, not fiction

3. Creative in style and presentation, but never

in the materials/information used

4. Learned early in school [in Grades 3 or 4]

 Content
1. Anything and everything
2. Facts
3. Colorful, heartfelt situations
4. Fine details
5. People, talking people
6. News value/peg
 Elements
1. Human Interest
2. Timelessness / Non-perishability
3. Atmosphere and Mood
4. Entertaining Nature
5. Creativity
6. Informativeness
7. Communicability
8. Objectivity
 Language
1. Light
2. Almost conversational
3. Somewhat creative
 Purpose
1. Writing [from and] for the heart
2. Writing to inform
3. Writing to inspire
4. Writing to make people act
5. Writing to entertain
 Structure
1. Varied
2. Seriffed ‘I’ is often preferred
a. short catchy title
b. ensnaring opening statement
c. body full of colorful, heartfelt,
detailed information
d. impactful final line/statement
e. engaging presentation thread
 Types
1. News Feature / Featurized News
2. Personality/Activity/Project Sketch
3. Travel/Tourism/Vacation Stories
4. Historical Highlights/Sidelights
5. Seasonal / Holiday stories
6. First person accounts
7. How-to-articles
8. Heart-tuggers
9. Anecdotes
10. Reviews
11. Diaries
12. Trivia
 Other Reminders
1. Be different.
[Don’t be just like everybody else.]
2. People your story; let them breathe.
3. Temper your modifiers. Avoid using flowery
language.
4. Show, don’t merely tell.
5. Don’t editorialize.
6. Don’t moralize.
7. For first person perspective, avoid shifting the
reader’s attention from the subject to the
reporter/writer.
 Contest Particulars
1. Subject/Topic:
For HS: “____________________________”
For ES: “____________________________”

2. Length:
HS: minimum of eight [9] paragraphs
ES: minimum of five [6] paragraphs

3. Time Allotment:
maximum of one [1] hour
 Possible Subjects/Topics
 ES: My Favorite Nursery Rhyme/Song
 ES: My First Cooking Adventure
 ES: Discovering Nature
 ES: My Mother’s First Aid Kit
 HS: Music in/and my Family
 HS: Food in/and my Family
 HS: My Neighborhood
 HS: Biggest Influence in my Life