The art of crafting an enticing headline is evolving, as so many publications  make the leap into digital-first - but it remains a work in progress. For example, the trend towards longer explanatory headlines to suit online and mobile formats is now being tempered by the shameless scraping of our web sites by AI players like Perplexity.

These sites convert our headlines and intros to a narrative, dispensing with the blue click-on links altogether in favour of tiny numbers, as tempting as footnotes in a textbook.

While our industry works out how to respond, the basic ingredients remain the same. A good headline should be concise, omitting needless words; its meaning should be clear and, ideally, it will contain some intrigue or enticement that encourages the audience to read further.

It means we need to be more careful than in the past about the play on words, the referencing to popular culture and the pun. The mobile reader is scrolling quickly, so images are important to add context and clarity where the meaning can be otherwise obscure. Mobile doesn’t allow us any time for the reader to decipher something that isn’t immediately obvious.

A few entries in this very strong field suffered from that obscurity, so my selections favour those that, in my view, avoided that pitfall.

Winner

Vital Signs – The Leader.

Along with its attendant kicker, Countdown to our hospital petition, the Leader’s launch of a petition and health stories as part of its campaign for a larger regional hospital wrote a powerful headline that unmistakably alluded to health, as well as highlighting the urgency of the issue. Accompanied by an excellent image, it pulled the reader in to read Henry’s story.

Second

The Hills’ Goat Talent – The Courier

Efforts by the Adelaide Hills Council to eradicate invasive weeds in steep terrain and reduce bushfire risk led to a successful trial with a local goat herd – giving The Courier an opening for this clever play on “Australia’s Got Talent” and inviting entry to an interesting story. Once again, an appropriate image mitigates confusion and teases the reader to read further.

Third

Wharfare Over – Fleurieu Sun

While not quite reaching the dizzy heights of last year’s “shore-shack redemption,” the Sun’s headline immediately conveys its meaning – the years of community disquiet over management of the Goolwa wharf is over, but acknowledged with a touch of humour.

Special mentions

Several other short, sharp headlines that made their meaning clear could just as easily have joined the place-getters: Desal of Distrust from the Port Lincoln Times, Food Fight from The Southern Argus and Crossing The Line from the Victor Harbor Times all spoke powerfully about controversial local issues.

Where the play on words or popular culture reference worked well (for both print and mobile) was in conjunction with a strong image, and here I particularly liked Dancing Queen from The Southern Argus, Packing a Punch from The Port Pirie Recorder and Hail of a Christmas from The Border Times.

I congratulate the reporters, subs and editors for their continuing dedication to the craft, which makes judging this award so enjoyable.

Ross McPherson