The best examples of examples of feature news articles (with real stories)

Picture a reader scrolling through headlines: war updates, economic forecasts, election polls. Then one headline stops them:

“The Last Grocery Store in Town: How One Family Keeps a Rural Community Alive.”

That’s not breaking news. That’s a feature news article—and a perfect example of how a simple topic (a grocery store) becomes a compelling narrative about community, aging infrastructure, and economic survival.

When we talk about the best examples of feature news articles, we’re talking about stories like that. They don’t just tell you what happened; they show you why it matters and who is living through it.

Let’s walk through several real examples and types of feature pieces you’ll see in 2024–2025, and what makes them work.

Profiles: a classic example of feature news writing

If hard news is about events, profile features are about people at the center of those events.

Imagine a longform piece on a young epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who spent three years tracking a mysterious respiratory illness. A straight news story might say:

“CDC researchers identified X risk factors for Y disease, according to a new report.”

A feature version zooms in on one scientist:

“At 3:17 a.m., Dr. Maya Rodriguez’s phone lit up again. Another email. Another patient. Another question she couldn’t yet answer.”

This is a textbook example of a feature news article: same topic, but rooted in character and scene. The facts are still accurate and sourced (maybe linking to a CDC report), but the entry point is human.

Strong profile examples include:

• A local paper following a public school teacher juggling classroom duties and part-time gig work in a high-rent city.
• A national outlet profiling a climate scientist whose research is shaping coastal policy in Florida.
• A regional magazine spending a day with a wildfire firefighter in California during peak season.

These are all examples of feature news articles that use a single person’s life to illuminate a bigger issue—education funding, climate risk, or public safety.

Issue features: when data becomes a story

Another powerful example of feature news writing is the issue-driven piece: the article that takes a big, abstract topic and makes it concrete.

Think of a story on mental health among college students. A hard news approach might summarize new statistics from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or a study cited by NIH.gov. An issue feature instead might:

• Follow three students at different campuses through midterms and finals.
• Weave in interviews with counselors, parents, and administrators.
• Use data from NIH or Mayo Clinic to frame the stakes.

The finished piece might be titled:

“The Semester That Broke Them: Inside the Mental Health Crisis on Campus.”

Here the reporter uses narrative scenes—panic attacks in dorm rooms, long waits at counseling centers, late-night calls home—to embody the data. This is one of the best examples of examples of feature news articles because it shows how numbers and human stories reinforce each other.

Other strong issue-feature examples include:

• A deep dive on housing insecurity told through one extended family living in a motel.
• A story on long COVID framed through the daily routine of a nurse who can no longer work full-time, supported by CDC and NIH research.
• A feature on food deserts told through a bus route that residents take every week just to reach a full-service grocery store.

In each case, the examples of feature news articles share a pattern: a big issue, anchored in specific lives.

Narrative features: reading like short stories

Some of the best examples of feature news articles are pure narrative. They have a beginning, middle, and end, complete with scenes, tension, and resolution.

Imagine a longform piece about a small Midwestern town rebuilding after a devastating tornado in 2024. Instead of listing damage estimates and federal aid numbers, the article might:

• Open with a vivid scene: a family returning to the foundation where their home once stood.
• Follow the town over a year: temporary housing, school reopenings, debates over rebuilding codes.
• Introduce recurring characters: the mayor, a volunteer doctor, a contractor, a high school senior.

By the conclusion, readers feel like they’ve lived through the year alongside the town. This kind of narrative is a standout example of feature news writing because it uses storytelling tools from fiction—character, setting, plot—while staying grounded in verifiable reporting.

Other narrative feature examples include:

• A cross-country train journey piece that uses passengers’ stories to explore migration, work, and family.
• A “day in the life” story of an emergency room during a heat wave, with context from WebMD or Mayo Clinic on heat-related illnesses.
• A chronicle of one city block over 24 hours, showing how different residents experience the same space.

These narrative pieces are often the best examples of feature news articles to study if you want to learn pacing, scene-setting, and emotional payoff.

Trend features: when culture shifts, slowly

Trends rarely break like sudden news; they creep. That’s why trend stories are such useful examples of feature news articles—they show how to capture change over time.

Consider a feature on the surge of remote work towns in 2024–2025: small communities marketing themselves to remote workers fleeing big-city rents. A trend feature might:

• Start with one family who moved from Brooklyn to a small town in Colorado.
• Zoom out to show data on population shifts, maybe citing a university study from a site like Harvard.edu or a government labor report.
• Interview local officials, real estate agents, and long-time residents about rising prices and cultural tensions.

By blending anecdote and data, this becomes a strong example of a trend feature news article.

Other trend-feature examples include:

• The rise of non-alcoholic bars and sober social spaces in major cities.
• The explosion of AI-related jobs and training programs at community colleges.
• The spread of extreme heat adaptation strategies—cooling centers, adjusted school hours, redesigned public spaces—in US cities facing record summers.

Each of these is an example of how a feature story can document cultural change without a single “breaking” moment.

Explanatory features: answering “how” and “why”

Explanatory features sit between hard news and narrative. They’re some of the most useful examples of feature news articles for readers who want to understand complex systems.

Imagine a 2025 piece on why prescription drug prices remain high in the US. A straight news story might cover one new law or one price change. An explanatory feature instead might:

• Open with a patient at the pharmacy counter, forced to choose between paying rent and filling a prescription.
• Walk through how insurance, pharmacy benefit managers, manufacturers, and regulators interact.
• Quote experts from organizations like NIH or major medical centers.

The structure is clear, but the storytelling is still there. This is a powerful example of a feature news article that teaches while it engages.

Other explanatory-feature examples include:

• A piece explaining how wildfire smoke travels thousands of miles and affects air quality in Eastern cities.
• A feature unpacking how social media algorithms shape political news exposure during an election year.
• An explainer on how extreme weather affects infrastructure like power grids and water systems.

These examples of feature news articles show that explanation doesn’t have to be dry; it can be narrative, visual in language, and emotionally resonant.

Local feature news examples: small scale, big impact

Some of the best real examples of feature news articles never go viral; they live in local papers and regional outlets.

Think of a city reporter who spends a month riding the same bus line every morning. The resulting feature might:

• Introduce regular riders: a nurse on the early shift, a student with a long commute, an elderly man who rides just to talk to people.
• Capture overheard conversations, small acts of kindness, and daily frustrations.
• Connect those scenes to bigger issues like transit funding, accessibility, and housing.

This is a quiet but powerful example of a feature news article that documents everyday life while nudging readers to see their city differently.

Other local feature examples include:

• A story about a neighborhood barbershop that has served as an unofficial community center for decades.
• A feature on a volunteer-run food pantry adapting to increased demand.
• A profile of a high school robotics team preparing for a national competition.

These local stories are often the best examples for practicing feature writing because the stakes are real, the access is close, and the characters are vivid.

How to use these examples of feature news articles in your own writing

Looking at all these examples of examples of feature news articles, certain patterns repeat. Whether you’re profiling a scientist or tracking a cultural shift, strong feature stories tend to:

• Start with a moment, not a thesis. Instead of “Remote work is changing America,” you begin with a family unpacking boxes in a new town.
• Focus on people first. Data and policy matter, but readers remember characters.
• Add context without overwhelming. The best examples of feature news articles weave background and history into the story at natural points.
• Respect accuracy. Even the most narrative feature still relies on solid reporting, verified facts, and reliable sources.

If you’re studying examples of feature news articles to improve your craft, try this exercise: take a straight news story—say, a short piece on rising asthma rates in children—and imagine how you’d turn it into a feature. Whose life would you follow? What scene would you open with? Which sources (CDC, NIH, Mayo Clinic, local doctors) would you consult to add depth?

The more you read and reverse-engineer real examples like the ones above, the more instinctive feature writing becomes.

FAQ: examples of feature news articles, formats, and angles

Q: What is an example of a strong feature news article lead?
A: A strong feature lead drops the reader into a moment. For instance: “By the time the sun comes up over Phoenix, the temperature is already 92 degrees, and the line outside the city’s only 24-hour cooling center stretches around the block.” This kind of opening is a clear example of a feature lead—immediate, sensory, and tied to a larger story about heat, climate, and public health.

Q: What are some common types of feature news articles?
A: Common types include profiles, issue features, narrative features, trend stories, explanatory features, and local color pieces. The best examples usually blend categories—for example, a profile that also explains a policy issue, or a trend piece told through one family’s experience.

Q: How are examples of feature news articles different from opinion pieces?
A: Feature articles are reported stories built on interviews, documents, and data. They may have a clear angle or focus, but they don’t rely on the writer’s personal opinion as the main driver. Opinion pieces, by contrast, are arguments, even when they use reporting. When you look at examples of feature news articles, you’ll notice they foreground reporting and let readers draw their own conclusions.

Q: Where can I find high-quality examples of feature news articles to study?
A: Check the feature or magazine sections of major outlets, as well as nonprofit and public-interest news organizations. Look for longform stories that center people, provide context, and read like narratives. For topic-specific pieces, sites like CDC.gov, NIH.gov, and MayoClinic.org often link to or inspire strong health and science features.

Q: What is one simple example of turning hard news into a feature?
A: Suppose a city passes a new law limiting short-term rentals. A hard news story summarizes the vote. A feature story follows one landlord losing income, one tenant finally finding a stable apartment, and one neighborhood group that pushed for the change. That contrast of perspectives is a clear example of how a feature news article adds depth and humanity to a policy story.

By reading, dissecting, and imitating these examples of feature news articles, you’re not just learning a genre—you’re learning how to tell true stories in a way people actually want to read.