Regular readers of The Frederick News-Post likely can identify these correctly as abbreviations for Board of Education, Frederick County Public Schools, Board of County Commissioners and Board of Aldermen.

We in journalism are urged to avoid turning news stories, especially local news stories, into alphabet soup. (The news crawl used on many TV channels has expanded such abbreviation to an almost absurd level.) In headlines, we also try to avoid "headlinese," i.e., short words that come in handy in a tight headline: Officials "eye" a property for development rather than consider it; employees want a pay "hike" rather than a raise; a political candidate "raps" opponents rather than criticizing them.

Conscientious journalists strive to tell the story in plain language, so we avoid abbreviations in the body of the story. At The FNP, our style is that "school board" is preferred over BoE, "school system" over FCPS, "Frederick County Commissioners" over BoCC and so on.

But in headlines, abbreviation is sometimes necessary -- not to slang up our news pages or train our readers, but to provide the readers with the most relevant information in the smallest amount of space. We know that people's time is valuable, and the headlines and how they're displayed help the reader, especially those who skim our newspaper or website. News organizations that ignore this reality do so at their own peril.

Copy editors write the headlines (heds) for news stories. At The FNP, reporters are also expected to provide a suggested headline for each story they write. This not only aids the copy editor in writing the hed, but also helps reporters focus on what they're trying to say -- what the story is. This simple exercise might even reveal discrepancies in the story, or suggest that more work is needed.

Back to headlines, or rather, fitting all we can into them. Sometimes long names of people rather than those of government bodies or companies give us trouble. I was a novice copy editor when Parris Glendening was governor, and it could be a challenge to get his last name into a hed. So he often wound up as "governor," "Gov." or "guv," depending on the hed specs and the practice of the publication. When I moved to Arizona, where the governor's last name was Hull, I was relieved. Soon enough, however, the conveniently and compactly named Jane Hull was succeeded by Janet Napolitano.

Other times, the very subject of a story is at odds with a tight hed count. Once I was asked to write a one-column headline for a story about complications that follow angioplasties. Fortunately, the page designer agreed to add a "subhed" that would accommodate the word "angioplasty."

Most importantly, the headline must be fair. Careless wording or lack of attribution can render a headline unfair or even libelous even if the story is not. "Police arrest robber" might be short and sweet, but it also convicts the person arrested before he has been tried. A fair and accurate hed might be "Man arrested in robbery." Occasionally, even the "in" construction might not be appropriate, particularly when the facts are in dispute: The hed "Woman arrested in prostitution" might be replaced with "Woman charged with prostitution."

At the same time, the headline must also present an interesting, coherent statement that draws the reader in. The best headline writers consider it the most challenging part of the job of copy editor, even those who make it look easy.

Consider these headlines that recently won top honors from the American Copy Editors Society:

"Competitive undertaking"

(Michael Roehrman, Wichita [Kan.] Eagle, for a story about the economic challenges funeral homes face)

"Is the mission offset by emissions?"

(Jim Webster, St. Petersburg [Fla.] Times, on the possible environmental impact of 10,000 people flying to Indonesia for a summit on climate change)

"Hey, Leadfoot! Smile!"

(Niko Dugan, Champaign [Ill.] News-Gazette, for a story about road cameras that catch speeders in the act)

What headlines have resonated with you? E-mail them to me at twalsh@fredericknewspost.com.

Terence Walsh is assistant news editor of The Frederick News-Post.