Story Idea Triage

What it is

Story ideas arrive from everywhere: a product manager’s launch, the CEO’s conference, a colleague’s charity run, a customer who said something nice. Most comms teams have more ideas than capacity and no consistent way to choose, so decisions are made by whoever asked most recently or most loudly. This template is a triage sheet: each idea is scored on a handful of criteria, given a decision, and either scheduled, parked with a reason or declined with a reply the requester can accept.

AI does the first pass, categorising the batch, proposing the strongest angle for each idea and flagging where two ideas could be one story. You make the calls and own the replies. By the end you have a ranked list, a short set of decisions and a record you can point to the next time someone asks why their story did not run.

When to use it

Use this template when:

• The story backlog has more than a handful of items and is growing
• You are building next month’s content plan and need to choose
• Requesters are getting inconsistent answers, or no answer
• An idea seems weak but the requester matters and you want to find the angle before saying no
• Two or three teams have suggested overlapping stories

Don’t use this template if:

• You have one idea and need to develop it; use the Media Pitch Builder or the Blog Post Outline Pack
• The stories are already commissioned and the question is scheduling; that is the Content Calendar
• The decision is political rather than editorial and needs a conversation, not a score

Inputs needed

Before starting, gather:

• The ideas, one line each, with the requester, the date suggested and any material offered (data, a spokesperson, images)
• Your audience profiles, or at least a list of audiences and what each wants from you
• The current content plan, with the gaps and the themes you are trying to build
• Your key messages
• Your capacity for the period: how many pieces the team can make well

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The template

Triage header

Period: [e.g. October 2026] Capacity: [e.g. six pieces, two of them substantial] Themes we are building: [Two or three] Audiences: [List]

Scoring sheet

Score each criterion 1 to 3 (low, medium, high). The total is a guide, not a verdict.

#	Idea	Requester	Audience value	Angle strength	Message fit	Timeliness	Proof available	Effort (3 = low)	Total	Decision	Reason	Reply sent
1	[Idea]	[Name]								Make / Merge / Park / Decline	[One line]	Yes / No

Criteria

• Audience value: would a named audience read, share or act on this? 3 means a clear audience with a clear reason.
• Angle strength: is there a tension, a change, a first, a number or a person at the centre? 3 means the angle writes itself.
• Message fit: does it advance a key message or a theme we are building?
• Timeliness: is there a reason to run it now, or a hook it could attach to?
• Proof available: do we have the data, the spokesperson, the case study, the images? 3 means in hand.
• Effort: how much work to make it well? Score inversely, so low effort scores 3.

Decisions

Decision	Meaning	What happens next
Make	Goes into the plan for this period	Added to the content calendar with an owner and a format
Merge	Combines with another idea into one stronger story	Both requesters told; the combined story goes to Make
Park	Good idea, wrong time or missing proof	Logged with what would unlock it and a date to revisit
Decline	Not for us, or not now and unlikely later	Requester told, with the reason and any alternative (an internal channel, a partner’s channel)

Replies

Make: “Yes. We will run this as [format] in [period]. I need [material] from you by [date].” Merge: “Yes, combined with [other idea], which makes it stronger because [reason]. [Name] is also involved.” Park: “Not this period. It needs [proof / hook / spokesperson] first. I have logged it to revisit on [date].” Decline: “Not one for our channels, because [reason]. [Alternative, if any].”

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AI prompt

Base prompt

I am triaging story ideas for [ORGANISATION]'s communications for [PERIOD]. We can make [N] pieces well, [N] of them substantial.

Our audiences and what each wants from us:
[PASTE]

Key messages and the themes we are building this period:
[PASTE]

Gaps in the current content plan:
[PASTE]

The ideas, one per line, with requester and any material offered:
[PASTE]

For each idea:
1. Score it 1 to 3 on: audience value (a named audience with a clear reason to read, share or act); angle strength (a tension, change, first, number or person at the centre); message fit; timeliness (a reason to run now or a hook to attach to); proof available (data, spokesperson, case study, images in hand); effort, scored inversely so low effort is 3. Give one line of reasoning per score.
2. Propose the strongest angle, even for weak ideas. If the idea is a topic rather than a story, say what would make it a story.
3. Recommend a decision: Make, Merge, Park or Decline, with one line of reasoning I could send to the requester.
Then:
4. Flag any ideas that should be merged, and say what the combined story is.
5. Rank the Make recommendations against our capacity and the plan gaps, and say which [N] you would commission and in what format.
6. List the parked ideas with what would unlock each.

Rules: use only the material provided; do not invent data, spokespeople or hooks. Where an idea lacks information to score, say so rather than guessing. Be direct about weak ideas; the requester will get a reason, so make it a fair one.

Prompt variations

Variation 1 – A single idea from someone senior:

[SENIOR PERSON] has suggested this story: [PASTE]. Score it on the six criteria, find the strongest angle, and if it is weak tell me plainly. Then draft two replies: one that commissions it in the strongest form, and one that declines or parks it with a reason and an alternative, so I can choose.

Variation 2 – Finding the pattern in a backlog:

Here are [N] story ideas from the last [PERIOD], with decisions: [PASTE]. Tell me which requesters or teams generate the strongest ideas, which criteria most often fail, which themes are over-supplied and which under-supplied against our key messages, and what one change to how we take in ideas would raise the quality of the batch.

Variation 3 – Building a month from the survivors:

These ideas have been marked Make: [PASTE, WITH SCORES AND ANGLES]. Our channels are [LIST] and our capacity is [N] pieces. Propose a month's plan: which idea in which format on which channel, in what order, with the repurposing each piece supports. Flag any week that is empty or crowded.

Variation 4 – Declining well:

I am declining these ideas: [PASTE, WITH REASONS]. For each, draft a three-sentence reply to the requester that gives the honest reason, offers an alternative where one exists (an internal channel, a partner's channel, a later date), and leaves the door open for a better version. No apology, no padding.

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Human review checklist

• Has every idea received a decision and a reason, including the ones from people who will not like it?
• Do the Make decisions fit within capacity, with a named owner and a format each?
• Have merged ideas been agreed with both requesters, not only announced?
• Does every parked idea have a stated unlock and a revisit date?
• Are the scores defensible if a requester asks to see them?
• Has the proof for each Make been confirmed as available, not assumed?
• Do the Makes serve more than one audience and more than one theme, or is the month lopsided?
• Have the replies gone?

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Tips for success

Score before you argue. The sheet gives everyone the same language. A requester who can see their idea scored 1 on angle strength will often find the angle themselves.

Look for the merge. The best story in a batch is frequently two weak ideas that share a hook. Ask the AI pass to look for it explicitly.

Say no with a reason and a door. A decline that names the criterion and offers an alternative keeps ideas coming. Silence stops them.

Track the parked list. Parked without a revisit date is declined without the courtesy. Put the date in the calendar.

Review the batch, not only the ideas. Every quarter, look at who suggests what and which criteria fail most. That tells you where to coach and where to change the intake form.

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Common pitfalls

Letting the total decide. A 15 with no proof available is a 15 you cannot make this month. Read the row, not the sum.

Scoring effort first. Easy stories crowd out good ones. Score audience value and angle before you look at effort.

Confusing a topic with a story. “Our sustainability work” is a topic. “We cut fleet emissions by a third and it cost less than we expected” is a story. If the AI pass cannot find the angle, the idea is a topic.

Ignoring internal channels. Half the declined ideas are good internal stories. Route them rather than binning them.

Pasting sensitive detail into a tool. Story ideas often carry unannounced launches, customer names and figures. Follow your AI Use Policy and strip what should not travel before scoring.

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