This plugin allows to set a featured image for each category. 
Posts without a featured image set will show the category’s featured image instead. 
Featured images usually are placed by the theme in the single post page, in the latest posts page, etc. 
But can also be shown using the shortcode [cfi_featured_image] or the PHP function cfi_featured_image(). To get the featured image URL I added the function cfi_featured_image_url().
Shortcode/PHP function optional arguments:
<ul>
<li>‘size’: ‘thumbnail’, ‘medium’, ‘large’, ‘full’</li>
<li>‘class’: class of the image tag</li>
<li>‘alt’: alternative text of the image tag</li>
<li>‘title’: title of the image tag</li>
<li>‘cat_id’: select a specific category id</li>
</ul>
Shortcode example:
<pre><code>[cfi_featured_image size="large" title="This is a test..." class="my-image" alt="My image"]
</code></pre>
Function example 1:
<pre><code>cfi_featured_image( array( 'size' => 'large', 'title' => 'This is a test...', 'class' => 'my-image', 'alt' => 'My image' ) );
</code></pre>
Function example 2:
<pre><code>cfi_featured_image_url( array( 'size' => 'large' ) );
</code></pre>
Notes:
<ul>
<li>If a post has more than a category with a featured image the first available is loaded</li>
<li>If a category hasn’t a featured image but it has a parent category with a featured image the parent one is loaded</li>
</ul>

Category Featured Images

This plugin does one thing and it does it well.
It's easy to use, too: install, set up the default category images and forget about it.



Does one thing and does it well

Set a featured image for all the posts of a category.

AZ-Theme.Net

AZ-Theme Toolkit is a lightweight and safe plugin that generates 4 much-necessary custom widgets. 
This plugin is optimized for AZ-Theme’s themes but also works great with other themes.
<h4>Widgets included in AZ-Theme Toolkit</h4>
<ul>
<li>AZ-Theme: About Me — You can place the author bio on sidebars using this widget.</li>
<li>AZ-Theme: Categories Images — You can add images to the categories and also display post counts of the selected category using this widget.</li>
<li>AZ-Theme: Latest Posts — This widget helps you display recent posts of your website.</li>
<li>AZ-Theme: Social Media Links — This widget allows you to add social media links on your website.</li>
</ul>

AZ-Theme Toolkit

AZ-Theme Toolkit is a lightweight and safe plugin that generates 4 much-necessary custom widgets.

Category Featured Images vs AZ-Theme Toolkit