Nilambar Sharma

<h3>NS Featured Posts</h3>
This plugin adds checkboxes for each list item. You can easily check/uncheck the Featured flag. Checking the Featured will set the meta value yes for meta key _is_ns_featured_post. You can choose which post types you want Featured functionality from plugin settings.
<h4>Using in theme</h4>
This plugin only sets/unsets the meta key for assigned posts. You need to implement it in your theme to get Featured functionality.
Example:
<pre><code>$query = new WP_Query( array( 'meta_key' => '_is_ns_featured_post', 'meta_value' => 'yes' ) );
</code></pre>
This will fetch the list of posts that are checked as Featured.
Want to see how this can be used in a Page Template? 
<a href="https://gist.github.com/ernilambar/ad31b89b459e954fc950" rel="nofollow ugc">Click this link to see an example</a>

NS Featured Posts

A plugin for making posts, pages, or custom post types featured. Users can enable/disable Featured flags for selected post types.

iandbanks

Feature Me CTA Widget is a simple widget that allows you to turn any page or post on your website into a call to action (cta).It pulls the pages and posts from the WordPress database and allows a user to choose one to display an excerpt and featured image in a widget area. Use this widget to feature prominent articles, or promote actions on the website.
IT’S EASY TO USE. If your theme uses widgets, you can use Feature Me. Just select the post or page you want to feature in any widget area, customize some preferences and save. Done.
IT SAVES TIME. Forget about endless sticky posts. With Feature Me, you won’t waste your time swapping out sticky 
posts to display your posts and pages in a prominent location. When you use Feature Me, 
you there is no need to code a featured page on your website ever again.

Feature Me – CTA Widget

A simple widget that allows you to feature any page or post on your website.

NS Featured Posts vs Feature Me – CTA Widget