Featured Images on WordPress

Doug Aitken's Sleepwalkers @ MoMA, 2007, via http://bit.ly/tWWaWG

If you want an image in your post to be “featured” on the front page of our class site, you need to upload the image (rather than simply linking to it via URL), then scroll to the bottom of the “Add Media Files” window and check “Use as Featured Image” before you “Insert into Post.”
Or, you can use the “Featured Image” box in the bottom-right corner of the “Add New Post” screen.