A featured topic is a collection of articles that represents Wikipedia's best work in covering a subject comprehensively and with items of consistently good quality. In addition to the meeting of the requirements for all Wikipedia articles by all of the constituents, a featured topic has the following attributes.
It is a set of similar, interrelated articles that cover a specific topic
(a) There are at least three distinct articles.
(b) The articles have a clear similarity with each other under a well-defined topical scope.
(c) All articles in the topic are linked together, preferably using a template, and share a common category or super-category.
(d) There is no obvious gap (missing or stub article) in the topic. A topic must not cherry pick only the best articles to become featured together.
The topic has an introductory and summary lead article or list.
Each article is of high quality, including the referencing.
(c) Items that are ineligible for featured or good article status, due to either their limited subject matter or inherent instability, must have passed an individual quality audit that included a completed peer review, with all important problems fixed. Such items do not count towards criterion 1.a.
Recommendations
In addition to the mandatory criteria above, it is recommended that all topics meet the following optional criteria:
The structure of the articles is similar, with the same section titles and order where possible.
The articles use a common infobox where appropriate.
The topic is not overly large nor needlessly small. There is no maximum number of articles, but if something is far larger than existing topics, it might be wise to split it into subtopics. For example, science fiction films would be too large a topic, but Star Trek films would be of appropriate scope. Conversely, a topic should not be excessively sub-divided; an all-encompassing topic of six articles is better than two topics of three each. These guidelines do not apply to items in a clear series (every article from 1st Canadian Parliament to 39th Canadian Parliament could be included in one topic), or those dictated by geography (for example, states of the USA).
Featured topic status is dependent on the continued adherence to all criteria, including retention of high quality status by all of the constituents. If any of the criteria are no longer met, or any constituents lose quality status, such topics will be eligible for a featured topic removal nomination after a grace period. The grace period will be three months for a demotion of an article or if the topic expands and is therefore incomplete; and six months following a change to the Featured Topic criteria.