NS Featured Posts
This plugin add checkbox for each list item. You can easily check / uncheck the Featured. Checking the Featured will set the meta value yes for meta key _is_ns_featured_post. From plugin settings, you can choose to which post types you want Featured functionality.
Using in theme
This plugin only set / unset the meta key for asigned post. You need to implement it in your theme to get Featured functionality.
Example:
$query = new WP_Query( array( 'meta_key' => '_is_ns_featured_post', 'meta_value' => 'yes' ) );
This will fetch the list of post which are checked as Featured.
Want to see how this can be used in a Page Template?
Click this link to see example