This is a very time consuming task and the Mod's simply do not have the time these days. It used to be one of my main responsibilities and actually became one of the reasons I had to take a step down from staff as I couldn't commit to doing it regularly.
There used to be a time when some members of the community took it on, namely Dead_End before he become a staff member. It's a great thing to do and I loved reading them and when I came to do it I loved writing them, but the time it takes for someone to do it well st a big obstacle. One of the biggest challenges I faced with the Community Spotlight was that I was running out of suitable members to interview who hadn't been done before, but more recently there has been an influx in new members who have shown themselves prominent and suitable for interview. I had also had the idea to re-interview past members to see how their lives had changed since the last time they were interviewed and maybe this is something whoever takes over might like to consider doing.
The Blacksmith feature is the most enjoyable feature to write and most popular in my opinion, but also the most time-consuming as you have to take the time to really play through the blacksmith file and think about what you're going to write about. However you will not run out of files to feature.
Work -in-progress is definately the most interesting feature but relies solely on there being enough ambitious yet realistic projects to feature. There are always alot of projects by newer members but they're either not interesting enough to feature or more likely are too ambitious to ever get finished. It's better to look for projects that are being made by more well known designers or are closer to completion. Works like Heart of the Dragon by Mashek is a good place to start though.
Hope that clarifies things and gives a good starting point to anyone who might want to think about taking on the responsibility. You could always do it as a team if a couple of you want to get involved, doing one feature a month and alternating which feature you do, and each of you alternating who does each months feature depending on your own personal time commitments. The staff used to have a calendar where staff members could sing up for a feature every month if they wanted to do one and we also had a shortlist of potential items to feature for each different spotlight.
I'd like to suggest that if you are thinking about taking it on make sure you speak to the staff first and ask them to see their shortlist. Email what you have to them after every written spotlight so they can check it over and then they can post it as a news item for you (as only staff members can post news items). Hope that helps and good luck.