New and Featured item

Hi, in my custom template i need to show a badge for new and featured items like in my old resources template.

this work in cobalt and show me the code i insert to show the badge

<?php if($item->featured): ?>    here i put  css class to show the badge

and this does not work in cobalt... probably 'isnew' is wrong

<?php if($item->isnew): ?>here i put the  css class to show the badge

Please colud you help me to find the error? thanks marco