Need Page Layout/Content Advice

I need some advice on the best method for adding a content bloc to the home page. I’ve only done two other WordPress sites so still have lots to learn.

I’m developing a web site for a weekly newspaper and we want to add a thumbnail of their newspaper front page to the right sidebar. The thumbnail would be followed by a photo cutline or description and the image would pop to a larger image using the lightbox function.

I know I can add it to the page directly in code along with the jQuery Lightbox Plugin but I want the editors to be able to add the image and text using the wysiwyg editor or at least the text cutline. They can replace the image using ftp easily enough.

What is the best method to achieve this?

Should I just add a ‘page’ and hide it from the menu or is their another more logical and user friendly method?

Thanks for any help that you can provide.

Cheers
G