The Writing Center is hosting its annual Halloween Short Story writing contest throughout October to celebrate Halloween.
“Every year for the past several years, we have run what we call a Scary Story contest around Halloween, and we ask students to write a short story of no more than 1200 words that is suitable for Halloween,” said Dr. Cole Bennett, professor of English and the director of the Writing Center. “They are due around the time of Halloween, we usually pick a Friday that is right by Halloween.”
The submissions are then given to one of the creative writing faculty who determines who the winner is.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for people to get interested in writing and try their writing skills because it’s a low-stakes kind of situation for them to just see what they can do,” said Ashlen Planes assistant director of the Writing Center and second-year graduate student in speech pathology. “I like reading the stories. I don’t judge them; I just like reading them because I think it’s interesting to see people’s different styles and how creepy people can be.”
Every year, the contest increases in the amount of entries.
“I think people get excited about writing things that aren’t associated with a class,” Bennett said. “They’re just writing because they want to write, which is what excites me. A lot of people associate the Writing Center with just a place to get help on essays or ‘boring writing’, but it’s also a place to get help with creative writing too.”
Whoever wins the contest gets a prize package from the Writing Center that is usually full of Halloween candy, but their story also gets automatically published in the Shinnery Review, the Undergraduate Literary Magazine at ACU.
“I want to encourage people to participate,” Planes said. “It’s a super fun way to get involved and just get interested in writing.”
Submissions are due Oct. 27 and can be emailed to writingcenter@acu.edu. For more information about how to submit, visit the Writing Center or look on their Instagram page @acuwritingcenter.
