Spooky Glastonbury Writing Contest 2025

Welles-Turner Memorial Library is celebrating spooky season with our 1st Annual Spooky Glastonbury Writing Contest. From October 1st-31st, Glastonbury residents ages six and up are invited to submit an original spooky tale using the guidelines below. Each story will be published in a Spooky Glastonbury volume, which will be added to our library collection. All participants who submit a story within the guidelines will receive a commemorative item. Prizes will be awarded to one winner from each age group (6-11, 12-18, and 19+).  Winning stories will also be featured in a Best of Spooky CT volume. Submitted stories must: Be set in Connecticut past, present, or future Be a minimum of two sentences and a maximum of 10 pages Be an original piece (no AI, please!) Be authored by a Glastonbury resident Have no excessive bad language or extreme gore One entry per person, please! Submissions will be accepted via Google Form here. Please note that to submit via the Google Form, you must have or create a free Google account. Questions or issues with submission should be directed to wtmlreference@gmail.com. We can't wait to read your frightful stories! Do your best to scare the librarians! Winners will be notified in November. This event is generously sponsored by The Friends of the Welles-Turner Memorial Library.

FAQs What are the font size and spacing requirements? Please use a minimum font size of 10 and at least single spacing format. 1.5 spacing and double spacing are also acceptable. What is the preferred file format? Word document format is preferred. PDFs are also acceptable. Are illustrations allowed? Yes, as long as the story meets the minimum two-sentence requirement. Can a group of people submit a story together? Each submitted story must have only one author because the library will recognize a single winner per age group. Can I receive a copy of the short story volume at the end of the program? The library will add a bound volume of all submitted short stories to the public collection. We are also exploring ways to provide individual copies of the volume to interested patrons. Stay tuned for more details!