Spook Squad Creative Writing Contest for 6-13 year-olds

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Captivate your students as they have fun writing their very own spooky stories. Spook Squad is a fantastic way to engage your students and get them writing with tension, suspense, and atmosphere. Inspire your students to create their own original mini sagas and become published writers!

Mini sagas (a story told in up to 100 words) can be funny or creepy, scary or mysterious, but must be your students' own work. If you need more graphic organizers they can be copied or downloaded. If you prefer to go paperless, check out the Online Writing Portal where your students type their work and you can submit them all together with the click of a button!

Why Take Part?
🧟‍♂️ Constrained writing helps students develop and practice vital ELA skills
👾 Lesson plan and graphic organizer for easy integration into your lesson
👹 Fun theme for Fall to inspire your students (ideal for 6-13 year-olds)
👻 Your students could be published in a real book
🎃 Prizes for students and schools to be won
🦇 Complimentary copy of the book your students feature in (the more students you enter the more free books you'll receive!)
💀 Free to enter
🧛🏻‍♀️ Fang-tastic way to showcase your school's writing talent

There are lots of free resources available to help your students learn how to write a story, including examples, a lesson plan on how to use tension, suspense and atmosphere, and a PowerPoint slide deck (also available in Google Slides). Download them now!

Join the Spook Squad with your students today - you'll have a scream!

[Rules] =>

Only one entry per student, there is no limit to the number of entries per school. Teachers, please submit your entries altogether where possible.

Use one teacher entry form for each teacher who submits work.

Mini sagas can be submitted on the entry form or a sheet of paper or typed (on a computer or using the Online Writing Portal or Word Doc entry form).

Each student's name, age, and school name should be included on their entry. (Entries can be submitted with first names only or initials if needed.)

Mini sagas have a 100-word limit. The title is not included in the word limit.

If a story starter/ending is used, it must be included in the 100-word limit.

US entrants only.

Students' mini sagas must be their own work! (Please note on the entry if there is anything we need to take into consideration when reading the work.)

Free to enter.

[School Prizes] =>

The school that submits the best set of entries will win the Young Writers' Award of Excellence.

PLUS every participating school receives a free copy of the book their students feature in!

(Remember, you receive 1 free copy for every 30 entries you submit! E.g. 1-30 entries you receive 1 copy, 31-60 entries you receive 2 copies, etc. Every participating school will receive at least 1 copy of the book their students feature in.)

[Student Prizes] =>

Our 3 favorite published writers will each win a fantastic creative writing goody bag!

PLUS

Every entrant receives stickers for taking part, and we award a certificate of merit for all young writers whose work we'd like to publish.

(School and student winners will be chosen from entries received Sept-Nov 2025 from stories that have permission to be published. Goody bag image is an example, contents may differ.)

[Tips] =>
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[Winner Word] => Student [Schools/Clubs] => Schools [Thumbnail] => https://bonacia-sites.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/young-writers/ems/competitions/1756728808-2027-USASpookSquad_PageIcon.jpg [Background] => https://bonacia-sites.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/young-writers/ems/competitions/1756728808-1711-USASpookSquad_Background.jpg [Logo] => https://bonacia-sites.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/young-writers/ems/competitions/1756728808-8828-USASpookSquad_Logo.png [Independent Intro] =>

Captivate your child with the fun of writing their very own spooky story. Spook Squad is a fantastic way for you child to learn how to write a story using tension, suspense, and atmosphere. Inspire them to create their own original mini saga and become a published writer!

Mini sagas (a story told in up to 100 words) can be funny or creepy, scary or mysterious, but must be your child's own work.

Why Take Part?
🧟‍♂️ Constrained writing helps them develop and practice vital ELA skills
👾 A fun graphic organizer to help plan their story
👹 Fun Fall theme to inspire your child (ideal for 6-13 year-olds)
👻 Your child could be published in a real book
🎃 Awesome prizes to be won
💀 Free to enter
🧛🏻‍♀️ Fang-tastic way to showcase your child's writing talent

Encourage your child to join the Spook Squad today - it'll be a scream!

How To Enter

Email your child's entry along with their, name and full address to: [email protected]

Upload their entry at www.youngwritersusa.com/individual-entry or use the link below.

Mail your child's entry along with their, name and full address to:

Young Writers - Spook Squad
77 Walnut Street
Unit 11
Peabody, MA, 01960

Closing Date: November 7, 2025

[Independent Rules] =>

Only one entry per person.

Mini sagas have a 100-word limit.

If a story starter/ending is used, it must be included in the 100-word limit. The title is not included in the word limit.

Your child's entry must include their name, age and full home address.

Your child's entry must be their own original work.

Your child's entry can be submitted on the entry form or a sheet of paper or typed (on a computer or the Word Doc Entry Form)

US entrants only.

Free to enter.

[Independent Prizes] =>

Our 3 favorite published writers will each win a fantastic creative writing goody bag!

PLUS

Every entrant receives stickers for taking part, and we award a certificate of merit for all young writers whose work we'd like to publish.

(Winners will be chosen from entries received Sept-Nov 2025 that have permission to be published. Independent entrants are eligible for student prizes. The goody bag image is an example, contents may differ.)

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This contest is now closed.

If you have late entries, please email us at [email protected] and we'll do our best to accommodate them.

Open contests can be found here.

What happens now?

Our editorial team will read every single entry. Any child whose work they'd love to publish in a book will be sent a letter and certificate. Children whose work hasn't met the contest criteria will have the chance to resubmit their work. Winners will be chosen from published pieces once all the books in the series have been published.

Contest Timeline

Stage	Date	Status
Letters Sent	By 21^st January 2026	⏳ In Progress
Books Published	12^th January 2026 - 30^th March 2026	⏳ Coming Soon
Winners Announced	30^th April 2026	⏳ Coming Soon

Please note we aim to keep these dates as accurate as possible but can be subject to change.

For more detailed information about your school's entries, please log in (or create) your teacher account here using the email you included on your teacher entry form.