Fall is here and the veil between our world and the next is at its thinnest!
For the second year in a row, the IYWP is celebrating all things spooky by looking for hair-raising, spine-chilling, supernatural stories all about ghosts, hauntings, and things that go bump in the night! Submit by October 14th, 2025 at 11:59 PM (CST). The Ghosts on the Radio Writing Contest is open to youth ages 7-18, in three categories: Elementary, Middle School, and High School. Winners will be announced the week of October 20th.
We will accept: Short stories, plays, or narrative poems.
Submissions should be written to read aloud; think radio play or campfire stories!—Some examples: Jackie Torrence’s storytelling of the :The Golden Arm and Tilly Other ghostly writing we like: The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe.
Submit here!
The winning short stories will be published in a podcast anthology: “Ghosts on the Radio: A Haunted Audio Anthology Vol. 2” Check out last year’s winners here!
Some things to know:
- Your short story, play, or narrative poem must be a ghost story no longer than 5 pages! Anything longer than 5 pages will be disqualified.
- Please submit using a Word document (.doc or .docx) or PDF (.pdf file). We also cannot access files sent from shared cloud services, such as Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive.
- Please title your submission using this format: LASTNAMEFIRSTNAME_TITLE_GoTR2 Include the title and your name on the first page of the piece.
- Your submission must be an original ghost story, and we can only accept one short story per writer.
- The deadline is October 14th, 2025, at 11:59 PM (CST)
- No AI-written stories will be accepted.
- Participants retain the copyright to their submissions. However, participants grant IYWP the right to reproduce any submission on its website, social media, and podcasting platforms. NOTE: The IYWP may edit the work to suit the audio drama format.
Don’t know where to start? Check out our blog where you’ll find tips and suggestions on what goes into a compelling and successful ghost story. And even some optional writing prompts to get you started.