Friday, August 29, 2025
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.  
For any questions, please email iywp@uiowa.edu   
 
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.