Think you have what it takes to scare our socks off? Frighten us with your creepiest tale, and you might win a prize and have your story published!

Students ages 11–18 can enter our annual Scary Story Contest. A panel of judges from Port Moody Public Library, Coquitlam Public Library, and Terry Fox Library will award first, second, and third place prizes to the three best entries in two age categories: 11–14 and 15–18.

Winners in each age category will receive prizes worth $50 (first), $30 (second) and $20 (third).

Rules

• Each entry must be an original story. Use of AI is prohibited. 
• Each entry must be no longer than 500 words (title and byline do not count towards the total).
• Writers must live or go to school in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore, or Belcarra.
• Each entry must include the following words: 
  • desiccated
  • shriek
  • unnatural
• Stories that do not include all three words will be disqualified.
• Writers who submit entries must be no younger than 11 and no older than 18 on the deadline date of Sunday, October 18, 2026.
• Each writer must include their name, age, phone number, and city of residence when they submit an entry. If your city of residence is outside the Tri-Cities, please include the name of the Tri-Cities school that you attend. If this information is not included, the story will not be considered.
• The story must be submitted inside the body the email. We will not accept entries through Cloud services such as OneDrive or SharePoint. If entries have been sent over SharePoint, OneDrive or as an attachment, they will be disqualified. It is the responsibility of the author to ensure that their story has been sent in the correct format.

Send your stories to scarystorycontest2026@gmail.com no later than Sunday, October 18, 2026 at 11:59 PM.