Campfire Story Contest

Local writers: send us your scariest campfire stories for a chance to read your tale around our end of summer bonfire! Entries will be accepted from June 1 – July 31, with the bonfire event on August 15. Stories will be judged by members of our local writers’ group as well as library staff. The winner will receive a prize, and can choose to either read their story at the bonfire or have a librarian read it for them. There is a 1,500 word limit and content should be appropriate for a public reading. For complete guidelines, please see below.

Content rules

• To enter the adult contest you must be 18 years of age or older and email your entry to events@fordlibrary.org by July 31. Teens may enter the teen story contest, please see our newsletter for more information.
• The author’s name/contact information can be included in the email, but please remove the author’s name from the story itself to help maintain anonymity during judging.
• Entries must be under 1,500 words
• Stories will be judged by originality, quality of writing, and scare factor.
• Your entry must be original to you. Entries that plagiarize or otherwise violate copyright will be disqualified.
• The winning stories will be read out loud at a bonfire event, so content must be appropriate for public reading.
• Stories must not contain content that is sexually explicit, gratuitously violent, endorses any form of hate or hate group, or is derogatory of any ethnic, racial, gender, religious, professional, or age group.
• By entering the contest, you give consent for your story to be read out loud at our bonfire event, and for the library to use your name for promotional and marketing purposes on its website, social media, and other promotional materials.
• Winners will be notified by email by the library.