David Jung

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s Halloween writing contest!

As the season of thrills and chills comes to an end, so does our 2023 Halloween Writing Contest. Thank you to all the writers who participated in this month’s Open Canvas competition! Each piece exhibited originality, thought, and creativity that was truly haunting but alluring to read as well as managing to create these within the word limit. 

All of us at The Bulldog Times enjoyed going through every submission. But for those who were unable to participate this time, don’t worry—Open Canvas will host more opportunities for writers and artists alike to showcase their talents in the near future!

Now, without further ado, here are the winners of the Halloween contest:

First place: Zoe Hsieh (10)

I screamed soundlessly as the knife tore a gaping hole in me. Seeing my own viscera pooling on the ground made me wish for death, but my torturer continued his frenzied assault. Just before I lost consciousness, I heard a soft voice.

“Daddy, are you done carving the pumpkin?”

“It made me deeply uncomfortable, like how it feels to have a knot in your stomach that is wound so tightly it becomes impossible to undo. The violent imagery was very jarring, especially juxtaposed by the innocent child’s voice in the last line intercepting the intense verbiage. An example of state of the art horror writing in practice.” – Kaitlyn Luu, Staff Writer 

“This entry seems like any other scary story until you read the last sentence. It is the type of plot twist that you can get from short stories like these because there isn’t enough room to foreshadow something so shocking in a longer form. That being said, it keeps the reader engaged from the very last word and was an overall fun read.” – Madeline Khoo, News and Features Editor 

Second place: Eve Vogel-Evangelista (9)

The old woman loved children.

They were always so sweet.

They would often visit her on Halloween, in search of candy on her doorstep, and she would invite them inside.

They made an especially good dessert when baked and sprinkled with sugar.

The old woman loved children.

“I liked it the most because I didn’t understand it my first read through. It required a bit of analyzing to fully understand what the author meant, which I love. I like how the author started and ended with the same sentence to add to the eerie mood. This person took a horrifying concept and masked it with cute and childish concepts of desserts with sprinkles. Also, the poetic style it was written in made it more spooky, as it wasn’t all mushed together in one paragraph.” – Rachel Dunn, Assistant Features Editor

“It does a good job at encompassing the prompt by ending and starting the story with the same sentence but changing the meaning. In just a few sentences, the writer does a good job of getting the reader to quickly understand the meaning behind the story, while also putting so much development in the few words. Altogether, the story is short and simple while also packing a lot of meaning into it and is, in my opinion, the best at adhering to the prompt.” – Abby Le, Staff Writer 

Third place: Alyssa Mao (9)

I’m in your walls…

Boo.

“Remember the ‘scary soda’ Subreddit that for some reason blew up on TikTok instead? Yeah, that’s what this reminds me of. Short and simple, yet funny and memorable. At the end of the day, it needs to be memorable, and this one stands out.” – Avery Rosas, Editor-In-Chief, Sports Editor 

“It is simple and funny when said out loud. It also gives some creepy feelings as if someone did say that, you would be terrified. I also like how lighthearted it is, as the other ones didn’t feel like they were for a high school terror story.’ – David Jung, Staff Writer 

Congratulations to our winners! Your submissions were all thought out and amazing to read! Make sure to stop by at room B103 with your student ID to claim your drink vouchers!

You can read the winning submissions right now by clicking the hyperlinks above, or checking out the Open Canvas tab. The runner up submissions will also be rolled out in a separate article under the Open Canvas tab, so make sure to check back to read your fellow Bulldogs’ amazing bite-sized creative writing pieces!