It’s spooky season, and to celebrate this year with you we’ve been busy digging up the Halloween-themed opportunities worth your time in the writing world!
Today’s edition is a seasonal roundup of Halloween, ghost and horror-themed contests, competitions and paid submission calls, all with deadlines falling before the end of October.
Most of these opportunities pay, from flat prizes and gift cards to per-word rates for accepted stories, though a handful are unpaid or publication-only. We’ve flagged the pay for each so you can decide where to spend your entry time and fees.
As always, please do check the organiser’s page before you submit. A lot of these calls have narrow windows or entry caps, or close ahead of the 31st to give time to reading, so don’t leave it until Halloween night to get submitting.
This one’s a treat: today’s edition is completely free to read!
Every opportunity above is open to you as a free subscriber, with nothing held back.
But Halloween deadlines come and go, and the writers who get paid are the ones who see the right call at the right time. FWN members get a steady stream of them:
200-250+ paid writing opportunities, curated so you spend your time pitching instead of searching
Weekly creative-themed roundups like this one, delivered to your inbox
Twice-monthly live sessions to ask questions, sharpen your pitches and learn from other writers
Either way, whether you’re after a quick six-word scare, a full-length horror story or a screenplay, there’s something here for you. Happy haunting, and good luck!
20 Halloween-Themed Writing Opportunities
Hedge Apple Halloween Contest
Hedge Apple Magazine’s 2026 Halloween contest is open to fiction (one piece of up to 2,000 words), poetry (up to three pieces) and artwork (up to three pieces). Entry is free, submissions should be anonymous, and winners will be announced the week of Halloween.
Deadline: October 9, 2026, 11:59pm EDT
Uncharted 2026 Horror Challenge
Uncharted wants unpublished horror stories of 1,001–5,000 words featuring mounting tension, frightening characters or disruptions to ordinary life. Entry costs $20; every submission will also be considered for standard publication.
Payment: $500 and publication for the winner; other accepted stories pay the magazine’s regular $200 rate.
Deadline: October 11, 2026
CommuterLit Halloween Week Contest
Send CommuterLit a scary story of up to 2,500 words; reprints, simultaneous submissions and multiple entries are allowed, but poetry is excluded. Entry costs CA$4, and the five selected stories will appear during Halloween Week.
Payment: CA$100 first prize; CA$50 second prize; three CA$25 honourable mentions.
Deadline: October 12, 2026
Dictionary.com Haunting Hooks 2026: “The Invitation” Edition
Dictionary.com is asking for the opening of a story about an invitation, in 50 words or fewer. The contest is open to legal residents of the US aged 18 and over, with one entry per person; the Judge’s Choice is picked by the editors, and a Fans’ Choice winner is decided by public vote from October 15 to 27.
Payment: $100 Amazon gift card and Dictionary.com swag for the Judge’s Choice; $50 Amazon gift card and swag for the Fans’ Choice.
Deadline: October 12, 2026
Academy of the Heart and Mind: 13 Days of Halloween
Academy of the Heart and Mind will select the 13 works that best capture the spirit of Halloween, with one chosen piece featured each day from October 18 to 31. Check the contest page for entry guidelines before submitting.
Deadline: October 15, 2026
Haunting Words Contest
The Writers Workshop and Malefica Press want up to 500 words of eerie, Gothic, chilling or ominous writing. Complete poems, stories and fragments are eligible, entry is free, and writers may submit up to three pieces; the winner will be published by Malefica Press on Halloween.
Deadline: October 16, 2026, 6pm UK time
Flame Tree Publishing: Dark Ages Folk Horror Anthology
Flame Tree is seeking folk horror stories of 2,000–4,000 words set in Europe after the fall of Rome, where differing cultures meet, old ways return, secluded communities hide in the forests and forgotten things stir in the marshes. Stories can be rooted in the real or the supernatural.
Payment: $0.08 (6p) per word for original stories; $0.06 (4p) per word for reprints.
Deadline: October 18, 2026
Seaside Gothic October Submission Window
Seaside Gothic publishes fiction, poetry and nonfiction that fits the seaside gothic tradition, with each piece limited to 1,000 words, or a set of five to ten images. There is no submission fee, and work must be unpublished and entirely human-created.
Payment: £0.01 per word, paid via PayPal within two weeks of publication.
Deadline: Window runs October 12–18, 2026 (closes at midnight GMT)
Crooked Spine Press – Issue 4, “What You Worship”
A themed issue seeking horror fiction and poetry engaging with “What You Worship.” The call is suited to unsettling work shaped by worship, devotion, belief, or obsession.
Payment: $20 for fiction, $5 for poetry, plus a contributor copy.
Deadline: October 23, 2026.
Diabolical Plots: “Diabolical Rot” Special Call
Guest editor Amanda Helms is looking for speculative stories of rot and decay, particularly poorly preserved undead such as rotting skeletons, zombies and vampires, as well as fungi and mycelium. Stories run up to 3,500 words, and the submission window lasts one week.
Payment: $0.10 per word.
Deadline: Window runs October 18–25, 2026
Edhat Halloween Story Contest
This all-ages contest asks writers to continue a supplied opening about the Santa Barbara Courthouse clock striking thirteen. Stories must be suitable for a general audience, run no longer than 665 words and incorporate “Butterfinger”, “broomstick” and “the dolphin fountain”.
Payment: Handlebar Coffee Company gift card for the winner.
Deadline: October 25, 2026, midnight Pacific
Underground Bookshelf October Contest
October’s theme covers horror, thrillers, supernatural writing and the paranormal. The organisers accept flash fiction, short stories, poetry, first chapters, excerpts and relevant essays, generally under 2,000 words; writers retain their rights and winners may be featured online.
Deadline: October 25, 2026
Six Words, Six Feet Under
EveryWriter wants complete horror stories told in exactly six words. Writers can enter as often as they like by posting their entries in the page’s comments.
Deadline: October 29, 2026
Six Words of Halloween Nostalgia
Capture a Halloween memory, costume, scare or nostalgic moment in exactly six words. Multiple entries are allowed and should be posted in the comments beneath the contest announcement.
Deadline: October 29, 2026, before midnight
Young Writers Fright Club
US students aged 10–18 can submit an original ghost story of up to 100 words, with one entry per student. Selected work may appear in a Young Writers anthology, and the contest is free to enter.
Payment: Three $50 Amazon gift cards.
Deadline: October 30, 2026
Halloween Horror Haiku Challenge
The eighth annual challenge will run for one day only, inviting writers to share an original Halloween haiku. Full prize and entry details are still to be announced by the organiser.
Deadline: Opens at midnight on October 30 and closes at the end of October 31, 2026
Tahoma Literary Review – “All Hallow’s Eve” window
A subscriber-supported journal seeking fiction, poetry, and graphic narrative during its “All Hallow’s Eve” window. Submission fees range from $4 to $5.
Payment: $55 for flash/poetry; $0.05/word for prose; $50–$100 for graphic work.
Deadline: October 31, 2026.
Reedsy: The Haunting Season
Write a 2,000–5,000-word story responding to the prompt: “Write a story about a character who is haunted by someone or something.” The entry fee is $20, with the winner and runners-up due to be announced in December.
Payment: $1,500 top prize and publication in Prompted.
Deadline: October 31, 2026, 11:59pm Eastern
13Horror Film and Screenplay Contest
The Halloween contest accepts feature-length horror screenplays and shorts of up to 30 pages, alongside feature and short films. Every entry receives feedback, and winning screenplays are offered publication with the writer retaining their rights.
Payment: $2,850 in total cash prizes, plus publishing deals with royalties for winning screenplays.
Deadline: October 31, 2026
Greene County Two-Sentence Horror Story Contest
Writers of all ages can email or deliver a two-sentence horror story to the Winters-Bellbrook Community Library. Entries will be shared as part of the library’s Facebook contest.
Deadline: October 31, 2026
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