Thanks to their creativity and talent for crafting suspenseful stories in just a few words, several Junior High students are now published authors featured in this year’s “Stranger Sagas: Astonishing Adventures” anthology through Young Writers USA. The contest challenges students to write a creative and original piece in 100 words or fewer, focusing on strange, mysterious or unusual storytelling.

The selected students—Nolan Fayewicz, Violet Sees, Abigail Kilareski, Holly Lange, Arianna Krenn and Raelynn Brown—embraced the challenge with a variety of eerie and thought-provoking ideas. Nolan’s story follows a girl struggling to fall asleep as unsettling noises and mounting anxiety blur the line between reality and imagination. Violet’s piece tells of two students who sneak into their school at night, only to encounter a terrifying and unexpected presence. Abigail’s story places the reader in a therapist’s office where a simple visualization exercise takes a dark and surprising turn.

Other stories explore themes of loss, identity and fear. Holly, who was published in the contest for the second year in a row, wrote about a grieving mother who hears mysterious sounds coming from her basement. Arianna’s follows a young girl whose reflection begins to distort–and ultimately replace–her reality. Raelynn’s chilling tale focuses on a boy in foster care who jokes about his identity, only to discover a shocking truth.

Students entered the contest independently after seeing information posted by Mrs. Cheryl Larson, who encourages participation but emphasizes that the work is entirely student-driven. “This is not an assignment,” she said. “They completely do this on their own.” Students write and submit their pieces outside of class time, taking on the challenge purely out of interest and passion for creative writing.

One of the unique aspects of the contest is the strict 100-word limit, which pushes students to be both imaginative and concise. Rising to the challenge, the contest ignited the students’ passion for writing, all of whom expressed interest in continuing to write and perhaps even pursuing authorship in the future.

Young Writers USA says it has engaged students in more than 20,000 schools across the US with its writing contests and says that they are meant to turn young authors into confident and passionate writers by seeing their stories in print. Congratulations to Nolan, Violet, Abigail, Holly, Arianna and Raelynn on this outstanding achievement!