Three eighth graders may have promising futures writing horror fiction.

Emily Daly, Sheila Mallenhalli, and Bennett Anderson took him the first, second, and third place prizes for the middle school Halloween Short Story Contest.

Every student who entered had to submit a story under a pseudonym.  Emily Daly, a.k.a. Circe, took first place with her entry titled “Reason # 48: Why It Is Not Safe To Eat Candy on Halloween.” The second place winner was Sheila Mallenhalli, a.k.a. Random Ozlam, with her story titled “A Trip to the Past.” Bennett Anderson, a.k.a Nicholas Belsifer Driarious XIV, took third place with his tale titled “The Stories of the Halloween Library.”

According to Miss Leblanc, every fall for the last nine years, middle students have participated in the Halloween Short Story Contest.

“The only criteria for entering this contest is a minimum of 500 hundred words and a great imagination,” said Miss Leblanc.

In addition to receiving bonus points in English class for submitting to this contest, students who write the most creative short stories receive Barnes and Noble gift cards.

This year, there were 25 entries of students in grades fifth through eighth.