Darkness in Detroit is a city-wide writing contest for K-12 students who are ready to confront a personal fear through horror writing. Participants are asked to pen a complete short story that uses place, character, and the key horror elements to scare us into caring about the fears our young people hold. 
 

The contest is open May 1st - May 31st. 
 

Elementary Students 
Eligibility: Students must be currently in 1st through 5th grade and attend a Detroit Public School or Detroit Charter School.

Directions: Write a scary story about a fear that you have that you defeat. Your story should have a title, main character, have a beginning, middle and end with at least two events in the plot, and use words that scare. You are allowed to type your story or scan a handwritten submission. It should be at least 30 words long.

Winner Receives: $100, an audio produced version of their story and a personalized audio documentary.
 

Middle School Students
Eligibility: Students must currently be in 6th through 8th grade and attend a Detroit Public or Detroit Charter School.
 
Directions: Write a horror story that brings to life a fear you or someone you know has. Your story should have a title, an engaging plot, have a strong scare factor, and unforgettable characters. Grammar and spelling should not distract from the story. The story must be at minimum 500 words and no more than 1,500 words. 
 

Winner receives: $500, an audio produced version of their story and a personalized audio documentary. 
 

High School Students 
Eligibility: Students must currently be in 9th through 12th grade and attend a Detroit Public or Detroit Charter School. 

Directions: Write a horror story that brings to life a fear you, someone you know, or society has. Your story should have a title, an engaging plot, a strong scare factor, unforgettable characters, and have an underlying message. Grammar and spelling should not distract from the story. The story must be at minimum 750 words and no more than 2,000 words. 
 

Winner Receives: $900, an audio produced version of their story and a personalized audio documentary. 
 

Rules:
By Submitting, you agree: 

 

• The work is yours. The ideas, words, language and overall story belongs to you. You wrote the story without the help of artificial intelligence or peer/adult interference. You may have sought help or the opinions of human beings (not AI), but you ultimately wrote the story. 
   

• You give The Black Paranormal Project & Patrick Harris II permission to share your name, school, and story widely if chosen as the winner. 

 

Having trouble? Send an email to Patrick to the email theblackparanormalproject@gmail.com