By Rachel R.,Teen Librarian
The 9th HEPL Teen Writing Challenge has concluded, and three winners were chosen.
The Teen Writing Challenge was the idea of a student who shared it with the library’s Teen Advisory Board (TAB). The TAB loved the suggestion and felt it was a great opportunity for teen writers to share their creative writing. The Teen Writing Challenge was born!
For the Fall 2025 Teen Writing Challenge, teens were challenged to write an original short story that included a mystery. The mystery could be thrilling or cozy, realistic or supernatural, a murder investigation or tracking down a stolen painting, or anything else teens could imagine.
A panel of judges made up of HEPL staff and teen volunteers on the Teen Advisory Board read through each short story and voted for their top three submissions based on the guidelines of the contest. This was no easy task, as the stories were all so creative and impressive!
It was a close race, with all of the stories getting at least a couple votes from our judges. The judges’ votes were tallied, and the winners are…
1st Place: “What Would You Do For Love?” by Courtney Snider – Grade 10, Fishers High School
2nd Place: “Untitled” by Nathaniel (Zee) Paul – Grade 8, Geist Montessori Academy
3rd Place: “Untitled” by Briley Schoppe – Grade 11, Noblesville High School
Each winner was able to choose a gift card from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, or Starbucks. Congratulations to our winners!
I am extremely grateful to all the teen authors who entered this contest. I had a lot of fun reading all of your submissions and seeing how each of you incorporated a mystery into your stories. Thank you for letting us read your stories! Whether you won or not this time, I hope you all will continue to write and share your talent in future writing contests.