The 11th 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 2026 Teen Writing Challenge, teens were challenged to write a fictional story set in a school or university. A magical school for faeries, a private school with a mysterious headmaster, a senior prank gone wrong, a freshman’s first day at college, or anything else they imagined!
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! Thank you to our judging panel for taking the time to read through each story and share your thoughts and opinions.
It was a close competition, and all stories received votes from our judging panel, but three came out on top. The judges’ votes were tallied, and the three winners are…
1st Place: The Last Flight Test by Sabrina King – Grade 9, Indiana Digital Gateway Academy
2nd Place: The Astronomer by Eleanor Kern – Grade 12, Homeschool
3rd Place: The Hunt for Truth by Adessa Brovont – Grade 11, Homeschool
Each winner may choose a free book from a wide selection of teen books. Congratulations to our winners!
We are extremely grateful to all the teen authors who entered this contest. It was fun to see the different kinds of schools and students you created in your stories. Thank you for letting us read your stories! Whether you won or not this time, we hope you all will continue to write and share your talent in future writing contests.