Spinetinglers Short Story Competition

Christmas Ghost Story Competition




Terms of use

Please read through the terms of use and then scroll to the bottom of the page to accept or decline the terms.



For us there are no specific formulae that a spine tingling story must conform to. It doesn't have to be macabre and morose; it can be light-hearted or even uplifting. Whether it is filled with ghosts or ghouls, possessions or poltergeists, or merely the suggestion of something supernatural, anything is acceptable. We want you to let your imagination run wild and come up with the story or stories that make our spine tingle.

We are not placing any restrictions on the content but we would ask that you stick to the following guidelines

We would ask you to keep your stories under 5,000 words if possible. If you go a bit over that is okay. No story will be rejected because it happens to be 5,100 words.
Please make sure that you read through your story carefully before submitting it. Check for spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Stories with quite a few mistakes will be automatically rejected.
Your story can be violent or leaning towards erotica but please nothing too explicit. Again anything too gratuitous may be automatically rejected.

All stories will be treated equally, we are not asking for bios or previous publishing experience. We want each story to stand on its own merit no matter what the writers experience.

Each month we publish on the website the best five stories submitted. There is no entry fee to the competition, simply register on the site (which is of course free) and then login and submit your story. 1st Place receives £100.00 GBP plus guaranteed inclusion into a future printed Spinetinglers Anthology and of course a Certificate. 2nd place receives £50.00, 3rd, 4th and 5th all receive £25.00 each. We have stated in the prize money in pounds - sterling, however if you live outside of the UK you will receive the equivalent to this amount in your local currency. Winners will receive their prize money within three months of publication.

Whilst we may deem a particular story to be the best of those submitted we encourage you to voice your opinion on all of the stories in our forum.

Also you will be able to rate the stories. The ratings that stories are given will be totally based on the readers contribution and will not reflect views of the Spinetinglers panel.

Spinetinglers is an on-going internet site so there are no deadlines for submission. However, we would ask for our ease, that if you wish to make your submission for the following month, your submission must be in by the 15th of the month. If it is submitted after the 15th your work will be considered for the following month.

By submitting your work to the Spinetinglers Monthly Short Story Competition you are granting us permission to publish your work online. You are also granting permission for us to include it (at our discretion) in one of our annual printed Spinetinglers Anthologies as well as an eBook version of the Spinetinglers Anthology.
Copyright Policy

All writers retain the copyright and rights to their stories. Spinetinglers however reserves the right to publish on the Spinetinglers website, the Spinetinglers Ezine and both printed and eBook versions of the Spinetinglers Anthology any story submitted to the monthly competition.

Spinetinglers will not publish any stories which have been submitted to them in any other publication without the express permission of the writer.
Privacy Policy

Spinetinglers will not use or publish any personal information without the express permission of the individual concerned. Spinetinglers will not under any circumstances sell or give the Spinetinglers email address list to any third party.

Spinetinglers does not permit creation of story competitions by members of the site and posting of personal email addresses on the Spinetinglers forum pages are strictly prohibited. If members have an idea for a competition, they must contact a Spinetinglers member of staff and if satisfactory will be submitted with credit given to the members in question.

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