DICTIONARY.COM OPENS ENTRIES FOR ANNUAL HAUNTING HOOKS WRITING CONTEST FEATURING GUEST JUDGE R.L. STINE

Write a captivating opening to a scary story in 50 words or less!

Entries open now through Friday, October 13, with R.L. Stine's top pick to be announced on Halloween

OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dictionary.com, the leading online and mobile English-language educational resource, is welcoming audiences to its third annual Halloween writing contest—Haunting Hooks: Haunted House Edition. This year, the winning entry will be selected by guest judge R.L. Stine, one of the best-selling children's authors in history.

Contestants are challenged to write a captivating opening to a scary story in 50 words or less. Original submissions will be accepted at Dictionary.com through Friday, October 13. The winning entry will be announced on Tuesday, October 31, across Dictionary.com's site and socials (@Dictionarycom). For full rules and regulations, visit https://www.dictionary.com/e/scary-story-opener-writing-contest-rules/.

The writing contest offers a chance to win prizes, including a signed copy of the first book in Stine's new Goosebumps series from Scholastic, House of Shivers, Dictionary.com swag and the ultimate bragging rights, of course!

"Dictionary.com's Haunting Hooks contest elevates our mission to inspire and celebrate creativity in a world powered by words," said John Kelly, vice president of Editorial at Dictionary.com. "Who better to help us select the most haunting hook than the incomparable R.L. Stine?"

The theme of this year's Haunting Hooks is the haunted house. Writers can set the start of their story inside the devious dwelling, approaching its eerie exterior or at its menacing entrance—as long as it's a spooky beginning to a haunted house story that instantly haunts and hooks!

"How wonderful to be involved in Dictionary.com's Haunting Hooks writing contest. I certainly appreciate the wild and weird world of words, and look forward to choosing the entry that delights—and scares!—me the most," said Stine.

Last year's contest featured a scary sci-fi story theme and received more than 5,000 submissions. For more information on Haunting Hooks, visit https://contest.dictionary.com/haunting-hooks-2023/.

About Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com

Words define every aspect of our lives, from our ideas to our identities. Dictionary.com aspires to empower every person, of every background, to express themselves, make connections, and open the door to opportunity through the power and joy of language. Introduced in 2023, Dictionary.com's powerful AI-backed writing tool, Grammar Coach™, takes writing from good to great instantly. Dictionary.com is the premier destination to learn, discover, and have fun with the limitless world of words and meanings. The brand helps you make sense of the ever-evolving English language so you can put your ideas into words—and your words into action.

About R.L. Stine

R.L. Stine is one of the best-selling children's authors in history. Goosebumps, which recently celebrated its 30^th anniversary, has more than 400 million books in print in 32 languages. An all-new Goosebumps series, House of Shivers, will debut in September 2023.

The Goosebumps series made R.L. Stine a worldwide publishing celebrity (and Jeopardy answer). His other popular children's book series include Fear Street, (recently revived as a feature film trilogy), The Garbage Pail Kids, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room, and Rotten School. Other titles include: It's The First Day of School Forever, A Midsummer Night's Scream, Young Scrooge, Stinetinglers, and three picture books, with Marc Brown—The Little Shop of Monsters, Mary McScary, and Why Did the Monster Cross the Road.

The Goosebumps TV series was the number-one children's show in America for three years. The episodes can still be seen on Netflix. More recently, R.L.'s anthology TV series, R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour, won the Emmy Award three years in a row as Best Children's Show. His newest Disney+ TV series is Just Beyond, based on his graphic novels for BOOM! Studios. Two Goosebumps feature films starring Jack Black as R.L. Stine were released in 2015 and 2018. The first film became the #1 film in America. The Fear Street movies all reached #1 on Netflix.

R.L. Stine lives in New York City with his wife Jane, an editor and publisher. You can connect with him on Twitter @RL_Stine, as well as on Instagram and Facebook. For more information, visit rlstine.com.

SOURCE Dictionary.com