Happy Halloween week! Thanks for all the fun Halloween submissions! We’ll be announcing the Halloween contest winners and runners-up starting today and continuing through Halloween day.
Halloween contest winners to be announced starting today!
2025 Theme now open: LABYRINTH!
Please see our submission guidelines! Our submission process has changed, but as always, we look forward to seeing your work!
Thanks for all the Halloween submissions!
Thank you for all your creepy submissions to the 2024 Halloween contest! Our Halloween contest is now closed. Winners will be announced here on our website the week of Halloween.
We are still open for general submissions! We will also reveal our 2025 theme very soon!
In the meantime, happy creating!
Hedge Apple Editorial Staff
Congratulations to the Hedge Apple nominees for Best of the Net!
Poetry:
“(Avoiding) Conversations with My Room” by Sulayman Saye
“Stranger Comes to Visit in a Strange Way” by Yan An, Translated by Chen Du and Xisheng Chen
Stories:
“Deleted” by Ken Goldman
“The Kuwaiti Soccer Ball” by Josephine Thomas
Art:
“Connect the Dots” by Sydney Hagen
“Forever” by Lennox Zhao
FATE COMES KNOCKING… Halloween contest is now open!
We are also now open for general submissions. Check out our submission guidelines for more details. The 2025 theme will be announced in late September.
One More Day!!
Tomorrow, we begin the online publication of the Once Upon a Dream issue of the Hedge Apple Magazine! We are so excited… y’all are going to love these pieces!
We will be publishing two a day for the next few months, and when the print version is ready, we’ll let you know that, too! The print version will be available at Amazon and in the Hagerstown Community College bookstore. Anyone featured in the print version will receive a complimentary contributor copy.
Congratulations to everyone who will be featured in print and/or online, and thanks to all of you who have supported us and shared your work with us!
Pushcart Prize Nominees!
Congratulations to the following authors, whose 2023 work we have nominated for a Pushcart Prize!
—“Commodity” by F. Kate Langan
—“Tea, Ghosts, and a Bit of Gossip” by Terry Adcock.
—“Happy Birthday, Baby” by Hailey Stoner
—“the game” by Mark Belair
—“Late Night Texts from Mom while My Brother and I Argue” by Bryce Johle
—“The Yellow Dress” by Eric Schwartz
Call for Submissions: Once Upon a Dream
Once Upon a Dream
Burst into creativity and delve into the inner depths of your being. Release inhibitions through your art whether it be written, painted, sculpted, you name it. Let adventure and whimsy guide the creating process. Let the magic in life enflame you and envelope every cell in your body. Masquerade through dreams, nightmares, and everything in between. No matter which form of art you choose to ensnare the senses with, Once Upon a Dream offers infinite possibilities to be anything and everything. Do you dare to dream?
- General submissions on any theme are welcome until March 1st, too!
- No cover letter is necessary, although you are welcome to send us a few sentences of artist/author bio if you want to.
- By sending us your work, you grant us permission to publish it both online and in print, but you retain the rights to publish or show it anywhere else that you wish.
- FICTION/POETRY SUBMISSIONS: Please stay under 2000 words.
- ART SUBMISSIONS: Files (photos, 2D art, photos of 3D art, digital art) should be clear, professional JPEG, PNG, or TIFF files.
Alyssa Stickley, “HCC Halloween” WINNER for poetry
In a college town, where shadows creep,
Amidst the autumn’s chilling sweep,
A haunted campus, old and grand,
Where tales of Halloween expand.
The library, a ghostly sight,
Whispers echoing through the night,
Books fluttering on shelves so high,
As students wander, passing by.
In lecture halls, where knowledge thrives,
Phantoms take their seats in rows of fives,
Their wispy forms, once students bright,
Forever bound in spectral plight.
The gym, once filled with youthful cheer,
Now hold a sense of eerie fear,
Footsteps echo in empty halls,
Mysterious whispers against the walls.
The Hilltop Grill prepares a spooky feast.
Where apparitions rise like yeast,
Ghostly hands reach for the fare,
Unseen voices fill the air.
Underneath a moonlit sky,
The student center draws the eye,
Where spiders crawl up the brick walls,
And spirits dance in ghostly thralls.
A professor, long since passed away,
Returns each year on Halloween day,
To teach his class of spectral lore,
As students gasp and question more.
The softball field, an eerie game,
Where phantom players etch their fame,
The cheers and roars, forever heard,
Though players vanished, not a word.
The science lab, a mystic place,
Where experiments took a wicked pace
Bubbling potions, eerie lights,
Creating monsters in the nights.
The Kepler theater, draped in velvet black,
Where actors tread a spectral track,
Their voices echo through the years,
Rehearsing lines that none else hears.
In every corner, every nook,
A haunting tale, a ghostly spook,
The college breathes on Halloween,
A spooky realm, forever seen.
So gather around, both brave and bold,
In this college’s haunted fold,
Embrace the chill, the eerie air,
For Halloween’s enchantment tale.
For in this realm where spirits dwell,
The college’s secrets, they will tell,
A haunting tale, forever told,
Where Halloween and college mold.
—
Alyssa Stickley is currently a student in HCC’s Marketing program. In addition to her studies, she has been working alongside local and remote companies to expand their businesses to gain valuable experience and knowledge that will allow her to expand her own business on a larger scale in the future.
Tenzin Geygong,”Trick or Treat” WINNER for artwork
—
Tenzin Geygong is a Tibetan-American artist from Vermont who is pursuing a career in healthcare but still has a passion for art. As most people hold buckets decorated like jack-o-lanterns when trick-or-treating, she thought a headless figure doing the same would be an interesting parallel.