EASTBALTCO.COM

A Parkville Middle student and her father were both winners in Baltimore County Public Library’s Tales of the Dead Short Horror Story Contest.

Polly Sloan, a Grade 7 student at Parkville Middle School, won first place for “The Letters from No One,” in the under 21 category about a man receiving mysterious and terrifying letters predicting his imminent death.

The contest began in August when Baltimore County Public Library challenged writers of all ages to
write original horror stories with a “Ghosts in the Graveyard” theme.

The contest was split into two categories: “over 21” and “under 21.” First-, second-, and third-place
winners in both categories were selected by a panel of judges including Baltimore County Public Library’s Director Sonia Alcántara-Antoine, librarians and published authors.

Criteria for judging included originality, fear factor, and quality of writing.

As the panel of judges calculated scores and began to notify winners, they quickly realized something unprecedented in the history of the contest: the first-place winners in each category are father and daughter.

Polly Sloan’s father, David Sloan, took first place in the “over 21” category for “A Hole at the Edge of the Woods,” a story about a young fox whose curiosity gets the better of him on Halloween night.

“My daughter and I really enjoyed this challenge and had fun trying our best to out-write and out-scare each other,” said winner David Sloan.

“Storytelling is an important part of our family identity, so we look
forward to more challenges like this to inspire our creativity.”

The Tales of the Dead Short Horror Story Contest started in 2016, inspired by a 1816 ghost story challenge that led to the creation of Frankenstein’s monster and the first modern vampire story.

The contest is held in conjunction with A Toast Among Ghosts.

The young winners will receive a prize package including a 2021 “A Toast Among Ghosts” T-shirt and gift card.

“Over 21” winners received VIP tickets to A Toast Among Ghosts, the Foundation for Baltimore County Public Library’s annual Poe-themed outdoor festival.

They are invited to read their winning stories next to the fire pit at the October 16 festival, which will take place at the Reisterstown Branch.

All winning stories will be published on the Foundation for Baltimore County
Public Library’s website.

Members of the BCPS community are invited to attend the third meeting of the Northeast Area Elementary Boundary Study Committee on Wednesday, October 13 from 6 to 8 p.m. The meeting will be held online.

This committee is in charge of creating attendance boundaries for the new northeast elementary school and a new, larger Red House Run Elementary School.

This committee was formed last spring to make plans for the new 700-seat school currently under construction along Rossville Boulevard near Gum Spring and Ridge roads. The school is scheduled to open in August 2022.

In addition, Red House Run Elementary School is also being expanded, which will impact attendance lines in many of the same northeastern communities affected by the new elementary school.

With the new Red House Run Elementary scheduled to open in August 2023, both schools will relieve overcrowding at other schools in the northeast. Eight elementary schools have been identified as being part of the committee’s study: Elmwood, Fullerton, Joppa View, McCormick, Perry Hall, Red House Run, Shady Spring and Vincent Farm elementary schools.

In addition to six committee meetings, where members will consider boundary options to accommodate the new school construction as well as all other participating schools, the public also is invited to a virtual public information session scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 3, from 7-8 p.m.

Members of the public may learn about the boundary process and participate through an online survey (to be available Nov. 3 – 17) conducted to gather feedback from the community on draft boundary line options.

Following the meetings and public information session, a recommendation will be presented to the Board of Education for a decision in March 2022. More information, including the dates and times of all committee meetings and information about how to join the meetings virtually, may be found at the boundary study website.