BLAZING A PATH: THE WRITERS OF THE FUTURE

L. Ron Hubbard wrote the first of many articles and essays for new writers on the craft and business of writing in 1935 at the age of 25, the same year he was elected
President of the New York chapter of the American Fiction Guild—the youngest in the Guild's history. His tenure as president was heavily devoted to the neophyte author. He fought for their admission to the Guild in the status of "novice" and otherwise worked to ease their entrance into the fiercely competitive world of writing. He lectured on the realities of writing as a profession at schools like Harvard and George Washington University, and the "how to" articles he wrote and published then and later continue to be used widely today, and are the basis for the annual Writers Workshop, for winners of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest.

His dedication to helping the beginner—to eagerly reaching out to those aspiring to write but tentative about how to get started—also found early fruition in December, 1940 in the town of Ketchikan, Alaska. In July of 1940 he had set out from Seattle, Washington on an expedition to Alaska under the flag of the prestigious Explorers Club. Winter and inhospitable weather found him laying over in Ketchikan, and there, in December of that year—spurred again by his unflagging concern for budding creative talent—he launched what he called the Golden Pen Award Writing Contest on a radio show he was hosting. It was a distinct harbinger of things to come. He encouraged listeners to write stories and send them in and he would—and did—personally provide the prizes.

The culmination of L. Ron Hubbard's enthusiastic commitment to actively fostering the work of new and aspiring writers of demonstrated ability came with his establishment in 1983 of both the Writers of the Future Contest and the Writers of the Future annual anthology of the winning best new original stories of science fiction, fantasy and horror. The anthology also provides an influential showcase for winners of the companion Illustrators of the Future Contest, inaugurated in 1988 as part of Mr. Hubbard's continuing legacy to the field of speculative fiction and the world of literacy and artistic craftsmanship.

He once wrote, "A culture is as rich and as capable of surviving as it has imaginative artists. The artist is looked upon to start things. The artist injects the spirit of life into a culture." And to that deeply-held view of the overriding significance and value of creative talent, L. Ron Hubbard brought an intense, life-long commitment to the immemorial tradition of the seasoned professional extending an open, helping hand to the newcomer—the fledgling writer or the novice illustrator.