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CONTEST RULES | ||||||||||||
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OPPORTUNITY FOR NEW AND AMATEUR WRITERS OF NEW SHORT STORIES OR NOVELETTES OF SCIENCE FICTION OR FANTASY NO ENTRY FEE IS REQUIRED ENTRANTS RETAIN ALL PUBLICATION RIGHTS
DON'T DELAY! L. RON HUBBARD'S
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1. No entry fee is required, and all rights in the story remain the property of the author. All types of science fiction, fantasy and horror with fantastic elements, are welcome. 2. All entries must be original works, in English. Plagiarism, which includes the use of third-party poetry, song lyrics, characters or another person's universe, without written permission will result in disqualification. Excessive violence or sex, determined by the judges, will result in disqualification. Entries may not have been previously published in professional media. 3. To be eligible, entries must be works of prose, up to 17,000 words in length. We regret we cannot consider poetry, or works intended for children. 4. The Contest is open only to those who have not had professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium. Professional publication is deemed to be payment, and at least 5,000 copies, or 5,000 hits. 5. Entries must be typewritten or a computer printout in black ink on white paper, double spaced, with numbered pages. All other formats will be disqualified. Each entry must have a cover page with the title of the work, the author's name, address and telephone number, and an approximate word-count. Every subsequent page must carry the title and a page number, but the author's name must be deleted to facilitate fair judging. 6. Manuscripts will be returned after judging, if the author has provided return postage and a self-addressed envelope. All other manuscripts will be destroyed. 7. There shall be three cash prizes in each quarter: a First Prize of $1,000, a Second Prize of $750, and a Third Prize of $500, in U.S. dollars or the recipient's locally equivalent amount. In addition, at the end of the year the four First Place winners will have their entries rejudged, and a Grand Prize winner shall be determined and receive an additional $4,000. All winners will also receive trophies or certificates. 8. The Contest has four quarters, beginning on October 1, January 1, April 1 and July 1. The year will end on September 30. To be eligible for judging in its quarter, an entry must be postmarked no later than midnight on the last day of the quarter. 9. Each entrant may submit only one manuscript per quarter. Winners are ineligible to make further entries in the contest. 10. All entries for each quarter are final. No revisions are accepted. 11. Entries will be judged by professional authors. The decisions of the judges are entirely their own, and are final. 12. Winners in each quarter will be individually notified of the results by mail. 13. This contest is void where prohibited by law. |
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The L. Ron Hubbard Writers of The Future Contest is an ongoing competition designed to discover new and amateur writers of science fiction and fantasy, present certificates of merit when earned and award monetary prizes to the winners. L. Ron Hubbard established the Writers of The Future Contest in 1983 to help new writers and the L. Ron Hubbard Library has continued to sponsor it ever since. As early as 1935 he had begun helping other writers—a lifelong commitment—by publishing articles on the art and craft of writing. Later, in 1940, he launched his very first contest for aspiring writers over the radio in Ketchikan, Alaska. Publication of his own first professional short story in 1932 had launched one of the most spectacular and prolific writing careers of the 20th century, embracing genres ranging from adventure, western, historical, romance, mystery and horror to science fiction and fantasy. L. Ron Hubbard produced more than 250 published works of fiction, with close to one third of those being in the speculative fiction genre. L. Ron Hubbard heralded his return to science fiction writing in 1982, celebrating his 50th year as a professional writer with the best-selling, highly acclaimed Battlefield Earth. Why science fiction? As he wrote in the Introduction, "SF and fantasy hold out the prospect of possibility and in possibility you have choice and in choice you have freedom…". Thus, based on his own success as a writer, his love of the speculative fiction genre and his lifelong commitment to helping new writers, L. Ron Hubbard launched the very first Writers of The Future Contest in 1983. It was planned to have professional science fiction and fantasy authors as judges and would have an anthology published of the winning stories, illustrated by professional artists of the genre. The resounding success of the Contest and the anthology—and public demand for more—led to another Contest year and another anthology, yet another Contest year and yet another anthology. In 1988, the L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of The Future Contest was launched as an expression of L. Ron Hubbard's wish that the relationship between the written word and the illustrator's art would not die. In the Golden Age of Science Fiction—in which he played such an important part—he fondly remembered the illustrators of those stories were as important to the readers as were the writers. The scope and full ramifications of these competitions are almost undefinable. From the very first L. Ron Hubbard Awards Event held in 1984, from the very first writing workshop based on L. Ron Hubbard's essays on writing, from the very first L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future publication of the new discoveries, there has been a groundswell of interest in the program. Professional speculative fiction authors and artists offer to lend a hand; the media—both genre and non-genre—takes notice; agents and publishers look to the Contest's winners for their next publishing contract; hundreds of writers have been discovered and many have—after their initial publication in the anthology—pursued a career in writing. Awards, recognitions and proclamations for L. Ron Hubbard and the Writers of The Future Contest have abounded.L. Ron Hubbard passed from this life in 1986. Yet his history-making legacy of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of The Future Contests—and all their ramifications—remain in full production under the auspices of his literary agency, Author Services, Inc., in Hollywood, California. Just as L. Ron Hubbard, the writer, changed the genre of speculative fiction in the 20th century, so too is this legacy changing the genre as we embark upon the 21st century. |
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"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 through his creative endeavors, the writer works continually to give tomorrow a new form. "In these modern times, there are many communication lines for works of art. |
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Because a few works of art can be shown so easily to so many, there may even be fewer artists. The competition is very keen and even dagger sharp. "It is with this in mind that I initiated a means for new and budding writers to have a chance for their creative efforts to be seen and acknowledged." —L. Ron Hubbard |
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