CONTEST RULES

1. The Contest is open to entrants from all nations.  (However, entrants should provide themselves with some means for written communication in English.)  All themes of science fiction and fantasy illustrations are welcome: every entry is judged on its own merits only. No entry fee is required and all rights in the entry remain the property of the artist.

2. By submitting to the Contest, the entrant agrees to abide by all Contest rules.

3. The Contest is open to new and amateur artists who have not been professionally published and paid for more than three black-and-white story illustrations, or more than one process-color painting, in media distributed broadly to the general public. The ultimate eligibility criteria, however, is defined with the word “amateur” - in other words, the artist has not been paid for his artwork. If you are not sure of your eligibility, please write a letter to the Contest Administration with details regarding your publication history. Include a self addressed and stamped envelope for the reply. You may also send your questions to the Contest Administration via email.

4. Each entrant may submit only one set of illustrations in each Contest quarter. The entry must be original to the entrant and previously unpublished. Plagiarism, infringement of the rights of others, or other violations of the Contest rules will result in disqualification. Winners in previous quarters are not eligible to make further entries.

5.  The entry shall consist of three illustrations done by the entrant in a color or black-and-white medium created from the artist’s imagination. Use of gray scale in illustrations and mixed media, computer generated art, the use of photography in the illustrations, are accepted. Each illustration must represent a subject different from the other two.

6. ENTRIES SHOULD NOT BE THE ORIGINAL DRAWINGS, but should be color or black-and-white reproductions of the originals of a quality satisfactory to the entrant. Entries must be submitted unfolded and flat, in an envelope no larger than 9 inches by 12 inches.

  All entries must be accompanied by a self-addressed return envelope of the appropriate size, with the correct U.S. postage affixed. (Non-  U.S. entrants should enclose international postage reply coupons.) If the entrant does not want the reproductions returned, the entry should be clearly marked DISPOSABLE COPIES: DO NOT RETURN. A business-size self-addressed envelope with correct postage (or valid email address) should be included so that the judging results may be returned to the entrant.

   We only accept an entry for which no delivery signature is required by us to receive the entry.

7. To facilitate anonymous judging, each of the three photocopies must be accompanied by a removable cover sheet bearing the artist’s name, address, telephone number, email address, and an identifying title for that work.  The reproduction of the work should carry the same identifying title on the front of the illustration and the artist’s signature should be deleted. The Contest Administration will remove and file the cover sheets, and forward only the anonymous entry to the judges.

8.  To be eligible for a quarterly judging, an entry must be postmarked no later than the last day of the quarter. Late entries will be included in the following quarter and the Contest Administration will so notify the entrant.

9. There will be three co-winners in each quarter. Each winner will receive an outright cash grant of U.S. $500 and a trophy. Winners will also receive eligibility to compete for the annual Grand Prize of an additional cash grant of $5,000 together with the annual Grand Prize trophy.

10. For the annual Grand Prize Contest, the quarterly winners will be furnished with a specification sheet and a winning story from the Writers of the Future Contest to illustrate. In order to retain eligibility for the Grand Prize, each winner shall send to the Contest address his/her illustration of the assigned story within thirty (30) days of receipt of the story assignment.

The yearly Grand Prize winner shall be determined by the judges on the following basis only:
Each Grand Prize judge's personal opinion on the extent to which it makes the judge want to read the story it illustrates.
The Grand Prize winner shall be announced at the L. Ron Hubbard   Awards Event held in the following year.

11. The Contest shall contain four quarters each year, running October 1-  December 31, January 1-March 31, April 1-June 30, and July 1- September 30. To be eligible for a quarter, the entry must be postmarked on - or before - the last day of the quarter. The Contest year ends at midnight on September 30.  

12. The winning entrants’ participation in the Contest shall continue until the winner of the Grand Prize judging has been announced. The Grand Prize winner shall be announced at the L. Ron Hubbard Awards Event held in the year subsequent to the year of the particular Contest.

13. Entries will be judged by professional artists only. Each quarterly judging and the Grand Prize judging may have different panels of judges. The decisions of the judges are entirely their own and are final.

14. This contest is void where prohibited by law.

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ABOUT THE
L. Ron Hubbard
ILLUSTRATORS
OF THE FUTURE
CONTEST
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Art is a word which summarizes the quality of communication."
—L. Ron Hubbard
 
The L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future Contest was launched in 1988 as an expression of L. Ron Hubbard’s wish that the relationship between the written word and the illustrator’s art would not die. Since its inception, it has spanned the globe in its appeal to the new and amateur artist for which it was designed, bridging cultural, economic and language barriers.
L. Ron Hubbard established and sponsored the Writers of the Future Contest in 1983 to help new writers. This was not a new idea to him, having started his very first contest for aspiring writers over the radio in Ketchikan, Alaska, in 1940. Publication of his own first professional short story in 1934 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 in his writing career. Yet it was from the Golden Age of Science Fiction (1938-1950)—in which he played such an instrumental part—that he fondly remembered that the illustrators of those stories were as important to the readers as were the writers. Thus, by its design and since its inception, the L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future Contest winners, three each quarter, illustrate a winning story from the Writers of the Future Contest. These rendered illustrations are not only entered in the Grand Prize competition, but are published in the L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future anthology with their respective companion story.
Competition in the Contest is keen, yet the success of the program, if measured by public response, is stellar. Professional artists of science fiction and fantasy offer to lend a hand as judges, the media take notice, and many winners embark upon professional careers in illustrating after their first professional sale in the anthology.
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 its ramifications—continues to grow and flourish vigorously under the auspices of his literary agency, Author Services, Inc,. in Hollywood, California.

 
© 1986 — 2006 L. Ron Hubbard Library. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ILLUSTRATORS OF THE FUTURE and the Illustrators of the Future logo are trademarks owned by 
L. Ron Hubbard Library.

“Art is a word which sumarizes the quality of communication.”
-L. Ron Hubbard © 1976, 1991 L. Ron Hubbard Library

The How and Why of the L. Ron Hubbard’s Illustrators of the Future^® Contest-

This unique new international contest for new and aspiring illustrators has been launched as the latest expression of L. Ron Hubbard’s dedication to the future of novice creators of science fiction and fantasy.

In 1983, he founded the now widely successful contest for new writers, L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of The Future. However, in the Golden Age he so fondly remembered, the illustrators of those stories were as important to the readers as were the writers. The characters and their drama came as alive as much pictorially as they did in prose. Particular writers and illustrators often formed strong relationships, exchanging ideas and working, in effect, as partners.

This creative synergy was in danger of becoming a lost thing. The Illustrators’ Contest was founded under L. Ron Hubbard’s inspiration and example in the arts, to ensure that the relationships between the written word and the illustrator’s are would not die.

The Contest has been designed to encourage entries from all over the world, by novice artists of whatever orientation, and to be of direct benefit to those who qualify for it by virtue of their talent and skill.

At this writing, the judges who have agreed to thus contribute their expertise and assistance to L. Ron Hubbard’s Illustrators of the Future Contest are:

     © 1990 L. Ron Hubbard Library All Rights Reserved. Illustrators of The Future is a registered trademark owned by L. Ron Hubbard Library.