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• A large crowd gathered at the event location to celebrate and acknowledge the winners of this year's Writers & Illustrators of the Future Contest. The judges of the writers and illustrators contest as well as special guests from Audible.com and from the Science Fiction Book Club, went up on stage to present the awards. Here are the winners of Writers of the Future with the judges of the writers contest.
Below are the winners of Illustrators of the Future with the judges for the illustrator contest after the awards ceremony, where they received their trophies and were acknowledged for their work.
Every year there are two Grand Prize Winners. One writer of the Writers of the Future winners is chosen by the judges to win the Grand Prize or the "Gold Award" as it were for their extraordinary storytelling skill. Likewise an illustrator from the Illustrators of the Future winners is chosen to receive the prestigious "Gold Award". The winners don't know who this will be until the night of the ceremony when it is announced on stage who the two Grand Prize Winners are. For the video that shows the Writers of the Future Grand Prize Winner, go to www.writersofthefuture.com/stephenvideo.htm. For the video that shows the Illustrators of the Future Grand Prize Winner go to www.writersofthefuture.com/lorrainevideo.htm.
• During the week preceeding the awards ceremony both the writers and the illustraters participated in a workshop that was taught by Contest Judges to give the winners increased skills in the field of writing and illustration. The writers workshop was held by New York Times bestselling author Tim Powers and science fiction author K.D Wentworth and the illustrators workshop was helmed by Ron Lindahn and Val Lakey Lindahn, who are both acclaimed and successful illustrators. But it didn't end there. The winners also received insight into the business end of being a successful writer by such professionals as Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, Sean Williams, Steven Savile (winner from Volume XIX who has published numerous novels since) and Charles Brown from Locus Magazine. The illustrators were likewise further indoctrinated by Illustrators of the Future judges Stephen Hickman, Judith Miller and Cliff Nielsen who are all very successful artists. They enjoyed being able to give back some of what they learned to this new generation of illustrators and writers.
The intensive mentoring process is working—past winners of the Writers of the Future Contest have produced an impressive 556 published novels and 1,450 short stories which sold a combined total of 31,000,000 copies. While it proved harder to track the works of the illustrators, they can be seen anywhere from book interiors and covers, to internet sites and gaming and movie set designs. The Contests were initiated by L. Ron Hubbard in 1983 shortly after returning to the field of science fiction with his bestseller Battlefield Earth. • THE
WRITERS MEET THE ILLUSTRATORS AND GET TO This is always a very special occassion during the workshop week. At the end of the week (the day before the ceremony, the writers are led into a room where all the illustrations are exhibited. The writers now have to find the illustration for their story and this is where they find out which illustrator brought their story to life on canvas. It's a drumroll moment.....
• THE AWARDS CEREMONY
The writers and illustrator winners were all achnowledged on stage by the judges of the Contest. The winners are selected on an anonymous basis and the criterion is strictly merit. Over $30,000 in cash prizes are paid out to the winners and their story is published in the annual Writers of the Future Volume. They also get assistance to launch their careers from Galaxy Press who organizes book signings and sets up print, radio and TV interviews for both the writers and illustrators. For a complete report on the 23rd annual Writers of the Future awards ceremony, please visit our blog at: http://wotfblog.galaxypress.com/2007/08/writers-of-future-illustrators-of.html After the awards ceremony, the guests meet the winners and judges face to face and everyone receives a complimentary copy of the book which they can get signed by the winners. Here are some photos showing the activities after the ceremony. • THE PARTY AFTER THE CEREMONY
• THE
DAY AFTER THE CEREMONY ANOTHER GIANT BOOK
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