The RULES

Writers of the Future     Illustrators of the Future

 

free writing competition
CONTEST RULES

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

ALL AWARDS ARE ADJUDICATED BY PROFESSIONAL WRITERS ONLY
 
PRIZES EVERY THREE MONTHS: $1,000, $750, $500
 
ANNUAL GRAND PRIZE: $5,000 ADDITIONAL!

DON'T DELAY!
SEND YOUR ENTRY TO:

L. Ron Hubbard'S
WRITERS OF THE FUTURE
CONTEST
P.O. BOX 1630
LOS ANGELES, CA 90078

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

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 dark fantasy 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, telephone number, email address 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 only if the author has provided return postage on a self addressed envelope.  If the author does not wish return of the manuscript, a #10  (business size) self-addressed, stamped envelope (or valid email address) must be included with the entry in order to receive judging results.  

7. We accept only entries for which no delivery signature is required by us to receive them.

8. 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 $5,000. All winners will also receive trophies or certificates.

9. 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.

10. Each entrant may submit only one manuscript per quarter. Winners are ineligible to make further entries in the contest.

11. All entries for each quarter are final. No revisions are accepted.

12. Entries will be judged by professional authors. The decisions of the judges are entirely their own, and are final.

13. Winners in each quarter will be individually notified of the results by mail.

14. This contest is void where prohibited by law.
   

 

ABOUT THE
L. Ron Hubbard
WRITERS OF THE FUTURE
CONTEST
 

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 his literary agency, Author Services Inc., 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 1934 launched one of the most spectacular and prolific writing careers of the 20th century, embracing genres ranging from adventure, western, historical, romance, mystery, suspense and horror to science fiction and fantasy. L. Ron Hubbard produced more than 250 published works of fiction, close to one third of those in the speculative fiction genres.

L. Ron Hubbard marked his return to science fiction in 1982 with the publication of his bestselling, highly acclaimed Battlefield Earth. Why science fiction? As he wrote in the Introduction, science fiction “is the herald of possibility. It is the plea that someone should work on the future. Yet it is not prophecy. It is the dream that precedes the dawn when the inventor or scientist awakens and goes to his books or his lab saying, ‘I wonder whether I could make that dream come true in the world of real science.’”

Underscoring 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 Writers of the Future Contest in 1983. His embracive vision for it was clear: to have the top professional science fiction and fantasy authors as judges, with a published anthology 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 perish. In the Golden Age of Science Fiction—in which he played such an instrumental part—he fondly remembered that the illustrators of his stories—and those of others—were as important to the readers as were the writers.

The full scope, impact and influence 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 volume of the L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Anthology of newly discovered talent, there has been a swelling tide of interest in the program. Professional speculative fiction authors and artists of the first rank offer to lend a hand; the broad media takes enthusiastic notice; agents and publishers look to the Contest’s winners for their next publishing contracts; hundreds of writers have been discovered and many have—after their initial publication in the anthology—pursued distinctively successful careers 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 its enduring significance as a prime discovery vehicle for the best new creative talent continues to flourish vitally 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.

 

"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.

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

 

© 1986 — 2003 L. Ron Hubbard Library. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. WRITERS OF THE FUTURE and the Writers of the Future logo are trademarks owned by 
L. Ron Hubbard Library.

 

 

 

free short story competition for writers
CONTEST RULES

OPEN TO NEW AND AMATEUR SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY ARTISTS WORLDWIDE

NO ENTRY FEE

ENTRANTS RETAIN ALL RIGHTS

ALL JUDGING BY PROFESSIONAL ARTISTS ONLY
 
$1,500 IN PRIZES EACH QUARTER
 
QUARTERLY WINNERS COMPETE FOR $5,000 ADDITIONAL ANNUAL PRIZE

DON'T DELAY!
SEND YOUR ENTRY TO:

L. Ron Hubbard'S ILLUSTRATORS OF THE FUTURE CONTEST
P.O. BOX 3190
LOS ANGELES, CA 90078

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

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.

 

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 — 2003 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.