2012 • Volume 28

The 28th Annual Awards Ceremony was held on Sunday, April 15, at the famed Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. Winners from the contest year October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012, attended. The Writers and Illustrators of the Future workshops were held in Hollywood at Author Services, Inc.

Guest presenters included actors Karen Black, Phil Proctor (Firesign Theatre), Martin Kove (Karate Kid), Nancy Cartwright (voice of Bart Simpson) and Kristin Bauer van Straten (True Blood).

Dr. J. Storrs Hall, a well-known writer on nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, machine ethics and other future technology-related topics, was the keynote speaker.

Dave Wolverton and Dr. Gregory Benford read predictions from the time capsule sealed twenty-five years earlier at the Writers of the Future Awards ceremony held atop the World Trade Center. Science fiction luminaries present at the time included Isaac Asimov, Frederik Pohl, Algis Budrys, Jack Williamson, Roger Zelazny, actor Mark Hamill from Star Wars and physicists Dr. Gerald Feinberg and Dr. Sheldon Glashow.

Snapshot from 2012

Year in the Contests

This is the year that Eric James Stone took home his Nebula for the novelette “That Leviathan Whom Thou Hast Made” (Analog, September 2010).

The list of 2011 Nebula Award Nominees has seven Writers of the Future alumni listed, more than any prior year: Carolyn Ives Gilman (WotF 3) and Ken Liu (WotF 19) for Best Novella. Brad R. Torgersen (WotF 26) for Best Novelette. Tom Crosshill (WotF 26), Aliette de Bodard (WotF 23), David W. Goldman (WotF 21) and Ken Liu (WotF 19) for Best Short Story.

Nnedi Okorafor (WotF 18) has been nominated for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book.

The list of 2011 Hugo Award Nominees included several entries of writer and illustrator winners as well as judges: Nnedi Okorafor (WotF 18) for Best Novel. J. Kathleen Cheney (WotF 24) for Best Novella. Eric James Stone (WotF 21) and Aliette de Bodard (WotF 23) for Best Novelette. Mike Resnick (WotF judge) for Best Related Work. Shaun Tan (WotF 8 and IotF judge) for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Bob Eggleton (IotF judge), Stephan Martiniere (IotF judge), Shaun Tan (WotF 8 and IotF judge) for Best Professional Artists for which Shaun took home the trophy.

We are excited to welcome our newest contest judges: Writers of the Future judge Todd McCaffrey and Illustrators of the Future judge Gary Meyer.

And, in very sad news, we had to say goodbye to beloved judge Anne McCaffrey in 2011. She passed away in Ireland on November 22 and left behind a popular legacy of fiction as well as an unwavering commitment to helping new writers. Each year, when her health permitted, she attended the Writers and Illustrators of the Future awards ceremony and spoke at the writers’ workshop. She touched the lives of everyone who knew her or read her fiction. We miss her already.