Writers of the Future
Encyclopedia
Writers of the Future is a science fiction
and fantasy
story contest that was originated by L. Ron Hubbard
in the early 1980s. Hubbard
characterized the contest as a way of "giving back" to the field that had defined his professional writing life. The contest has no entry fee and is the highest-paying contest for amateur science-fiction and fantasy writers. Notable past winners of WOTF include Stephen Baxter
, Karen Joy Fowler
, James Alan Gardner
, Nina Kiriki Hoffman
, Jay Lake
, Michael H. Payne
, Patrick Rothfuss
, Robert Reed
, Dean Wesley Smith
, Sean Williams, Dave Wolverton
, Nancy Farmer
, and David Zindell
.
The winning stories are published in the yearly anthology L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of Future. The contest enjoys a favorable reputation in the science fiction community, although its connection with the Church of Scientology
has caused some controversy.
Manuscripts are blind-judged (with names deleted), and are separated out in quarterfinal and semifinal award rounds by the Coordinating Judge (currently K. D. Wentworth
, previously Dave Wolverton
during much of the 1990s, and originally Algis Budrys
). Eight finalists are sent to a panel of professional sf writers, who determine the top three awards. Prizes are $1000 (first place), $750 (second) and $500 (third). The process is then repeated the next quarter. At the end of the contest year, the four quarterly first place stories compete for a separate annual grand prize, the "Gold Award," which includes an additional $5000. The first, second and third place winners and often a selection of the other finalist stories are published annually, for which the writers receive additional compensation for publication rights. Thus, a grand prize-winning author can make over $6000 for a single story - more than many writers receive for a first novel .
Some finalist stories not considered among the top three (in effect, the fourth or fifth placers) may be included in the annual anthology. These are called "published finalists." The writers are compensated for publication rights, but are not considered winners and receive no prize money, but are eligible to re-enter the contest. Often writers will repeatedly enter the contest, quarter after quarter, until they either win or become ineligible due to publications elsewhere.
An artists' contest, the Illustrators of the Future (IOTF), was added in 1988. Like the WOTF contest, the Illustrators contest is open to amateurs. The Rules state: "The Contest is open to those who have not previously published more than three black-and-white story illustrations, or more than one process-color painting, in media distributed nationally to the general public, such as magazines or books sold at newsstands, or books sold in stores merchandising to the general public. The submitted entry shall not have been previously published in professional media as exampled above."
Entrants submit a portfolio of three pieces of artwork, which are circulated among the judges. Up to three winners are selected every quarter, each given a prize of $500. Unlike the Writers, the Illustrators are not ranked. After the completion of the contest year, each of the twelve Illustration winners is assigned one of the stories from among the twelve Writer winners, and given a month to return the finished illustration. A single grand prize, also called the Gold Award, is accompanied by a prize of $5000 - judging is based only on the final illustration, not the initial portfolio. While the art is judged according to standard artistic considerations (composition, draftsmanship, consistency of lighting, sense of wonder
, facial expressions, etc.), a key consideration during the final judging is whether or not the art would make the viewer want to read the accompanying story. The art is also included in the annual anthology, and illustrators are additionally compensated.
No official tallies are given for the number of entrants in either contest, but it is believed that thousands enter the Writers contest every quarter, while only hundreds enter the Illustration contest. Thus, the Illustration judges are sometimes often unable to find three deserving winners, and only pick one or two. (This is not a problem for the Writing judges.) Should the Illustration winners number less than twelve in a year, each illustrator is - as usual - assigned a single story to illustrate for purposes of determining who wins the Gold Award. Returning the assigned illustration quickly does not directly correlate to winning the Gold Award, but those artists who do so are allowed the opportunity to illustrate additional stories.
All winners and published finalists are invited to attend the annual week-long writers' and artists' workshops and Awards gala at the invitation and expense of the contest administration. Tuxedoes and gowns are worn by the judges, administrators, and winners for the Awards gala (but members of the general public are casually attired), and various Hollywood actors are generally in attendance, in addition to prominent science fiction authors and artists. These include the present judges in addition to a famous and generally elderly writer given a Lifetime Achievement Award. While it is not required to attend the week-long festivities and seminars, it is thought by some that those in the running for the Gold Award may advance their cause by displaying professionalism and hard work at that time; judges for the contest, however, refute this, as the judging is done blindly in advance of the week-long pre-awards event and most judges don't arrive on site until the last day of the workshop.
Notable writing judges have included: Algis Budrys
, Gregory Benford
, Kevin J. Anderson
, Orson Scott Card
, Jack Williamson
, Nina Kiriki Hoffman
, Brian Herbert
, K. D. Wentworth
, Tim Powers
, Robert J. Sawyer
, Frederik Pohl
, Jerry Pournelle
, Andre Norton
, Larry Niven
, and Anne McCaffrey
.
Prominent art judges have included: Bob Eggleton
, Frank Kelly Freas
, Frank Frazetta
, Will Eisner
, Edd Cartier
, Stephen Youll, Stephen Hickman
, and Leo and Diane Dillon
.
Judges receive only token payment for their efforts ($25 per story adjudicated).
Winners and published finalists in the contest have included the writers
Stephen Baxter
,
Karen Joy Fowler
,
Carl Frederick
,
James Alan Gardner
,
Jim C. Hines
,
Jay Lake
,
David D. Levine
,
Syne Mitchell
,
Michael H. Payne
,
Brian Plante
,
Robert Reed
,
Bruce Holland Rogers
,
Patrick Rothfuss
,
Steven Savile
,
Dean Wesley Smith
,
Catriona Sparks
,
Mary Turzillo
,
Sean Williams,
Dave Wolverton
,
David Zindell
,
and the artists
Shaun Tan
and Frank Wu
.
, Inc., the publishing arm of the Church of Scientology
. Recently, the sponsorship moved to Author Services Inc.
under the trade name
Galaxy Press
, which was spun off from Bridge to publish Hubbard's fiction and the contest anthologies.
The contest has also been characterized as a promotional vehicle for Hubbard himself, who returned to science fiction writing with Battlefield Earth
at about the same time as he began the contest. On the covers of the annual WOTF anthologies, Hubbard's name appears "above the title", and in at least as prominent a font. The prominence of Hubbard's name and the lavish funding of the contest awards, publicity and ceremonies have led some to speculate that the contest is part of a campaign by the Church of Scientology to promote Hubbard's status in the science fiction and literary communities.
Entering or winning the contest does not require or imply endorsement or membership in the Church of Scientology, and the contest itself has been endorsed by a wide range of well-known speculative fiction writers (see Judges and Winners above) who have no relationship to Scientology.
According to Director of the Writers and Illustrators Contests Joni Labaqui, the funds to underwrite the contest—including the cash prizes, the gala awards ceremony and the weeklong pre-awards festivities—come from the Hubbard estate. The Hubbard estate is separate from the Church of Scientology and earns royalties from sales of Hubbard's books, including his fiction. Labaqui also reports that staff of Author Services Inc. is entirely made up of Scientologists.
However, records with the United States Patent and Trademark Office
show that the rights to the Writers of the Future name were transferred from the L. Ron Hubbard estate ("Family Trust-B") to the Church of Spiritual Technology
in 1989, and under the 1993 IRS closing agreement with the Church of Scientology, the L. Ron Hubbard estate became part of the Church of Spiritual Technology, a "Scientology-related entity".
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
story contest that was originated by L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
in the early 1980s. Hubbard
characterized the contest as a way of "giving back" to the field that had defined his professional writing life. The contest has no entry fee and is the highest-paying contest for amateur science-fiction and fantasy writers. Notable past winners of WOTF include Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter is a prolific British hard science fiction author. He has degrees in mathematics and engineering.- Writing style :...
, Karen Joy Fowler
Karen Joy Fowler
Karen Joy Fowler is an American author of science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. Her work often centers on the nineteenth century, the lives of women, and alienation....
, James Alan Gardner
James Alan Gardner
James Alan Gardner is a Canadian science fiction author.Raised in Simcoe and Bradford, Ontario, he earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Applied Mathematics from the University of Waterloo....
, Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Nina Kiriki Hoffman is an American fantasy, science fiction and horror writer.-Profile:Hoffman started publishing short stories in 1975. Her first nationally published short story appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine in 1983...
, Jay Lake
Jay Lake
Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is a science fiction and fantasy writer. In 2003 he was a quarterly first place winner in the Writers of the Future contest. In 2004 he won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction. He lives in Portland, Oregon and currently works as a product manager...
, Michael H. Payne
Michael H. Payne
Michael H. Payne is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, cartoonist, and reviewer. He holds an M.A. in Classics from the University of California, Irvine, and has hosted the Darkling Eclectica, a radio program originally on Saturday mornings, now on Sunday afternoons, on KUCI for more...
, Patrick Rothfuss
Patrick Rothfuss
Patrick James Rothfuss is an American fantasy writer and college lecturer. He is the author of the projected three-volume series The Kingkiller Chronicle.- Biography :...
, Robert Reed
Robert Reed (author)
Robert David Reed is a Hugo Award-winning American science fiction author. He has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the Nebraska Wesleyan University. Reed is an "extraordinarily prolific" genre short-fiction writer with "Alone" being his 200th professional sale...
, Dean Wesley Smith
Dean Wesley Smith
Dean Wesley Smith is a science fiction author, known primarily for his Star Trek novels, movie novelizations, and other novels of licensed properties such as Smallville, Spider-Man, X-Men, Aliens, Roswell, Men in Black, and Quantum Leap...
, Sean Williams, Dave Wolverton
Dave Wolverton
Dave Wolverton is a science fiction author who also goes under the pseudonym David Farland for his fantasy works. He currently lives in St. George, Utah with his wife and five children.-Career:...
, Nancy Farmer
Nancy Farmer (author)
Nancy Farmer is a prominent children's book author from the United States.Farmer was born in Phoenix, Arizona. She earned her B.A. at Reed College and later studied chemistry and entomology at the University of California, Berkeley...
, and David Zindell
David Zindell
David Zindell is an American author known for science fiction and fantasy epics. He was born in Toledo, Ohio, and resides today in Boulder, Colorado; he received a BA degree in mathematics and minored in anthropology at the University of Colorado at Boulder...
.
The winning stories are published in the yearly anthology L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of Future. The contest enjoys a favorable reputation in the science fiction community, although its connection with the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
has caused some controversy.
Contest rules and procedures
The Writers of the Future (WOTF) contest may be entered quarterly, and is open to authors who have no, or few, professional publications. The Contest rules state that entrants cannot have had 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." Eligible works are stories up to 17,000 words in length. Poems, screenplays, non-fiction, etc., are not eligible.Manuscripts are blind-judged (with names deleted), and are separated out in quarterfinal and semifinal award rounds by the Coordinating Judge (currently K. D. Wentworth
K. D. Wentworth
Kathy Diane Wentworth , known as K. D. Wentworth, is a science fiction author. She got her start winning the Writers of the Future Contest in 1988, and then later won Field Publications' Teachers as Writers Award in 1991. She currently is the editor for the Writers of the Future Contest...
, previously Dave Wolverton
Dave Wolverton
Dave Wolverton is a science fiction author who also goes under the pseudonym David Farland for his fantasy works. He currently lives in St. George, Utah with his wife and five children.-Career:...
during much of the 1990s, and originally Algis Budrys
Algis Budrys
Algis Budrys was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names "Frank Mason", "Alger Rome", "John A. Sentry", "William Scarff", and "Paul Janvier."-Biography:...
). Eight finalists are sent to a panel of professional sf writers, who determine the top three awards. Prizes are $1000 (first place), $750 (second) and $500 (third). The process is then repeated the next quarter. At the end of the contest year, the four quarterly first place stories compete for a separate annual grand prize, the "Gold Award," which includes an additional $5000. The first, second and third place winners and often a selection of the other finalist stories are published annually, for which the writers receive additional compensation for publication rights. Thus, a grand prize-winning author can make over $6000 for a single story - more than many writers receive for a first novel .
Some finalist stories not considered among the top three (in effect, the fourth or fifth placers) may be included in the annual anthology. These are called "published finalists." The writers are compensated for publication rights, but are not considered winners and receive no prize money, but are eligible to re-enter the contest. Often writers will repeatedly enter the contest, quarter after quarter, until they either win or become ineligible due to publications elsewhere.
An artists' contest, the Illustrators of the Future (IOTF), was added in 1988. Like the WOTF contest, the Illustrators contest is open to amateurs. The Rules state: "The Contest is open to those who have not previously published more than three black-and-white story illustrations, or more than one process-color painting, in media distributed nationally to the general public, such as magazines or books sold at newsstands, or books sold in stores merchandising to the general public. The submitted entry shall not have been previously published in professional media as exampled above."
Entrants submit a portfolio of three pieces of artwork, which are circulated among the judges. Up to three winners are selected every quarter, each given a prize of $500. Unlike the Writers, the Illustrators are not ranked. After the completion of the contest year, each of the twelve Illustration winners is assigned one of the stories from among the twelve Writer winners, and given a month to return the finished illustration. A single grand prize, also called the Gold Award, is accompanied by a prize of $5000 - judging is based only on the final illustration, not the initial portfolio. While the art is judged according to standard artistic considerations (composition, draftsmanship, consistency of lighting, sense of wonder
Sense of wonder
A sense of wonder is an intellectual and emotional state frequently invoked in discussions of science fiction. It is an emotional reaction to the reader suddenly confronting, understanding, or seeing a concept anew in the context of new information....
, facial expressions, etc.), a key consideration during the final judging is whether or not the art would make the viewer want to read the accompanying story. The art is also included in the annual anthology, and illustrators are additionally compensated.
No official tallies are given for the number of entrants in either contest, but it is believed that thousands enter the Writers contest every quarter, while only hundreds enter the Illustration contest. Thus, the Illustration judges are sometimes often unable to find three deserving winners, and only pick one or two. (This is not a problem for the Writing judges.) Should the Illustration winners number less than twelve in a year, each illustrator is - as usual - assigned a single story to illustrate for purposes of determining who wins the Gold Award. Returning the assigned illustration quickly does not directly correlate to winning the Gold Award, but those artists who do so are allowed the opportunity to illustrate additional stories.
All winners and published finalists are invited to attend the annual week-long writers' and artists' workshops and Awards gala at the invitation and expense of the contest administration. Tuxedoes and gowns are worn by the judges, administrators, and winners for the Awards gala (but members of the general public are casually attired), and various Hollywood actors are generally in attendance, in addition to prominent science fiction authors and artists. These include the present judges in addition to a famous and generally elderly writer given a Lifetime Achievement Award. While it is not required to attend the week-long festivities and seminars, it is thought by some that those in the running for the Gold Award may advance their cause by displaying professionalism and hard work at that time; judges for the contest, however, refute this, as the judging is done blindly in advance of the week-long pre-awards event and most judges don't arrive on site until the last day of the workshop.
Prominent judges and winners
Many noted writers and artists have judged WotF awards, or have won them themselves.Notable writing judges have included: Algis Budrys
Algis Budrys
Algis Budrys was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names "Frank Mason", "Alger Rome", "John A. Sentry", "William Scarff", and "Paul Janvier."-Biography:...
, Gregory Benford
Gregory Benford
Gregory Benford is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine...
, Kevin J. Anderson
Kevin J. Anderson
Kevin J. Anderson is an American science fiction author with over forty bestsellers. He has written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and with Brian Herbert is the co-author of the Dune prequels...
, Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...
, Jack Williamson
Jack Williamson
John Stewart Williamson , who wrote as Jack Williamson was a U.S. writer often referred to as the "Dean of Science Fiction" following the death in 1988 of Robert A...
, Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Nina Kiriki Hoffman is an American fantasy, science fiction and horror writer.-Profile:Hoffman started publishing short stories in 1975. Her first nationally published short story appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine in 1983...
, Brian Herbert
Brian Herbert
Brian Patrick Herbert is an American author who lives in Washington state. He is the elder son of science fiction author Frank Herbert....
, K. D. Wentworth
K. D. Wentworth
Kathy Diane Wentworth , known as K. D. Wentworth, is a science fiction author. She got her start winning the Writers of the Future Contest in 1988, and then later won Field Publications' Teachers as Writers Award in 1991. She currently is the editor for the Writers of the Future Contest...
, Tim Powers
Tim Powers
Timothy Thomas "Tim" Powers is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Powers has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels Last Call and Declare...
, Robert J. Sawyer
Robert J. Sawyer
Robert James Sawyer is a Canadian science fiction writer. He has had 20 novels published, and his short fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Amazing Stories, On Spec, Nature, and many anthologies. Sawyer has won over forty awards for his fiction, including the Nebula Award ,...
, Frederik Pohl
Frederik Pohl
Frederik George Pohl, Jr. is an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years — from his first published work, "Elegy to a Dead Planet: Luna" , to his most recent novel, All the Lives He Led .He won the National Book Award in 1980 for his novel Jem...
, Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Eugene Pournelle is an American science fiction writer, essayist and journalist who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte and has since 1998 been maintaining his own website/blog....
, Andre Norton
Andre Norton
Andre Alice Norton, née Alice Mary Norton was an American science fiction and fantasy author under the noms de plume Andre Norton, Andrew North and Allen Weston...
, Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
, and Anne McCaffrey
Anne McCaffrey
Anne Inez McCaffrey was an American-born Irish writer, best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series. Over the course of her 46 year career she won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award...
.
Prominent art judges have included: Bob Eggleton
Bob Eggleton
Bob Eggleton is a science fiction, fantasy, and horror artist. Eggleton has been honored with the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist eight times, first winning in 1994. He also won the Hugo Award for Best Related Book in 2001 for his art book "Greetings From Earth"...
, Frank Kelly Freas
Frank Kelly Freas
Frank Kelly Freas , called the "Dean of Science Fiction Artists", was a science fiction and fantasy artist with a career spanning more than 50 years.-Early life, education, and personal life:...
, Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for work in comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers and other media...
, Will Eisner
Will Eisner
William Erwin "Will" Eisner was an American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of comics as an...
, Edd Cartier
Edd Cartier
Edward "Edd" Daniel Cartier , was an American pulp magazine illustrator.Born in North Bergen, New Jersey, Cartier studied at Pratt Institute. Following his 1936 graduation from Pratt, his artwork was published in Street and Smith publications, including The Shadow, to which he contributed many...
, Stephen Youll, Stephen Hickman
Stephen Hickman
Stephen Hickman is an award-winning American artist, illustrator, sculptor and author. He is best known for his work in science fiction and fantasy with over 350 book and magazine covers to his credit. His efforts have brought an extra dimension to the stories of Robert A. Heinlein, H. P....
, and Leo and Diane Dillon
Leo and Diane Dillon
Leo and Diane Dillon are an American husband and wife team of illustrators. Among their awards are two consecutive Caldecott Medals for the children's books Why Mosquitoes Buzz In People's Ears and Ashanti To Zulu: African Traditions....
.
Judges receive only token payment for their efforts ($25 per story adjudicated).
Winners and published finalists in the contest have included the writers
Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter is a prolific British hard science fiction author. He has degrees in mathematics and engineering.- Writing style :...
,
Karen Joy Fowler
Karen Joy Fowler
Karen Joy Fowler is an American author of science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. Her work often centers on the nineteenth century, the lives of women, and alienation....
,
Carl Frederick
Carl Frederick
Carl Frederick is a science fiction author living in Ithaca, New York. He has written numerous short stories that have appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight, Asimov's Science Fiction, Flash Fiction Online, Jim Baen's Universe, Space and Time, and other publications...
,
James Alan Gardner
James Alan Gardner
James Alan Gardner is a Canadian science fiction author.Raised in Simcoe and Bradford, Ontario, he earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Applied Mathematics from the University of Waterloo....
,
Jim C. Hines
Jim C. Hines
Jim C. Hines is an American fantasy writer. He was a first-place winner of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Award in 1998 with his story "Blade of the Bunny". He is the author of the Goblin Quest fantasy trilogy, comprising Goblin Quest, Goblin Hero and Goblin War. He also edited the...
,
Jay Lake
Jay Lake
Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is a science fiction and fantasy writer. In 2003 he was a quarterly first place winner in the Writers of the Future contest. In 2004 he won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction. He lives in Portland, Oregon and currently works as a product manager...
,
David D. Levine
David D. Levine
David D. Levine is an American science fiction writer who won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 2006....
,
Syne Mitchell
Syne Mitchell
Syne Mitchell is a novelist in the science fiction genre. She has a bachelor's degree in business administration and master's degree in physics. She lives in Seattle, Washington and is married to author Eric S. Nylund. Her first science fiction novel was Murphy’s Gambit which won the Compton Crook...
,
Michael H. Payne
Michael H. Payne
Michael H. Payne is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, cartoonist, and reviewer. He holds an M.A. in Classics from the University of California, Irvine, and has hosted the Darkling Eclectica, a radio program originally on Saturday mornings, now on Sunday afternoons, on KUCI for more...
,
Brian Plante
Brian Plante
Brian Plante is an American science fiction writer. As of 2007, he had published 49 short stories. Analog magazine has published 16 of his stories and most of the recent ones. Plante has written several sarcastic essays on writing, including the "Chronicles of the Garden Valley Writers," an...
,
Robert Reed
Robert Reed (author)
Robert David Reed is a Hugo Award-winning American science fiction author. He has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the Nebraska Wesleyan University. Reed is an "extraordinarily prolific" genre short-fiction writer with "Alone" being his 200th professional sale...
,
Bruce Holland Rogers
Bruce Holland Rogers
Bruce Holland Rogers is an American author of short fiction who also writes under the pseudonym Hanovi Braddock. His stories have won a Pushcart Prize, two Nebula Awards, the Bram Stoker Award, two World Fantasy Awards, the Micro Award, and have been nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award and...
,
Patrick Rothfuss
Patrick Rothfuss
Patrick James Rothfuss is an American fantasy writer and college lecturer. He is the author of the projected three-volume series The Kingkiller Chronicle.- Biography :...
,
Steven Savile
Steven Savile
Steven Savile is a British fantasy, horror and thriller writer, and editor living in Stockholm, Sweden...
,
Dean Wesley Smith
Dean Wesley Smith
Dean Wesley Smith is a science fiction author, known primarily for his Star Trek novels, movie novelizations, and other novels of licensed properties such as Smallville, Spider-Man, X-Men, Aliens, Roswell, Men in Black, and Quantum Leap...
,
Catriona Sparks
Catriona Sparks
Catriona Sparks is an Australian science fiction writer, editor and publisher.As manager and editor of Agog! Press with her partner, Australian horror writer Rob Hood, Sparks has produced ten anthologies of speculative fiction...
,
Mary Turzillo
Mary Turzillo
Mary A. Turzillo is an American science fiction writer noted primarily for short stories. She won the Nebula Award for Best Novelette in 2000 for her story Mars is No Place for Children, published originally in Science Fiction Age, and her story "Pride," published originally in Fast Forward 1, was...
,
Sean Williams,
Dave Wolverton
Dave Wolverton
Dave Wolverton is a science fiction author who also goes under the pseudonym David Farland for his fantasy works. He currently lives in St. George, Utah with his wife and five children.-Career:...
,
David Zindell
David Zindell
David Zindell is an American author known for science fiction and fantasy epics. He was born in Toledo, Ohio, and resides today in Boulder, Colorado; he received a BA degree in mathematics and minored in anthropology at the University of Colorado at Boulder...
,
and the artists
Shaun Tan
Shaun Tan
Shaun Tan is the illustrator and author of award-winning children's books such as The Red Tree, The Lost Thing and The Arrival...
and Frank Wu
Frank Wu
Frank Wu is a science fiction and fantasy artist living in Arlington, MA. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009; he was previously nominated in 2002 and 2003. He also won the Grand Prize in the Illustrators of the Future contest in 2000. In 2008 he was nominated...
.
Connections to Scientology
The original sponsors of the contest were Bridge PublicationsBridge Publications (Scientology)
Bridge Publications, Inc. is a Californian 501 non-profit corporation. It is based in Los Angeles, California, and is the Church of Scientology's North American publishing corporation. It publishes the Scientology and nonfiction works of L. Ron Hubbard...
, Inc., the publishing arm of the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
. Recently, the sponsorship moved to Author Services Inc.
Author Services Inc.
Author Services Inc. represents the literary, theatrical and musical works of the late Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Church of Spiritual Technology....
under the trade name
Trade name
A trade name, also known as a trading name or a business name, is the name which a business trades under for commercial purposes, although its registered, legal name, used for contracts and other formal situations, may be another....
Galaxy Press
Galaxy Press
Galaxy Press is a trade name set up to publish and promote the fiction worksof L. Ron Hubbard, and the anthologies of the L. Ron HubbardWriters of the Future contest....
, which was spun off from Bridge to publish Hubbard's fiction and the contest anthologies.
The contest has also been characterized as a promotional vehicle for Hubbard himself, who returned to science fiction writing with Battlefield Earth
Battlefield Earth (novel)
Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 is a 1982 science fiction novel written by the Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. He composed a soundtrack to the book called Space Jazz....
at about the same time as he began the contest. On the covers of the annual WOTF anthologies, Hubbard's name appears "above the title", and in at least as prominent a font. The prominence of Hubbard's name and the lavish funding of the contest awards, publicity and ceremonies have led some to speculate that the contest is part of a campaign by the Church of Scientology to promote Hubbard's status in the science fiction and literary communities.
Entering or winning the contest does not require or imply endorsement or membership in the Church of Scientology, and the contest itself has been endorsed by a wide range of well-known speculative fiction writers (see Judges and Winners above) who have no relationship to Scientology.
According to Director of the Writers and Illustrators Contests Joni Labaqui, the funds to underwrite the contest—including the cash prizes, the gala awards ceremony and the weeklong pre-awards festivities—come from the Hubbard estate. The Hubbard estate is separate from the Church of Scientology and earns royalties from sales of Hubbard's books, including his fiction. Labaqui also reports that staff of Author Services Inc. is entirely made up of Scientologists.
However, records with the United States Patent and Trademark Office
United States Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...
show that the rights to the Writers of the Future name were transferred from the L. Ron Hubbard estate ("Family Trust-B") to the Church of Spiritual Technology
Church of Spiritual Technology
The Church of Spiritual Technology, also known as CST, is a Californian 501 non-profit corporation, incorporated in 1982, which owns all the copyrights of the estate of L. Ron Hubbard. The CST is doing business as L. Ron Hubbard Library...
in 1989, and under the 1993 IRS closing agreement with the Church of Scientology, the L. Ron Hubbard estate became part of the Church of Spiritual Technology, a "Scientology-related entity".