Females Sweep Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contest

The L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests experienced a new first: all quarterly winners are female.

For the Writers of the Future Contest, the winners for the quarter ending December 31st are:

Barbara Lund from Utah
Sara Fox from Georgia
K. D. Julicher from Nevada

And for the Illustrators of the Future Contest, the winners are:

Jennifer Bruce from Michigan
Isabel Gibney from Maryland
Madolyn Locke from Georgia

They will be published next April in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 37.

Once the announcement of the quarterly winners was made and it was realized that all winners were female, both Contest Coordinating Judges commented on the matter.

David Farland, Golden Pen winner for volume three and now the Writer Contest Coordinating Judge stated, “I love the fact that this contest is judged blind. When I judge a story, all that I see is the name of the story and the text, nothing more. I don’t know what country the tale comes from, whether the author is eight or eighty. I can’t necessarily guess the ethnicity or anything else. This quarter was a prime example. Each of the stories this quarter was innovative, well-plotted, and beautifully written. Since some of the main characters were males, I would have thought that about half of my finalists were males. Instead, I think we had all women this time. That’s part of the joy of this contest, reading the announcements and learning a bit about who the winners are, and where they come from! ”

The Illustrator Coordinating Judge Echo Chernik commented, “One of the best aspects of the IOTF (Illustrators of the Future) Contest is that it’s open to everyone. While reviewing the submissions, I have no idea of where the artist is from, their gender or age―they are represented purely by the artwork that they submit. It’s wonderful to meet the winners and see the variety of talent behind the artwork. We have winners from all over the world and from high school to retired, which goes to show that it’s never too early or too late in life to pursue your passions! ”

Bravo to the very talented women writers and artists of 2020.

The Writers of the Future writing contest was initiated by L. Ron Hubbard in 1983 to provide “a means for new and budding writers to have a chance for their creative efforts to be seen and acknowledged.” Based on its success, its sister contest, Illustrators of the Future was created five years later to provide that same opportunity for the aspiring artist.

Throughout the Contests’ 36-year history, 786 writers and illustrators have been recognized as winners.

The intensive mentoring process has proven very successful. The 428 past winners of the Writing Contest have published 1,150 novels and nearly 4,500 short stories. They have produced 33 New York Times bestsellers and their works have sold over 60 million copies.