2026 • Volume 42
On the evening of Thursday, April 8, 2026, the Taglyan Cultural Complex in Hollywood, California, was filled to capacity for the Oscar-like gala celebrating over four decades of winners of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future, and the milestone achievement of over 1,000 writers and illustrators published in the 42 volumes.
The cover artwork illustrated by Illustrators of the Future Contest Judge Ciruelo, entitled The Fire Tribe, inspired the story “Skinny-Shins,” written by Writers of the Future Contest Judge Orson Scott Card. Two-time Grammy award-winning producer and Golden Voice actor Stefan Rudnicki, along with Orson Scott Card, Gabrielle de Cuir, Jenina Edwards, Susan Hanfield, Kirby Heyborne, John Lee, Jim Meskimen, Scott Peterson recorded the audiobook for Volume 42.
United Public Radio Network broadcast this year’s awards show to over 470,000 viewers on Roku, Amazon Firestick, Apple, Samsung, and Google, and more than 9.5 million on the live radio broadcast across 149 countries.
The Writers and Illustrators of the Future Workshops were held once again at Author Services.
THE GRAND PRIZE WINNERS
Michael T. Kuester with his story “In Living Color,” was named the 2026 Grand Prize Golden Pen Writer Winner, and Bafu with his illustration of the story “Saffron and Marigolds,” from Ruzomberok, Slovakia, was named the 2026 Illustrator Grand Prize Golden Brush Winner.
ACCOLADES
In celebration of over 1,000 writers and illustrators published, we received a plaque from Tom Doherty, founder of Tor Publishing, a plaque from Andrea Fleck-Nisbet, CEO IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association), and a Letter of Recognition from the Los Angeles City Council.
Snapshot from 2026
Year in the Contests
Contest Growth
This volume celebrates the forty-two years of the Writers’ Contest and thirty-seven years of the Illustrators’ Contest. Both Contests continue to expand, breaking all records of annual entries.
Since Volume 1, we have proudly helped launch the careers of over one thousand writers and illustrators through the Contests.
Winners in this volume hail from nine countries: Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Slovakia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Venezuela.
The Writers of the Future Online Workshop continues to grow. This year, it was expanded to include three judges covering different aspects of writing: Kevin J. Anderson, Nnedi Okorafor, and Robert J. Sawyer.
Award for the Contest and Anthology
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 40 won the 2025 International Book Award for both Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Volume 40 also won the 2025 Independent Book Publishers Association’s Silver Award for Science Fiction & Fantasy.
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 41 won the 2025 New York City Big Book Award for Anthology.
Volume 41 also won the 2025 American Fiction Award for Anthology.
Writers of the Future Forum won the Best Writers’ Discussion Forum in the Critters Annual Readers’ Poll 2024, which was announced in January of 2025.
Notable Accomplishment from Judges and Alumni
Here is a selection of the many accomplishments and awards won by our Contest judges and winners.
Writers’ Contest judges Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert coproduced the HBO show Dune: Prophecy, inspired by their novel Sisterhood of Dune. The show received four Emmy nominations, and its second season is in production.
F.J. Bergmann (Volume 36) won a Rhysling Award for her short poem “Lost Ark.”
Nancy Farmer’s (Volume 4) novels, The House of the Scorpion and The Lord of Opium, were optioned by a film agent for TV financed by Skydance. Her New York Times bestseller, The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, was bought by LAIKA for animated feature film development.
Brian C. Hailes (Volume 18 and Illustrators of the Future Contest judge) opened Draw It With Me Art Academy in Alpine, Utah, with over two hundred students.
David Hankins (Volume 39) won the Critters Readers’ Poll for Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novel with Death and the Taxman as well as Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Story for “To Catch a Foo Fighter.”
Stephen Kotowych (Volume 23) won an Aurora Award as editor for the Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Two.
David D. Levine (Volume 18) optioned his Nebula-nominated short story “Damage” to a Hollywood production company, granting them exclusive rights to develop the story for one year.
Time magazine included two former Contest winners in its “Top 100 Must-Read Books of 2025”: Ken Liu (Volume 19) with All That We See or Seem and Nnedi Okorafor (Volume 18 and Writer of the Future Contest judge) with Death of an Author.
Marianna Mester (Volume 41) took home another award this year, Artist of the Kasza Day 2025, an award in her home country of Hungary.
T.R. Napper (Volume 31) won a Ditmar Award and an Aurealis Award for his novella “Ghost of the Neon God.”
Martin L. Shoemaker (Volume 31) won an Analog Readers’ Poll Award for his novella “Uncle Roy’s Computer Repairs and Robot Parts.”
Cat Sparks (Volume 21) won a Ditmar Award with her coauthor Kaaron Warren for their collected work Calvaria Fell.
It’s a real challenge to keep up with all the Contest winners. With so MANY of their novels, short stories, and art published this past year, we can’t do justice to them all. We are so proud of them.