Winners Announced: Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests

The L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests are pleased to announce the first quarter winners for its 38th year.

For the Writers of the Future Contest, the winners for the quarter ending December 31, 2020, are:

First Place – Mike Jack Stoumbos from Washington
Second Place – Brittany Rainsdon from Idaho
Third Place – J.A. Becker from Australia

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

Majid Saberinejad from Iran
Natalia Salvador from Spain
Jerome Tieh from Singapore

They will be published in 2022 in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 38.

You can find the complete list of Finalists, Semi-Finalists, and Honorable Mentions at www.writersofthefuture.com/blog.

“The Contests continue to grow each year with submissions sent in from over 175 countries,” said Contest Director Joni Labaqui. “Congratulations to them all!”

The award-winning writers and illustrators will be flown out to Hollywood for a week-long workshop with Contest judges, who are some of the biggest names in the field. Plus a lavish awards ceremony.

Writer judges are Kevin J. Anderson, Dr. Doug Beason, Dr. Gregory Benford, Orson Scott Card, David Farland, Eric Flint, Brian Herbert, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Nancy Kress, Katherine Kurtz, Todd McCaffrey, Rebecca Moesta, Larry Niven, Jody Lynn Nye, Dr. Nnedi Okorafor, Tim Powers, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Brandon Sanderson, Dr. Robert J. Sawyer, Robert Silverberg, Dean Wesley Smith, and Dr. Sean Williams.

Illustrator judges are Echo Chernik, Lazarus Chernik, Ciruelo, Vincent Di Fate, Diane Dillon, Bob Eggleton, Craig Elliott, Larry Elmore, Laura Freas Beraha, Val Lakey Lindahn, Stephan Martiniere, Gary Meyer, Mike Perkins, Sergey Poyarkov, Rob Prior, Dan dos Santos, Shaun Tan, and Stephen Youll.

The Contests are both free to enter and can be found at www.writersofthefuture.com.

L. Ron Hubbard initiated the Writers of the Future writing contest 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’ 37-year history, over 800 writers and illustrators have been recognized as winners.

The intensive mentoring process has proven very successful. The 440 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.

The 370 past winners of the Illustrating Contest have produced over 6,000 illustrations, 360 comic books, graced 624 books and albums with their art, and visually contributed to 68 TV shows and 40 major movies.

For more information on the Contests, visit www.writersofthefuture.com.