Writer Winners
Complete Listing by Year
2026 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Michael T. Kuester
First Quarter
- “Shell Game” by Zach Poulter
- “The Triceratops Effect” by S. J. Stevenson
- “Saffron and Marigolds” by Kathleen Powell
Second Quarter
- “Form 14B: Application for Certification of Consciousness Transfer (Post-Mortem)” by Thomas K. Slee
- “Canary” by Brenda Posey
- “As Long as You Both Shall Live” by Mike Strickland
Third Quarter
- “In Living Color” by Michael T. Kuester
- “Bloom Decay” by Elina Kumra
- “A Girl and her Dragon: A Life in Four Parts” by Joseph Sidari
Fourth Quarter
- “A Ready-Made Bubble of Light” by Thomas R. Eggenberger
- “Ghost Dog” by Mark McWaters
- “Thickly” by Dorothy de Kok
2025 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Randyn C. J. Bartholomew
First Quarter
- “Slip Stone” by Sandra Skalski
- “The Rune Witch” by Jefferson Snow
- “The Boy from Elsewhen” by Barlow Crassmont
Second Quarter
- “Ascii” by Randyn C. J. Bartholomew
- “Karma Birds” by Lauren McGuire
- “A World of Repetitions” by Seth Atwater Jr.
Third Quarter
- “Storm Damage” by T. R. Naus
- “Blackbird Stone” by Ian Keith
- “The Stench of Freedom” by Joel C. Scoberg
Fourth Quarter
- “Thirty Minutes or It’s a Paradox” by Patrick MacPhee
- “Code L1” by Andrew Jackson
- “Kill Switch” by Robert F. Lowell
2024 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Jack Nash
First Quarter
- “Life and Death and Love in the Bayou” by Stephannie Tallent
- “The Imagalisk” by Galen Westlake
- “Squiddy” by John Eric Schleicher
Second Quarter
- “The Wall Isn’t a Circle” by Rosalyn Robilliard
- “The Edge of Where My Light Is Cast” by Sky McKinnon
- “Ashes to Ashes, Blood to Carbonfiber” by James Davies
Third Quarter
- “Five Days Until Sunset” by Lance Robinson
- “Butter Side Down” by Kal M
- “Summer of Thirty Years” by Lisa Silverthorne
Fourth Quarter
- “Son, Spirit, Snake” by Jack Nash
- “Nonzero” by Tom Vandermolen
- “Da-ko-ta” by Amir Agoora
2023 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: David K. Henrickson
First Quarter
- “The Last History” by Samuel Parr
- “The Children of Desolation” by Spencer Sekulin
- “Timelines and Bloodlines” by L. H. Davis
Second Quarter
- “Kitsune” by Devon Bohm
- “The Withering Sky” by Arthur H. Manners
- “Death and the Taxman” by David Hankins
Third Quarter
- “White Elephant” by David K. Henrickson
- “Piracy for Beginners” by J. R. Johnson
- “A Trickle in History” by Elaine Midcoh
Fourth Quarter
- “Moonlight and Funk” by Marianne Xenos
- “Under My Cypresses” by Jason Palmatier
- “The Fall of Crodendra M” by T. J. Knight
2022 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Desmond Astaire
First Quarter
- “The Squid Is My Brother” by Mike Jack Stoumbos
- “The Last Dying Season” by Brittany Rainsdon
- “For the Federation” by J. A. Becker
Second Quarter
- “The Phantom Carnival” by M. Elizabeth Ticknor
- “The Island on the Lake” by John Coming
- “Agatha’s Monster” by Azure Arther
Third Quarter
- “Psychic Poker” by Lazarus Black
- “The Greater Good” by Em Dupre
- “The Mystical Farrago” by N. V. Haskell
Fourth Quarter
- “Gallows” by Desmond Astaire
- “The Magic Book of Accidental City Destruction: A Book Wizard’s Guide” by Z. T. Bright
- “Lilt of a Lark” by Michael Panter
Published Finalists
“Tsuu, Tsuu, Kasva Suuremasse” by Rebecca E. Treasure
2021 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Barbara Lund
First Quarter
- “Sixers” by Barbara Lund
- “Death of a Time Traveler” by Sara Fox
- “The Redemption of Brother Adalum” by K. D. Julicher
Second Quarter
- “The Enfield Report” by Christopher Bowthorpe
- “The Argentum” by Anj Dockrey
- “The Widow’s Might” by Elizabeth Chatsworth
Third Quarter
- “Soul Paper” by Trent Walters
- “How to Steal the Plot Armor” by Luke Wildman
- “The Skin of My Mother” by Erik Lynd
Fourth Quarter
- “The Tiger and the Waif” by John M. Campbell
- “Hemingway” by Emma Washburn
- “A Demon Hunter’s Guide to Passover Seder” by Ryan Cole
Published Finalists
“The Battle of Donasi” by Elaine Midcoh
“Half-Breed” by Brittany Rainsdon
2020 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: C. Winspear
First Quarter
- “A Word That Means Every thing ” by Andy Dibble
- “A Prize in Every Box” by F. J. Bergmann
- “Automated Everyman Migrant Theater ” by Sonny Zae
Second Quarter
- “Educational Tapes ” by Katie Livingston
- “As Able the Air ” by Zack Be
- “Molting Season” by Tim Boiteau
Third Quarter
- “Catching My Death” by J. L. George
- “Foundations” by Michael Gardner
- “Stolen Sky” by Storm Humbert
Fourth Quarter
- “The Trade” by C. Winspear
- “Trading Ghosts” by David A. Elsensohn
- “Yellow and Pink” by Leah Ning
2019 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Andrew Dykstal
First Quarter
- “A Harvest of Astronauts” by Kyle Kirrin
- “A Certain Slant of Light” by Preston Dennett
- “The First Warden” by Kai Wolden
Second Quarter
- “Dark Equations of the Heart” by David Cleden
- “Release from Service” by Rustin Lovewell
- “Dirt Road Magic” by Carrie Callahan
Third Quarter
- “Untrained Luck” by Elise Stephens
- “An Itch” by Christopher Baker
- “Are You the Life of the Party?” by Mica Scotti Kole
Fourth Quarter
- “Thanatos Drive” by Andrew Dykstal
- “Super-Duper Moongirl and the Amazing Moon Dawdler” by Wulf Moon
- “The Damned Voyage” by John Haas
2018 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Darci Stone
First Quarter
- “The Minarets of An-Zabat” by Jeremy TeGrotenhuis
- “Miss Smokey” by Diana Hart
- “The Face in the Box” by Janey Bell
Second Quarter
- “Odd and Ugly” by Vida Cruz
- “All Light and Darkness” by Amy Henrie Gillett
- “Flee, My Pretty One” by Eneasz Brodski
Third Quarter
- “Mara’s Shadow” by Darci Stone
- “Turnabout” by Erik Bundy
- “A Bitter Thing” by N.R.M. Roshak
Fourth Quarter
- “A Smokeless and Scorching Fire” by Erin Cairns
- “What Lies Beneath” by Cole Hehr
- “The Howler on the Sales Floor” by Jonathan Ficke
2017 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Jake Marley
First Quarter
- “Envoy in the Ice” by Dustin Steinacker
- “Adramelech” by Sean Hazlett
- “A Glowing Heart” by Anton Rose
Second Quarter
- “The Armor Embrace” by Doug C. Souza
- “The Woodcutters’ Deity” by Walter Dinjos
- “Moonlight One” by Stephen Lawson
Third Quarter
- “Acquisition” by Jake Marley
- “The Fox, the Wolf, and the Dove” by Ville Meriläinen
- “The Drake Equation” by C.L. Kagmi
Fourth Quarter
- “Useless Magic” by Andrew Peery
- “The Long Dizzy Down” by Ziporah Hildebrandt
- “Tears for Shülna” by Andrew L. Roberts
Published Finalists
“The Magnificent Bhajan” by David VonAllmen
“Obsidian Spire” by Molly Elizabeth Atkins
2016 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Matt Dovey
First Quarter
- “The Sun Falls Apart” by J.W. Alden
- “Dinosaur Dreams in Infinite Measure” by Rachael K. Jones
- “A Glamour in the Black” by Sylvia Anna Hivén
Second Quarter
- “Images Across a Shattered Sea” by Stewart C Baker
- “The Broad Sky Was Mine, And the Road” by Ryan Row
- “Freebot” R.M. Graves
Third Quarter
- “Squalor and Sympathy” by Matt Dovey
- “Last Sunset for the World Weary” by H.L. Fullerton
- “Möbius” by Christoph Weber
Fourth Quarter
- “The Star Tree” by Jon Lasser
- “The Jack of Souls” by Stephen Merlino
- “Cry Havoc” by Julie Frost
Published Finalist
“Swords Like Lightning, Hooves Like Thunder” by K.D. Julicher
2015 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Sharon Joss
First Quarter
- “Twelve Minutes to Vinh Quang” by Tim Napper
- “A Revolutionary’s Guide to Practical Conjuration” by Auston Habershaw
- “Unrefined” by Martin L. Shoemaker
Second Quarter
- “Poseidon’s Eyes” by Kary English
- “Half Past” by Samantha Murray
- “Purposes Made for Alien Minds” by Scott R. Parkin
Third Quarter
- “The God Whisperer” by Daniel J. Davis
- “The Graver” by Amy M. Hughes
- “Wisteria Melancholy” by Michael T. Banker
Fourth Quarter
- “Stars That Make Dark Heaven Light” by Sharon Joss
- “Switch” by Steve Pantazis
- “Planar Ghosts” by Krystal Claxton
Published Finalist
“Between Screens” by Zach Chapman
2014 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Randy Henderson
First Quarter
- “Animal” by Terry Madden
- “The Shaadi Exile” by Amanda Forrest
- “These Walls of Despair” by Anaea Lay
Second Quarter
- “Memories Bleed Beneath the Mask” by Randy Henderson
- “What Moves the Sun and Other Stars” by K.C. Norton
- “The Clouds in Her Eyes” by Liz Colter
Third Quarter
- “Giants at the End of the World” by Leena Likitalo
- “Beneath the Surface of Two Kills” by Shauna O’Meara
- “Shifter” by Paul Eckheart
Fourth Quarter
- “Another Range of Mountains” by Megan E. O’Keefe
- “Long Jump” by Oleg Kazantsev
- “Rainbows for Other Days” by C. Stuart Hardwick
Published Finalist
“The Pushbike Legion” by Timothy Jordan
2013 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Tina Gower
First Quarter
- “Twelve Seconds” by Tina Gower
- “Master Belladino’s Mask” by Marina J. Lostetter
- “Planetary Scouts” by Stephen Sottong
Second Quarter
- “Everything You Have Seen” by Alisa Alering
- “Gonna Reach Out and Grab Ya” by Eric Cline
- “Holy Days” by Kodiak Julian
Third Quarter
- “Dreameater” by Andrea Stewart
- “The Ghost Wife of Arlington” by Marilyn Guttridge
- “Vestigial Girl” by Alex Wilson
Fourth Quarter
- “The Grande Complication” by Christopher Reynaga
- “War Hero” by Brian Trent
- “Scavengers” by Shannon Peavey
Published Finalist:
“Cop for a Day” by Chrome Oxide
2012 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: David Carani
First Quarter
- “Of Woven Wood” by Marie Croke
- “The Poly Islands” by Gerald Warfield
- “My Name Is Angela” by Harry Lang
Second Quarter
- “The Rings of Mars” by William Ledbetter
- “The Command for Love” by Nick T. Chan
- “Shutdown” by Corry L. Lee
Third Quarter
- “Contact Authority” by William Mitchell
- “The Siren” by M.O. Muriel
- “Lost Pine” by Jacob A. Boyd
Fourth Quarter
- “The Paradise Aperture” by David Carani
- “Insect Sculptor” by Scott T. Barnes
- “While Ireland Holds These Graves” by Tom Doyle
“Published Finalist:
“Fast Draw” by Roy Hardin
2011 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: R.P.L. Johnson
First Quarter
- “The Truth, From a Lie of Convenience” by Brennan Harvey
- “Vector Victoria” by D.A. D’Amico
- “An Acolyte of Black Spires” by Ryan Harvey
Second Quarter
- “This Peaceful State of War” by Patty Jansen
- “Unfamiliar Territory” by Ben Mann
- “The Dualist” by Van Aaron Hughes
Third Quarter
- “In Apprehension, How Like a God” by R.P.L. Johnson
- “Sailing the Sky Sea” by Geir Lanesskog
- “Bonehouse” by Keffy R.M. Kehrli
Fourth Quarter
- “Maddy Dune’s First and Only Spelling Bee” by Patrick O’Sullivan
- “The Unreachable Voices of Ghosts” by Jeffrey Lyman
- “Medic!” by Adam Perin
Published Finalist:
“The Sundial” by John Arkwright
2010 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Laurie Tom
First Quarter
- “Seeing Double” by Tom Crosshill
- “Lisa with Child” by Alex Black
- “Coward’s Steel” by K.C. Ball
Second Quarter
- “The House of Nameless” by Jason Fischer
- “Confliction” by Simon Cooper
- “Written in Light” by Jeff Young
Third Quarter
- “Digital Rights” by Brent Knowles
- “Not in the Flesh” by Adam Colston
- “Exanastasis” by Brad R. Torgersen
Fourth Quarter
- “Living Rooms” by Laurie Tom
- “Poison Inside the Walls” by Scott W. Baker
- “The Black Side of Memory” by Lael Salaets
2009 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Emery Huang
First Quarter
- “Gone Black” by Matthew S. Rotundo
- “The Farthest Born” by Gary Kloster
- “The Assignment of Runner ETI” by Fiona Lehn
Second Quarter
- “The Shadow Man” by Donald Mead
- “Risqueman” by Mike Wood
- “Life in Steam” by Grá Linnaea
Third Quarter
- “After the Final Sunset, Again” by Jordan Lapp
- “The Reflection of Memory” by C.L. Holland
- “Gray Queen Homecoming” by Schon M. Zwakman
Fourth Quarter
- “Garden of Tian Zi” by Emery Huang
- “The Candy Store” by Heather McDougal
- “The Dizzy Bridge” by Krista Hoeppner Leahy
2008 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Ian McHugh
First Quarter
- “Hangar Queen” by Patrick Lundrigan
- “Epiphany” by Laura Bradley Rede
- “A War Bird in the Belly of the Mouse” by David Parish-Whittaker
Second Quarter
- “Circuit” by J.D. EveryHope
- “Simulacrum’s Children” by Sarah L. Edwards
- “Snakes and Ladders” by Paula R. Stiles
Third Quarter
- “Bitter Dreams” by Ian McHugh
- “The Girl Who Whispered Beauty” by Al Bogdan
- “The Bird Reader’s Granddaughter” by Kim A. Gillett
Fourth Quarter
- “Cruciger” by Erin Cashier
- “Crown of Thorns” by Sonia Helbig
- “Taking a Mile” by J. Kathleen Cheney
Published Finalist
“A Man in the Moon” by Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon
2007 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Stephen Kotowych
First Quarter
- “The Frozen Sky” by Jeff Carlson
- “The Stone Cipher” by Tony Pi
- “The Phlogiston Age” by Corey Brown
Second Quarter
- “Ripping Carovella” by Kim Zimring
- “Primetime” by Douglas Texter
- “Our Last Words” by Damon Kaswell
Third Quarter
- “Saturn in G Minor” by Stephen Kotowych
- “Obsidian Shards” by Aliette de Bodard
- “Pilgrimage” by Karl Bunker
Fourth Quarter
- “The Sun God at Dawn, Rising from a Lotus Blossom” by Andrea Kail
- “The Gas Drinkers” by Edward Sevcik
- “Mask Glass Magic” by John Burridge
Published Finalist
“By the Waters of the Ganga” by Stephen Gaskell
2006 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Brandon Sigrist
First Quarter
- “Games on the Children’s Ward” by Michail Velichansky
- “Evolution’s End” by Lee Beavington
- “Balancer” by Richard Kerslake
Second Quarter
- “The Sword from the Sea” by Blake Hutchins
- “The Red Envelope” by David Sakmyster
- “On the Mount” by David John Baker
Third Quarter
- “Schroedinger’s Hummingbird” by Diana Rowland
- “Broken Stones” by Judith Tabron
- “At the Gate of God” by Joseph Jordan
Fourth Quarter
- “Life on the Voodoo Driving Range” by Brandon Sigrist
- “Tongues” by Brian Rappatta
- “The Bone Fisher’s Apprentice” by Sarah Totton
2005 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: John Schoffstall
First Quarter
- “My Daughter, the Martian” by Sidra M.S. Vitale
- “Betrayer of Trees” by Eric James Stone
- “Last Dance at the Sergeant Majors’ Ball” by Cat Sparks
Second Quarter
- “In the Flue” by John Schoffstall
- “The Story of His Life” by David W. Goldman
- “Needle Child” by M.T. Reiten
Third Quarter
- “Mars Hath No Fury Like a Pixel Double-Crossed” by Stephen R. Stanley
- “Blackberry Witch” by Scott M. Roberts
- “The Keeper Alone” by Michael Livingston
Fourth Quarter
- “Meeting the Sculptor” by Floris M. Kleijne
- “Green Angel” by Sean A. Tinsley
- “Into the Blank Where Life Is Hurled” by Ken Scholes
Published Finalists
“Annus Mirabilis” by Mike Rimar
“The Firebird” by Andrew Gudgel
“Deadglass” by Lon Prater
2004 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: William T. Katz
First Quarter
- “Kinship” by Jason Stoddard
- “Flotsam” by Bradley P. Beaulieu
- “The Weapons of the Lord Are Not Carnal” by Andrew Tisbert
Second Quarter
- “The Plastic Soul of a Note” by William T. Katz
- “Bottomless” by Luc Reid
- “Cancilleri’s Law” by Gabriel F.W. Koch (Lawrence Schliessmann)
Third Quarter
- “Sunrunners” by Matthew Champine
- “Shipwoman” by Roxanne Hutton
- “Last Days of the Madhi” by Tom Pendergrass
Fourth Quarter
- “The Key” by Blair MacGregor
- “Sleep Sweetly, Junie Carter” by Joy Remy
- “Monkey See, Monkey Deduce” by Jonathan Laden
Published Finalists
“Asleep in the Forest of the Tall Cats” by Kenneth Brady
“In Memory” by Eric James Stone
“Conversation with a Mechanical Horse” by Floris M. Kleijne
2003 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Matthew Candelaria
First Quarter
- “Trust Is a Child” by Matthew Candelaria
- “A Few Days North of Vienna” by Brandon Butler
- “Blood and Horses” by Myke Cole
Second Quarter
- “Walking Rain” by Ian Keane
- “Numbers” by Joel Best
- “A Silky Touch to No Man” by Robert J Defendi
Third Quarter
- “A Boy and His Bicycle” by Carl Frederick
- “Bury My Heart at the Garrick” by Steven Savile
- “From All the Work Which He Had Made …” by Michael Churchman
Fourth Quarter
- “Into the Gardens of Sweet Night” by Jay Lake
- “Beautiful Singer” by Steve Bein
- “Dark Harvest” by Geoffrey Girard
Published Finalists
“A Ship That Bends” by Luc Reid
“Gossamer” by Ken Liu
2002 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Dylan Otto Krider
First Quarter
- “The Haunted Seed” by Ray Roberts
- “Lost on the Road” by Ari Goelman
- “Free Fall” by Tom Brennan
Second Quarter
- “The Road to Levenshir” by Patrick Rothfuss
- “Rewind” by David D. Levine
- “Carrying the God” by Lee Battersby
Third Quarter
- “Eating, Drinking, Walking” by Dylan Otto Krider
- “Origami Cranes” by Seppo Kurki
- “Worlds Apart” by Woody O. Carsky-Wilson
Fourth Quarter
- “Graveyard Tea” by Susan Fry
- “Memoria Technica” by Leon J. West
- “All Winter Long” by Jae Brim
Published Finalists
“Windseekers” by Nnedi Okorafor
“What Became of the King” by Aimee C. Amodio
“The Art of Creation” by Carl Frederick
“Prague 47” by Joel Best
“The Dragon Cave” by Drew Morby
2001 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Meredith Simmons
First Quarter
- “An Idiot Rode to Majra” by J. Simon
- “Black Box” by Janet Barron
- “A Familiar Solution” by Marguerite Devers Green
Second Quarter
- “The Plague” by A.C. Bray
- “Time out of Mind” by Everett S. Jacobs
- “Brother Jubal in the Womb of Silence” by Tim Myers
Third Quarter
- “Marketplace of Souls” by David Lowe
- “Dreams and Bones” by Eric M. Witchey
- “The Sharp End” by Kelly David McCullough
Fourth Quarter
- “Magpie” by Meredith Simmons
- “Ten Gallons a Whore” by Anna D. Allen
- “God Loves the Infantry” by Greg Siewert
Published Finalists
“Lucretia’s Nose” by Philip Lees
“T.E.A. and Koumiss” by Steven C. Raine
“Life Eternal” by Bob Johnston
“Interrupt Vector” by Robert B. Schofield
“El Presidente Munsie” by Tony Daley
“Hello and Goodbye” by Michele Letica
2000 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Gary Murphy
First Quarter
- “Pulling Up Roots” by Gary Murphy
- “Like Iron Unicorns” by Paul D. Batteiger
- “Atlantis, Ohio” by Mark Siegel
Second Quarter
- “Your Own Hope” by Paul E. Martens
- “Skin Song” by Melissa J. Yuan-Innes
- “Guildmaster” by Dan Dysan
Third Quarter
- “A Conversation with Schliegelman” by Dan Barlow
- “The Quality of Wetness” by Ilsa J. Bick
- “As the Crow Flies” by Leslie Claire Walker
Fourth Quarter
- “In Orbite Medievali” by Tobias S. Buckell
- “Home Grown” by William Brown
- “Mud and Salt” by Michael J. Jasper
Published Finalist
“Daimon! Daimon!” by Jeff Rutherford
1999 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Scott Nicholson
First Quarter
- “Blade of the Bunny” by Jim Hines
- “The One-Eyed Man” by Gregory Janks
- “My Son, My Self” by Amy Sterling Casil
Second Quarter
- “The Vampire Shortstop” by Scott Nicholson
- “Bearing the Pattern” by G. Scott Huggins
- “A Man More Ordinary” by Manfred Gabriel
Third Quarter
- “By Other Windings” by Franklin Thatcher
- “The Unbound” by Nicole Montgomery
- “Out of the Blue” by Ron Collins
Fourth Quarter
- “The Great Wizard Joey” by W.G. Rowland
- “The Price of Tea in China” by David W. Hill
- “Great White Hunter” by Don Solosan
1998 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Brian Wightman
First Quarter
- “Literacy” by Stefano Donati
- “The Dragon and the Lorelei” by Carla Montgomery
- “Red Moon” by Scott M. Azmus
Second Quarter
- “The Dhaka Flu” by Richard Flood
- “Conservator” by Steven Mohan, Jr.
- “Agony” by Ladonna King
Third Quarter
- “Nocturne’s Bride” by Brian Wightman
- “Broken Mirror” by David Masters
- “Waiting for Hildy” by Chris Flamm
Fourth Quarter
- “Spray Paint Revolutions” by J.C. Schmidt
- “Red Tide, White Tide” by T.M. Spell
- “Faller” by Tim Jansen
Published Finalists
“Jenny with the Stars in Her Hair” by Amy Sterling Casil
“Cyclops in B Minor” by Jayme Lynn Blaschke
“Silent Justice” by Maureen Jensen
“Metabolism” by Scott Nicholson
“The Disappearance of Josie Andrew” by Ron Collins
1997 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Morgan Burke
First Quarter
- “A Prayer for the Insect Gods” by Morgan Burke
- “Wings” by Alan Smale
- “Troder” by David L. Felts
Second Quarter
- “Black on Black” by Kyle David Jelle
- “Altar” by Malcolm Twigg
- “The Winds” by Heidi Stallman
Third Quarter
- “The Scent of Desire” by Bo Griffin (John Brown)
- “White Jade” by Janet Martin
- “Orange” by Sara Backer
Fourth Quarter
- “For the Strength of the Hills” by Lee Allred
- “The Gods Perspire” by Ken Rand
- “Recursion” by S. Seaport
Published Finalist
“The Garden” by Cati Coe
1996 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Arlene C. Harris
First Quarter
- “Ploughshares” by M.W. Keiper
- “Tempering Day” by Darren Clark Cummings
- “Quixchotol” by E. Robertson Rose
Second Quarter
- “Dead Faces” by Edwina Mayer
- “Grail’s End” by Callan Primer
- “A Report from the Terran Project” by Scott Everett Bronson
Third Quarter
- “His Best Weapon” by Arlene C. Harris
- “Requiem for a Deathwatcher” by Carrie Pollack
- “Devil’s Advocate” by Syne Mitchell
Fourth Quarter
- “The Unhappy Golem of Rabbi Leitch” by Russell William Asplund
- “After the Rainbow” by Fruma Klass
- “Narcissus Rising” by Roge Gregory
Published Finalists
“In the Elephant’s Graveyard, Where Space Dances with Time” by Sue Storm
“Reflections in Period Glass” by S.M. Azmus
“Eyes of Light” by Richard Flood
“The Savant Death Syndrome” by Jerry Craven
1995 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Julia H. West
WRITER WINNERS
First Quarter
- “Sea of Chaos” by Julia H. West
- “Ghost Woman” by Gordon R. Menzies
- “The Last Blade” by Elisa Romero-McCullough
Second Quarter
- “Rosita’s Baby” by Beverly Suarez-Beard
- “Harpbreak” by Melissa Lee Shaw
- “The Witch’s Cat” by Ann Miller Jordan
Third Quarter
- “Merchant Trust” by Susan Urbanek Linville
- “Not Worth Fixing” by Brian Plante
- “Ears” by Steve Rissberger
Fourth Quarter
- “Patient’s End” by J.F. Peterson
- “Burnt Offerings” by Shira Daemon
- “Oh, Jungleland” by Grant Avery Morgan
Published Finalists
“Final Jeopardy” by William J. Austin
“A Portion for Foxes” by Brook West
1994 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Alan Barclay
First Quarter
- “Seekers” by Bruce Hallock
- “Where Memories Go” by Lauren Fitzgerald
- “After the War Is Over” by Dan Gollub
Second Quarter
- “Storm Jumper” by James Gladu Jordan
- “Winter’s Cycle” by Ron Ginzler
- “Queries Concerning the Negation of Belief” by Andrew W. Mackie
Third Quarter
- “The Healer” by Susan Kroupa
- “And Abel Begat . . .” by Audrey Lawson
- “A Handful of Stones” by Mark Schimming
Fourth Quarter
- “Schrödinger’s Mousetrap” by Alan Barclay
- “Kidswap” by Sheila Hartney
- “Silicon de Bergerac” by W. Eric Schult
Published Finalists
“The Bridge to Over There” by C. Ellis Staehlin
“Achilo” by D.E. Lofgran
1993 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Karawynn Long
First Quarter
- “M” by Lisa Maxwell
- “Fire” by Elizabeth E. Wein
- “Ghosts of the Fall” by Sean Williams
Second Quarter
- “Adjusting the Moon” by Karawynn Long
- “The Dictates” by Vaughn Heppner
- “Lady’s Portrait, Executed in Archaic Colors”
by Charles M. Saplak
Third Quarter
- “An Afternoon with George” by Steve Duff
- “The Witchin’ Man” by Douglas Jole
- “Memorease of Tommy” by Pete D. Manison
Fourth Quarter
- “Entropy, and the Strangler” by Eric Flint
- “Messages” by Stoney Compton
- “A Child’s Handful of the Moon” by David Phalen
Published Finalists
“The Children China Made” by Tom Drennan
“The Monitor” by John Richard DeRose
“Borealis” by D. A. Houdek
“Cinders of the Great War” by Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury
“Los Muertos” by Lisa Smedman
1992 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Brian Burt
First Quarter
- “Anne of a Thousand Years” by Michael Paul Meltzer
- “Invisible Man” by Larry Ferrill
- “A Cold Fragrant Air” by C. Maria Plieger
Second Quarter
- “The Last Indian War” by Brian Burt
- “Bringing Sissy Home” by Astrid Julian
- “Subterranean Pests” by James S. Dorr
Third Quarter
- “Surrogate” by M.C. Sumner
- “Pale Marionettes” by Mark Budz
- “Winter Night, with Kittens” by Sam Wilson
Fourth Quarter
- “Scary Monsters” by Stephen Woodworth
- “The Augmented Man” by Wendy Rathbone
- “Timepieces” by Mike E. Swope
Published Finalists
“The Winterberry” by Nicholas A. DiChario
“Blueblood” by Bronwynn Elko
“Not Simply Blue” by Gene Bostwick
“The Coat of Many Colors” by Christine Beckert
“Running Rings Around the Moon” by Kevin Kirk
1991 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: James C. Glass
WRITER WINNERS
First Quarter
- “Georgi” by James C. Glass
- “Seventeen Short Essays on the Relationship Between Art and Science” by Michael C. Berch
- “Hopes and Dreams” by Mark Andrew Garland
Second Quarter
- “The Trashman of Auschwitz” by Barry H. Reynolds
- “Yarena’s Daughter” by Terri Trimble
- “The Cab Driver from Hell in the Land of the Pioux Hawques” by Allen J.M. Smith
Third Quarter
- “Sensations of the Mind” by Valerie J. Freireich
- “A Plea for Mercy” by Öjvind Bernander
- “Balanced Ecology” by William Esrac
Fourth Quarter
- “Relay” by Michelle C. Levigne
- “A Plumber’s Tale” by Merritt Severson
- “Crow’s Curse” by Michael H. Payne
Published Finalists
“Pandora’s Box 2055” by David Hast
“The Raid on the Golden Horn” by Don Satterlee
“An Exultation of Tears” by Ross Westergaard
1990 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: James Alan Gardner
First Quarter
- “The Children of Crèche” by James Alan Gardner
- “The Magician” by Michael I. Landweber
- “Dancing with Dinosaurs” by Charles D. Eckert
Second Quarter
- “Water” by John W. Randal
- “Flutterbyes” by Jo Etta Ledgerwood
- “A Foreign Exchange” by Matthew Wills
Third Quarter
- “A Branch in the Wind” by Bruce Holland Rogers
- “Riches Like Dust” by Scot Noel
- “Under Glass” by David Carr
Fourth Quarter
- “The Vintager” by James Gleason Bishop
- “Kansas City Kitty” by Michael L. Scanlon
- “Winter’s Garden” by Sharon Wahl
Published Finalists
“The Bookman” by David Ira Cleary
“The Dive” by James Verran
“Eulogy for Lisa” by Jason Shankel
“Red Eyes” by Stephen Milligan
“The Scholar of the Pear Tree Garden” by Annis Shepherd
“Mothers of Chaos” by Pete D. Manison
1989 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award: Gary Shockley
First Quarter
- “The Nomalers” by Jamil Nasir
- “A Walk by Moonlight” by Mark Anthony
- “Dear Mom” by Stephen C. Fisher
Second Quarter
- “The Disambiguation of Captain Shroud” by Gary Shockley
- “Blue Shift” by Stephen M. Baxter
- “Prosthetic Lady” by Paula May
Third Quarter
- “Rachel’s Wedding” by Virginia Baker
- “Under Ice” by C.W. Johnson
- “Starbird” by J. Steven York
Fourth Quarter
- “The Wallet and Maudie” by Dan’l Danehy-Oakes and Alan Wexelblat
- “Despite and Still” by Marc Matz
- “Daddy’s Girls” by K.D. Wentworth
Published Finalists
“A Ghost in the Matrix” by Steve Martindale
“Just Don’t” by Eolake Stobblehouse
1988 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Nancy Farmer
First Quarter
- “Buffalo Dreams” by Jane Mailander
- “What Do I See in You?” by Mary A. Turzillo
- “A Winter’s Night” by P.H. MacEwen
Second Quarter
- “The Mirror” by Nancy Farmer
- “The Zombie Corps: Nine-Lives Charlie” by Rayson Lorrey
- “6770: The Cause” by Mark D. Haw
Third Quarter
- “Heroic Measures” by Paul Edwards
- “Black Sun and Dark Companion” by R. Garcia y Robertson (Rod Garcia)
- “The Gas Man” by Richard Urdiales
Fourth Quarter
- “River of Stone” by Michael Green
- “The Troublesome Kordae Alliance and How It Was Settled” by Flonet Biltgen
- “Growlers” by Larry England
Published Finalists
“The Fruit Picker” by Jo Beverley
“Old Times There” by Dennis E. Minor
“Mother’s Day” by Astrid Julian
“High Fast Fish” by John Moore
1987 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Dave Wolverton
First Quarter
- “Time and Chance” by Eric M. Heideman
- “The Very Last Party at #13 Mallory Way”
by L.E. Carroll - “In the Sickbay” by R.V. Branham
Second Quarter
- “Jacob’s Ladder” by M. Shayne Bell
- “The Language of the Sea” by Carolyn Ives Gilman
- “Old Mickey Flip Had a Marvelous Ship” by Lori Ann White
Third Quarter
- “Living in the Jungle” by Martha Soukup
- “No Pets” by Tawn Stokes
- “Monsters” by Jean Reitz
Fourth Quarter
- “On My Way to Paradise” by Dave Wolverton
- “Long Knives” by J.R. Dunn
- “A Little of What You Fancy” by Mary Catherine McDaniel
Published Finalists
“Resonance Ritual” by Paula May
“A Day in the Life” by Christopher Ewart
1986 WRITER WINNERS
L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award Winner: Robert (Reed) Touzalin
First Quarter
- “The Book of Time” by Camilla Decarnin
- “A Sum of Moments” by Laura E. Campbell
- “Dream in a Bottle” by Jerry Meredith & D.E. Smirl
Second Quarter
- “Mudpuppies” by Robert Touzalin (Robert Reed)
- “Redmond” by Kenneth Schulze
- “The Cinderella Caper” by Sansoucy Kathenor
Third Quarter
- “In the Smoke” by Howard V. Hendrix
- “All You Can Eat!” by Don Baumgart
- “They That Go Down to the Sea in Ships” by Marina Fitch
Fourth Quarter
- “The Old Organ Trail” by Bridget McKenna
- “The Helldivers” by Parris ja Young
- “Click” by Ray Aldridge
Published Finalists
“Beast” by Jon Gustafson
“The Trout” by Marianne O. Nielsen
“Welcome to Freedom” by Jay Sullivan
1985 WRITER WINNERS
First Quarter
- “Arcadus Arcane” by Dennis J. Pimple
- “The Ebbing” by Leonard Carpenter
- “A Step Into Darkness” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Second Quarter
- “Tiger Hunt” by Jor Jennings
- “A Way Out” by Mary Frances Zambreno
- “Anthony’s Wives” by Randell Crump
Third Quarter
- “Shanidar” by David Zindell
- “The Two Tzaddicks” by Ira Herman
- “Tyson’s Turn” by Michael D. Miller
Published Finalists
“One Last Dance” by Dean Wesley Smith
“Without Wings” by L.E. Carroll
“Recalling Cinderella” by Karen Joy Fowler
“Measuring the Light” by Michael Green
“The Land of the Leaves” by Norma Hutman
“In the Garden” by A.J. Mayhew
“The Thing from the Old Seaman’s Mouth” by Victor L. Rosemund