Reno, Nevada (NAPSI) - The 30th annual awards event celebrated the winners in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests before a packed hall and hundreds more from around the world who watched the event as it streamed live.
Keynote speaker NASA astronaut Leland D. Melvin, a previous NFL player for the Detroit Lions, spoke about the importance of keeping one’s dreams and not giving up and how science fiction indeed was the inspiration for so much of what we find now in space exploration.
The event celebrated the 25 annual winners in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests—with contestants now submitting from 169 countries—and culminated in the release of the best-selling science fiction anthology series “L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume 30,” available where books are sold.
The Writers of the Future writing contest was initiated by L. Ron Hubbard in 1983 to provide a means for aspiring writers to get that much-needed break. Due to the success of the Writing Contest, the companion Illustrators of the Future Contest was created in 1988. There is no entry fee and the contests are open to anyone who has not been professionally published.
The intensive mentoring process has proven very successful. The 348 past winners of the Writing Contest have published 838 novels and nearly 4,000 short stories. They have produced 27 New York Times best sellers and their works have sold over 50 million copies.
The 276 past winners of the Illustrating Contest have produced over 4,500 illustrations and 356 comic books, graced 594 books and albums with their art, and visually contributed to 36 TV shows and 46 major movies.
The video of the awards event and online contest entry forms can be found at www.WritersOfTheFuture.com.
