26-Year-Old Contest Hailed as 'American Idol' for Sci-Fi, Fantasy Writers By New York Times Best-Selling Author

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The second quarter winners of the 2009-10 worldwide L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest for fledgling science fiction and fantasy writers -- including new authors from Australia, Ireland, and the United States -- were announced today by Joni Labaqui, Author Services' contest director.

The quarterly winners are: Jason Fischer, first place, a South Australia Health Department records manager; Simon Cooper, second place, a professional gardener from Glenarm, Ireland; and Jeff Young, third place, a bookseller from Manchester, Pennsylvania.

"The Writers of the Future Contest is like 'American Idol' for writers long before there ever was an American Idol," said New York Times best-selling author and Contest judge Kevin J. Anderson (Dune prequels, Star Wars, X-Files). "It's amazing to me that a good 60 to 70 percent of the winners go on with successful careers in writing, and several have become best-selling authors themselves."

Throughout the Contest's 26-year history, more than 250 writers have been named as quarterly winners, gone on to publish over 500 novels and 3,000 short stories. Former Writers of the Future Contest winners that have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller's list include: Patrick Rothfuss, Jo Beverley, Nancy Farmer, Karen Joy Fowler, Dave Wolverton, Sean Williams and Tim Myers. Let's also mention highly popular Dean Wesley Smith (Men In Black), Leonard Carpenter (Conan), to name just a few of the winners who have entertained millions with their stories.

Each year, the Writers of the Future contest presents all winners with cash prizes, free travel and accommodations, a week-long professional writing workshop, and inclusion in the best-selling annual speculative fiction anthology, L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future. The Grand prize winner is announced at an annual awards ceremony held next year in Hollywood.

"Our winners are judged by professional writers and illustrators from a pool of thousands of entries worldwide," Labaqui said. Well-known contest judges include multiple Nebula and Hugo Award winners and finalists such as Kevin J. Anderson, Orson Scott Card, Anne McCaffrey, Robert J. Sawyer, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Tim Powers, Dave Wolverton, Robert Silverberg and K.D. Wentworth.

Inspired by multiple New York Times' best-selling author L. Ron Hubbard, the merit-based Writers of the Future Contest was initiated 26 years ago to discover and encourage talented beginning writers of science fiction and fantasy.

For more information on the contests and a free e-book on the craft of writing from Science Fiction Grandmaster Anne McCaffrey, go to www.writersofthefuture.com

SOURCE Writers of the Future

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