Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Multiple Award Winning Science Fiction Authors, Have Been Named as Judges for Worldwide Writers Contest

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- International award winning science fiction and fantasy authors Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch have been named as judges in the highly acclaimed L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest, it was announced by Author Services, Inc., the literary agency and administrator of the Contest.

When approached to be judges for the contest, Smith and Rusch simply stated, "We would love to both take you up on your offer of being judges. We are honored to be able to help."

Dean Wesley Smith was a Contest winner in the very first Writers of the Future volume and was the first to walk on stage to be acknowledged. It was also in the very first workshop held in Taos, NM, where Dean and Kristine met which eventually led to their working as a team and eventual marriage.  He is now a bestselling author who has written more than ninety popular novels and well over 100 published short stories and has over eight million copies of his books in print.

Rusch is an award-winning mystery, romance, science fiction and fantasy writer. Her awards range from the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award to the John W. Campbell Award.  She edited The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction for 6 years, from 1991-1997 during which time she won a Hugo for best professional editor.

And so they are warmly welcomed into the ranks of contest judges for Writers of the Future that includes other notable science fiction authors such as Kevin J. Anderson, Orson Scott Card, Anne McCaffrey, Larry Niven, Frederik Pohl, Jerry Pournelle, Tim Powers, Mike Resnick, Robert Sawyer, Robert Silverberg, Sean Williams and Dave Wolverton.

Now in its 26th year, the Writers of the Future Contest awards annual cash prizes totaling $30,000 for writers and illustrators of never-before-published works of science fiction and fantasy. It includes annual publication of the year's winning stories in the anthology titled L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future. (Galaxy Press).

The Writers of the Future Contest was established by L. Ron Hubbard in 1983 to discover and provide talented new and aspiring writers of science fiction and fantasy a chance to have their work seen and acknowledged.

For more information about the Contest, go to www.writersofthefuture.com.

SOURCE L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest