Illustrator Judge Val Lakey-Lindahn Just Completed a Project

Val recently completed, with the help of her husband and fellow judge of the Illustrator Contest, Ron Lindahn, an animated series which you will all enjoy. You have got to check this out!

Go to the following and enjoy!!!

http://www.valflash.com/pages/flashcontents.html
Best, Joni

More Good News from Past Winners...

Dear All,

Here are more successes from past winners of the contest:

Brad Beaulieu had a story come out in January, "Cirque du Lumiere", which appears in the Fellowship Fantastic anthology from DAW. He also had "Lest our Passage Be Forgotten" which appeared in Realms of Fantasy.

Eric James Stone has a story up on the Intergalactic Medicine Show "Tabloid Reporter
to the Stars". It is available free on their site at http://intergalacticmedicineshow.com/egi-bin/mag.cgi?do=issue&vol=i4&article=_001.

Big News from Canada!

Dear All,

Our Canadian contingent has come on strong in the 2008 Prix Aurora Awards
(the Canadian SF awards).

WOTF Finalists on the ballot are:

In the Best Short Form in English category:

Tony Pi (WOTF XXIII) for his story Metamorphoses in Amber

Stephen Kotowytch (WOTF XXIII) for his grand prize story in WOTF
Saturn in G Minor

Best Long Form in English category:

WOTF judge Robert J. Sawyer for his novel Rollback

The link to the ballot is http://sfscope.com/2008/03/prix-aurora-award-final-ballot-1.html

Congratulations to you all and I'll keep everyone posted as to final results.

Best, Joni

Information on Entries That You Might Not Know

Dear All,

We are coming to the end of the first quarter of 2008.

There are a few bits of information that I wanted to impart to you all about entering the contest.

1) No need to send your manuscripts or art by "special mail". Since we are a PO box many of the mail services do not deliver to PO Box addresses.

2) We absolutely do not accept "registered mail".

3) You do not have to send in a huge envelope with stamps to return your entire manuscript. It costs you twice the amount to enter when you do that. It IS good to send in an envelope for the notification of results with enough postage (41 cents now) but I hear the rates are going up again so I don't know what that will be. Check with your local post office as the rates go up soon.

4) We notify you by e-mail that we have received your entry. How I do this is send the message to the contest with about 20 of you cc:ed on it as I can't possibly send a single e-mail to each of you. I usually write in the heading "Your Writers (or Illustrators) Entry for the ___ Quarter. So do look for that amoungst all the messages you may get. I know that I get tons of "spam" messages a day and I assume you do too. But do look out for that heading so you don't shred mine by accident.

Those are the key points I wanted to go over with you. If you personally have any other questions do let me know at www.contests@authorservicesinc.com.

Best, Joni

Good News from Past Winners!

The good news continues to come in from past winners of the contest and their successes.

Diana Rowland (Volume XXII) writes:

"Just thought y'all might want to know that I just sold two urban fantasy novels to Bantam!"

John Brown (Volume XIII) writes:

I won first prize back in 1996 and was published in Volume 13 under the name Bo Griffin. Well, in February I got a very nice 3-book deal from Tor. More details on my website. www.JohnDBrown.com

While I lost my way for a few years as a writer, WOTF was a huge motivator and validator for me. That award trophy helped keep me going. In the end, the contest and workshop instructors helped open doors. Keep up the great work!

It's just another testament of how the contest helps new writers along--even if it takes a while."

1st Quarter 2008 Illlustrators of the Future Winners Announced!

The winners of the first quarter of the L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators contest are:

Drumroll............

Tobias Anson Fruge of Mesa Arizona

A.R. Stone of Eugene Oregon (also a Wordo)

Oleksandra Barysheva of Matawan New Jersey

Their winning art will be posted within the next week.

Congratulations to all of you.

FIRST PLACE WINNERS FOR THE 1ST QUARTER 2008 ANNOUNCED!

The voting for the Writers of the Future contest 1st quarter of our 25th year is complete and we have our winners. Drum roll................

1st Place - Matthew Rotundo of Omaha Nebraska for his story Gone Black

2nd Place - Gary Kloster of Braham Minnesota for his story The Farthest Born

3rd Place - Fiona Lehn of VanCouver British Columbia for her story The Assignment of Runner ETI

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL.

Winners of the contest receive their prize money and additionally a week long workshop with the judges of the contest and other professionals to teach you how to be a pro, -- priceless!

The judges for this quarter were:

Algis Budrys
Tim Powers
Brian Herbert
Rebecca Moesta

Stay tuned tomorrow for the illustrator winners!! Best, Joni

Cool News From Past Winner!

Jim C. Hines (WotF XV) just saw his third fantasy novel published by DAW Books. Goblin War completes the trilogy Jim began with Goblin Quest and Goblin Hero. The books have also been translated into French, German, Polish, Russian, and Czech. Excerpts of all three books are available on his web site, at www.jimchines.com. DAW has bought another three books from Jim, and he's currently hard at work on the new series.

Announcing New Illustrator Judge Cliff Nielsen

Dear All,

We are proud to announce the our new illustrator judge, Cliff Nielsen to
our distinguished panel of judges. You should check out his art at the following link. I'm sure you have admired his art somewhere. The Chronicles of Narnia book cover is one of my personal favorites. He is proud to be a judge and after his next deadline, he'll introduce himself to you all. Take a few seconds and visit his art for a real treat at www.shannonassociates.com/artists/index.cfm?artist_name=cliffnielsen