Writers & Illustrators of the Future Blog

2nd Set of Honorable Mentions for the WOTF 2nd Quarter!

2010-07-06T21:30:00.001-07:00

Dear All,

Here is the 2nd list (but not the last)
of Honorable Mentions for the 2nd Quarter.

Scott T. Barnes of California
Sheena Boekweg of Utah
Jacob A. Boyd of Oregon
Michelle Markey Butler of Pennsylvania
Jennifer Campbell-Hicks of Colorado
John Chu of Massachusetts
Gwendolyn Clare of North Carolina
J.C. David of Nevada
Ann Gainey of South Carolina
David A. Hewitt of Maryland
K.G. Jewell of Texas
Michael Johnstone of Ontario, Canada
Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon of Michigan
Rahul Kanakia of Washington, D.C.
Alistair Kimble of Virginia
Django Mathijsen of The Netherlands
Alastair JW Mayer of Colorado
Muri McCage of Tennessee
Nayad Monroe of Wisconsin
Lisa Nohealani Morton of Washington, D.C.
Rick Novy of Arizona
Patrick O'Sullivan of Virginia
Graham W. Rinehart of North Carolina
K.W. Roberts of Colorado
Daniel Robichaud of Texas
Tom Rogers of Texas
Bradley Stone of North Carolina
Stephen Turner of Australia
Tom Vandermolen of Hawaii
Desmond Warzel of Pennsylvania
Christopher Wood of California

Congratulations to you all!

The new quarter starts today - 1 July

2010-07-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

The 4th quarter is now officially in session! It goes from
the 1st of July through the 30th of September.

You may wonder why we don't go from January to December.

Near the begining of the contest back in 1984 it was decided
to officially start each "year" on October 1st. This would allow for
the winners of that last quarter to be determined by the end of
the year. Remember, the 4th quarter deadline is 30 September and
then it takes time to process and judge all of the entries. Hence
the end of September "ending of the year". That applies to both
the writer and illustrator contests.

First Set of Honorable Mentions for the 2nd Quarter Announced!

2010-06-26T09:32:00.000-07:00

The first set of results are in and here
are the Honorable Mentions so far....
(more to come)

Daniel Ausema of Colorado
Alan Baxter of New South Wales Australia
Jacquelyn Bartel of California
Diana Elena Betancur of New Jersey
Chris Boardman of Colorado
Barry Burnett, MD of Colorado
A.D. Callaway of Colorado
Kater Cheek of Arizona
Alvin G. Chua of California
Jeffrey Creer of Utah
Laura Dragon of Ontario, Canada
Dave Dunn of Florida
Sarah Frost of Kansas
Stuart D. Gibbon of West Australia
G.K. Hayes of Georgia
J. Scott Hill of Missouri
John Kurt of Colorado
Kamila Z. Miller of Washington
Jared Millet of Alabama
Monte McCord of Arizona
Timothy Miller of Wisconsin
Meghan Muriel of New York
Yeoryios Pantazis of Ontario, Canada
Beth Plutchak of Wisconsin
Robert Pritchard of California
Francesco Radicati of London, England
Daniel Roy of Quebec, Canada
Jack Ryan of Arkansas
David Steffen of Minnesota
Steve Szalai of British Columbia, Canada
S. Boyd Taylor of Texas
Michael Vella of Malta
Scott E. Vilhauer of California
Tom L. Waters of New Mexico

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL!

1st Quarter Writers of the Future Winners Announced

2010-06-23T19:32:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

The results are in and our winners in the First Quarter
of the Writers contest are:

1st Place - Brennan Harvey of Huntington Beach, CA

2nd Place - David D'Amico of Salem, MA

3rd Place - Ryan Harvey of Los Angeles, CA

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL!!!!!!

Joni

Stay tuned for a very exciting announcement regarding the contest
and how you may enter it!!

Coffee Table Book Getting Ready for the Printer

2010-06-23T17:34:00.000-07:00

The editorial team has gotten together one last time before sending the Writers of the Future coffee table book to the printer. And here is what they have to say:

Writers of the Future Coffee Table Book - Proofs, proofs and more proofs

2010-06-21T19:40:00.000-07:00

We've been gone for a while. But we have gone through literally hundreds of proofs and here is what we have to say for ourselves:

Homage to Frank Frazetta

2010-05-10T23:17:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Frank Frazetta passed away today from complications of a stroke. He was
82 years old and, for the last 20 years of his life, was a judge in the
Illustrators of the Future contest. Frank was always available to judge
no matter how busy he was or what was happening in his life. We will miss
him but his huge legacy will live on.

I invite you to pay homage to him here on our blog in the comments section.

RIP FRANK!

25th Anniversary Book Design Now Begun

2010-05-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

After photographing over 600 book covers from winners in the first 25 years, the interior book design is now well underway.

Be sure to share this with all your friends.

Next Installment on the WOTF Coffee Table Book

2010-04-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

Here is the next video of the evolution to create our Writers of the Future 25th Anniversary Edition coffee table book:

Be sure to pass this along to your friends and fellow writers.

WOTF Success Rate

2010-04-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

As part of his research, Kevin J. Anderson has established some fantastic facts. One, he comments on below.

Also — and this is astonishing — if you measure success by whether our winners/students leave the workshop and go on to publish professional novels or multiple pro short stories [most aspiring writers would call that success], WotF has about a 30-35% success rate. That’s unheard of for a writing class or workshop.

Anniversary Edition is almost fully written

2010-04-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

The photos for each year have been selected. We have gotten most of the write ups in now from past winners who have gone on with their career in writing. Still a few missing -- if you are one of them, please get it to us. Kevin will be wrapping all copy this coming Monday.

NOTE: This is the Writers of the Future 25th Anniversary edition. There will be a separate edition created in a few years when Illustrators of the Future passes its 25 year mark.

Be sure to forward this to anyone else you know who is interested in Writers of the Future.

Thousands of photos to go through for WOTF Coffee Table Book

2010-04-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

Kevin J. Anderson has been going through all the photos, year by year, to pick out the key representative shots for each year. It is quite an exciting process. Kevin, who was already extremely excited about this project, has gotten more and more excited every day as we discover more incredible photos and letters from those first 25 years.

Again, please be sure to pass this along to other aspiring writers and past winners. It is a very exciting project.

Ray Bradbury, AE van Vogt and Jack Williamson

2010-04-14T23:51:00.000-07:00

This shot was taken at the first Writers of the Future dinner celebration at Chasen's Reataurant in Beverly Hills. We are finding an amazing number of incredible photos as we research the contest's history in putting the 25th Anniversary Edition together.

(from l to r) Ray Bradbury, A.E. van Vogt and Jack Williamson, three of science fiction’s greatest authors, in attendance at the first awards ceremony for “L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future” held in 1985 at the Beverly Hills Chasen’s Restaurant.

To see the full article that went out with the above photo go to:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/04/prweb3878814.htm

Kevin J. Anderson Has Arrived

2010-04-13T20:03:00.000-07:00

Kevin J. Anderson has now arrived to our offices and is writing the 25th Anniversary Writers of the Future book. Jason Niedle is the book's designer who you will see with Kevin in this short clip.

Be sure to tell your friends to check out this blog for our regular updates on the 25th Anniversary special edition coffee table book.

And the books from winners continue pouring in...

2010-04-12T23:07:00.000-07:00

Every day, more and more boxes of books from past winners are arriving.

And today we also received a very special package. Sarah Totton, winner in WOTF 22, sent in her first published book which is now going into the library. You can see her site at www.sarahtotton.com.

Have a look and see for yourself:

Be sure to send this around to your writer friends, Writers of the Future contacts and to anyone else you think will be interested.

25th Anniversary Edition Update

2010-04-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen the Writers of the Future library at Author Services, then have a look at this video. You will also see what we are doing to ensure we have all the books that have been published by our past winners!

Be sure to share this video with your friends as well!

Great advice from Frederik Pohl

2010-04-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

In digging through our files for our commemorative WOTF book, we found
the following great advice from Fredrick Pohl:

"When unpublished writers ask for advice about how to get their careers
moving I always advise them to enter their stories in the Wotf contest.
It's easy enough to do. You go to a bookstore and ask them for a copy
of L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future. Each copy contains
an entry blank, with the contest's address, and a copy of the rules and
rewards. It's a good idea to read some of the winning stories. Type out
a nice clean copy of your best story and send it in to that address. Three
months later, do the same with your second best story. Three months
after that, your third best, and you keep on doing that until you run out
of stories. (Which actually you should never do. You're still writing,
aren't you?)

"The reason for doing it that is is that the contest is organized on a
quarterly basis. Every three months, the staff gathers up all the stories
that have accumulated in that period and ships them out to judges. When
the judges have finished their deliberations, the winner gets $1,000.00,
with lesser amounts for the second and third place. Then, when the fourth
quarter has been dealt with, the four quarterly 1st place winners go to a
different set of judges, who pick the grand prize winner, who gets another
$5,000.00.

"The thing to remember is that each quarterly batch is separate. One
batch may be twice as good as the next. Or, through the luck of the draw,
may just have more or fewer good stories.

"That's why you try to be in as many quarters as possible."

Calling all Past Winners!!!!!!!!!

2010-04-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

We (including Kevin Anderson who is our editor) are getting very, very excited about the book we are currently compiling to commemorate 25 years of L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future contest. It is great to hear from our winners who have gone on to achieve success and to hear what they are doing now. So far we have heard from the following (and there maybe some I have missed from this list as it changes every hour): Jo Beverley, Ilsa Bick, Tobias Buckell, Amy Sterling Casil, Stoney Compton, Nancy Farmer, Karen Joy Fowler, James Gardner, Carolyn Ives Gilman, Howard Hendrix, Jim C Hines, Michael Jasper, Jay Lake, Michael Metzler, Syne Mitchell, John F Moore, Scott Nicholson, Patrick Rothfuss, David Sakmyster, Steve Savile, Ken Scholes, Dean Wesley Smith (he has reminded us that he was the very first winner to accept his award at the very first awards ceremony for WOF volume 1!) He posted a photo at his blog
If you or someone you know is a contest success story - write to us at WOTFContests@gmail.com. Remember - support the contest and get your copy of WOTF 25! Publishers Weekly gave it a Starred Review!

A New "25 years" commemorative book planned - we would appreciate your help!

2010-04-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

ATTENTION! To commemorate 25 years of the Writers of the Future contest, Galaxy Press (the WOTF volume publisher) is putting together a nice, heavily illustrated coffee-table book to be released at this year's awards ceremony - 28 August 2010 in Hollywood. Kevin J. Anderson is acting as the executive editor on the project. Over the past quarter century, the contest has been highly successful, producing a large crop of published authors, and we'd like to devote part of the book to spotlighting some of those success stories. We would like a paragraph or two on those winners' thoughts on the contest and how they feel it affected their career. We'd need something by April 15, if possible. We will feature author photos and their photos of published books. Please respond to wotfcontests@gmail.com Thanks in advance. And if you are reading this and aren't a published winner, but know one - please pass this on. Remember - support the contest and buy your copy of WOTF 25!

What is a Silver Honorable Mention?

2010-04-01T02:45:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Good news! You are all getting so good and there were so many
good stories this quarter, that we made some exceptions to
the rules. First of all, we had 9 finalists (there are usually 8),
and we had a story that was better than the rest of the
Honorables so it was deemed a Silver Honorable. May it
become a tradition. That all depends upon you!

I tell you, you all, collectively, are raising the bar!!

Keep up the good work!

Joni

First Quarter Semi-Finalists and Finalists Announced!!!

2010-03-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

The First Quarter Semi-finalists are:

Michael Banker of New York
Blake Casselman of Utah
Jacob Clifton of Texas
Mary j. Daley of Canada
KJ Kabza of Massachusetts
Greg Linklater of New South Wales, Australia
T.C. McCarthy of South Carolina
Nayad A. Monroe of Wisconsin
J.O. Phillips of Minnesota

Congratulations! Each of you will receive a critique from our
coordinating judge - K.D. Wentworth

FINALISTS FOR THE 1ST QUARTER

Andrew Baines of Texas
D.A. D'Amico of Massachusetts
Brennan Harvey of California
Ryan Harvey of California
Patty Jansen of New South Wales, Australia
Ken Larish of California
Mike Rimar of Ontario, Canada
Helen Venn of Western Australia
Cliff Winnig of California

The stories will go to 4 of our judges and three of the finalists
will become winners. Congratulations and GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL!

2nd Set of Honorable Mentions for the 1st Quarter

2010-03-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

Here is the final set of Honorable Mentions for the 1st Quarter:

Congratulations to you all!!!!

Silver Honorable Mention

Tom Waters of New Mexico

Honorable Mentions

Madison Bridgen of Canada
Michael Britton of Utah
Kathryn Brown of Arizona
Lee E. Burgess of Illinois
Gary Campbell of California
Mortique Cellar of Japan
Suzanne Church of Canada
Tones Cobb of Utah
Stephen D. Covey of Florida
Robert Cutchin of New Hampshire
M.C. DeMarco of Massachusetts
Ellen Denham of Indiana
Brian Dolton of New Mexico
FFrank Dutkiewicz of Michigan
Shaun Farrell of California
John Harper of New Zealand
Judith Herman of Washington
Matt Herreshoff of Michigan
Louise Herring-Jones of Alabama
Eliza Hirsch of Washington
Steve Husk of Virginia
Irina Ivanova of California
Stace Johnson of Colorado
Catherine Rose Kelso of California
Ken Kiser of Nevada
Adria Laycraft of Canada
Colm McGeever of Sweden
Greg Mellor of New South Wales, Australia
Holly Mui of Missouri
Val Muller of Virginia
Lisa Nohealani Morton of Washington, D.C.
Rick Novy of Arizona
Kat Otis of Virginia
Anne Pillsworth of Rhode Island
Rhiannon Rasmussen-Silverstein of Oregon
Graham W. Rinehart of North Carolina
Emily Schadegg of Maryland
David Schibi of Missouri
Adrian Simmons of Oklahoma
K. Andrew Smith of California
Wesley Swingley of California
J.M. Tanenbaum of California
LaShawn Wanak of Wisconsin
R.W. Ware of Maine
Gerald Warfield of Texas
TM Welch of Colorado
Devon Wong of Canada

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2010-03-13T13:31:00.001-08:00

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1st Set of Honorable Mentions for the 1st Quarter of Writers of the Future

2010-03-13T12:51:00.000-08:00

The FIRST set of Honorable Mentions for the 1st quarter are listed
here. Do not fret if you have not gotten a reject letter and are not
on this list. This is the first set of Honorable Mentions. Congratulations
to you all!!

Charles Anderson of Colorado
Ellen Dawn Benefield of California
D.M. Bonanno of Illinois
Robert J. Boumis of Arizona
Daniel Braum of New York
AnneMarie Buhl of Oregon
Jennifer Campbell-Hicks of Colorado
Von Carr of Delaware
Alvin Chua of California
DJ Cockburn of Arizona
E. H. Coleman of Washington
Liz Colter of Colorado
Eljay Daly of Pennsylvania
J. David of Nevada
Scott Davis of Massachusetts
Jakob Nexo Drud of Denmark
Richard J. Errington of Connecticut
Margaret McGaffey Fisk
Kathryn Flatt of Illinois
Grey Freeman of London, England
Lyn C.A. Gardner of Virginia
Allen Gies of Michigan
Tracy Godsey of Arkansas
Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon of Michigan
Mark Ladouceur of Ontario, Canada
David Mahan of New York
Scott Mikula of Washington
Rich Novotney of Wisconsin
Sandra M. Odell of Washington
Angela Rega of New South Wales Australia
Amanda Sabourova of California
Lesley L. Smith of Colorado
Anne Pillsworth of Rhode Island
Desmond Warzel of Pennsylvania
Michael Wawrzycki of Louisiana

Another Win from a WOTF Winner!

2010-03-03T15:34:00.000-08:00

Tom Crosshill, 1st Place, 1st Quarter Volume XXVI (to be published this
year) just sent this in:

" I'm very happy to announce that Jake Freivald at Flash Fiction Online has picked up my piece "The Zombie of His Early Days" for April publication. I love that mag, so I'm quite excited. Also, this marks my third SFWA-qualifying sale so I can finally join as an Active member -- something I've been dreaming of since. . .ah, about the time I was 12.I have to say, WOTF has been a huge boost in all this. I doubt I would have written nearly as much over the past year, or gone from unpublished to SFWA-qualified in nine months, if not for the adrenaline shot that Joni's first phone call provided. Cheers, Tom-- Tom Crosshill Writer of Speculative Fiction"

Youtube Channel Launched for Writers and Illustrators of the Future!

2010-02-24T19:17:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

Very exciting news here. Check out the entire youtube channel for Writers
and Illustrators of the Future. Become our friend on facebook and tell others
to visit too.

There are many great interviews with our judges and winners and others
who love the contest, including the founder of Earthlink and many others.

http://www.youtube.com/user/WritersoftheFuture#p/c/809E8F3F6EA7CE14/0/QY_k2Kv-mYY

I'd love your feedback too! Happy viewing.

Joni

4th Quarter Illustrator Winners Announced!

2010-02-20T00:21:00.001-08:00

The 4th Quarter Illustrator judging results are in.

The winners are:

Alice Jingxuan Hu of Chicago

Ven Locklear of Redmond Oregon

Olivia Pelaez of New Jersey

Ven, Alice and Oliva will each be assigned
one of the winning stories from the writer
contest. The grand prize judging will be
announced at the awards ceremony in August.

Congratulations to you all!

4th Quarter Writers of the Future Contest Winners Announced!

2010-02-16T21:14:00.001-08:00

Dear All,

The results are in and the winners are:

1st Place - Laurie Tom from Torrance, California

2nd Place - Scott W. Baker from Monterey, Tennessee

3rd Place - Lael Salaets from Oakridge, Oregon

They are the final writer winners to be published in Volume
XXVI.

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL!!!

Our illustrator winners for the 4th quarter will be announced
shortly. Stay tuned......

The stories for the 1st quarter of our 27th year are
currently being judged.

Star review in Publishers Weekly for Volume 25!!

2010-02-09T09:36:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

It is one thing to get reviewed in Publishers Weekly. It is yet another
to get a star review. This is our first star review in PW.

Congratulations to our winners of Volume 25! Here it is in full --

L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future: Volume XXV
Edited by K.D. Wentworth. Galaxy, $7.99 (540p) ISBN 9781592124367
Previous recipient of the award, K.D. Wentworth (The Course of Empire, Stars Over Stars) returns to edit this top-notch anthology of this year’s winners in the contest’s 25th year. The collection offers a dozen strong stories that range from well-conceived fantasy to classic science fiction reworked. Standout stories include Donald Mead’s touching “The Shadow Man,” with its lingering postwar ghosts in Hiroshima; Matthew S. Rotundo’s exploration of the ethical boundaries of military intelligence in “Gone Black”; and Jordan Lapp’s portrayal of the short, fiery life of a phoenix in “After the Final Sunset, Again.” Other featured writers such as Emery Huang, Fiona Lehn, and Mike Wood depict the rise of mega-corporations with paramilitary patent enforcers, for example; or competition for government financing turned into a dangerous sporting event; and computerized risk management taken to dangerous extremes. Each of the 12 stories is paired with the work of one of the winning illustrators from L. Ron Hubbard’s companion contest. Several essays round out this volume, complimented by noted author and perennial judge Robert Silverberg’s piece on the history of the contest. Always a glimpse of tomorrow’s stars, this year’s anthology is definitely a must-have for the genre reader. (Nov.)

Cevin Bryerman
Associate Publisher
Publishers Weekly

Volume 25 Winner Gary Kloster sells his workshop story!

2010-01-29T12:00:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

You may or may not know that when our winners come to the workshop
just before the awards ceremony, they are required to write a story
in 24 hours. The following message came in from Gary:

"Just to let you know-

The 24 hour story I did during the workshop has sold to Fantasy
magazine. I worked it over after I got home (in between working on a
new novel), and sent it in. So my first pro sale was to the contest,
and my third came out of the workshop."The name of the story:
"And the Blood of Dead Gods Will Mark the Score".

Congratulations Gary!!!

We'll keep you posted when the story is published.

Joni

Semi-Finalists and Finalists for the Illustrators of the Future 4th Quarter Announced

2010-01-26T12:18:00.000-08:00

The results are in for the 4th quarter Illustrator
semi-finalists and finalists. Drumroll....

SEMI-FINALISTS:

Alessandra Briggs of Rhode Island
Nichole Fieger of New York
Lisa Grabenstetter of Maryland
Veronica Liwski of Nevada
Jamie Marcelle of Illinois
William Muchiri Mbuba of Kenya
Christopher Reach of New Jersey
Jeremy Sickels of Pennsylvania
Matthew Yale of Minnesota

All semi-finalists will receive a
critique from our coordinating judge,
Ron Lindahn

Congratulations to you all.

Now for the finalists:

FINALISTS:

April Aldridge of Florida
Aaron Capizzi of California
Alice Jingxuan Hu of Illinois
Steven "Ven" Locklear of Oregon
Nathan Mayfield of Ohio
M.O. Muriel of New York
Noah Norton of Wisconsin
Olivia Pelaez of New Jersey
James F. Smith of Florida

The finalist art will be sent to 4 of
our judges who will determine the 3
winners for this quarter.

CONGRATULATIONS AND GOOD LUCK!!!

Launching Pad Indeed

2010-01-20T20:12:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

I've witnessed the contest from the begining, 25 years ago, and I must say
we have come a long way. It used to take years for careers to form for our
contest winners. That has all changed as the contest has grown. I got the
following e-mail today from our 3rd quarter, 3rd place winner this year,
Brad Torgersen:

Dear Joni,

I got a nice letter from Dr. Schmidt at ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION
letting me know he was buying my Q1 Finalist story, "Outbound."

Happy news, happy news!

Brad

CONGRATULATIONS Brad!!!! -- Joni

A Final Honorable Mention List!!

2010-01-14T20:32:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

There were 21 more Honorable Mentions in the last box! I'm going to list them here and then update the list below in the 2nd Honorable Mention list.

Paul Abbamondi of New Jersey
Russell Adams of New Jersey
Brenda Anderson of Australia
Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon of Michigan
Christian Carvajal of Washington
Ryan Paul DeCaria of Utah
Katrina S. Forest of Pennsylvania
Candace Hunter of Oregon
Geir Lanesskog of Washington
William Ledbetter of Texas
Gregg Marchese of Oregon
Kenneth W. Meade of Georgia
Silvia Moreno-Garcia of Canada
Holly Mui of Missouri
Lori Phillips of Wisconsin
Shawna Reppert of Oregon
Zachary Ricks of Texas
Julie Sea-Borne of England
Jerry Seeger of California
Jeremy Sim of California
Kathy Watts of California

Congratulations to all of you! Your
certificate is on the way.

Semi-Finalists and Finalists announced for the 4th Quarter

2010-01-14T17:44:00.000-08:00

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

Semi-Finalists:

M. Alan Ford of California
Laurie Gailunas of Michigan
Sarah Grey of Arizona
Erica Hildebrand of Pennsylvania
Edward A. Liebing of Utah
David Moore of California
Chris Owens of Virginia
Gwendolyn Clare Williams of North Carolina
Cliff Winnig of California

Congratulations to you all! You will receive a full critique from
our coordinating judge, K.D. Wentworth.

Finalists:

John Arkwright of Georgia
Andrew Baines of Texas
Scott W. Baker of Tennessee
Kevin Kenan of Oregon
Jeffrey D. Lyman of New York
Lael Salaets of Oregon
Meagan Spooner of Virginia
Laurie Tom of California

The above 8 writers stories will be sent to 4 of our judges. Of the 8,
3 will be winners. GOOD LUCK!!!! I will post the news as soon as I
have it.

Joni Labaqui

Second Set of Honorable Mentions Announced!

2010-01-13T21:54:00.000-08:00

Well, per the forum, many of you saw the press release before
I had a chance to update this blog. So, down to business.
Here is the second set of the Honorable Mentions for the
4th Quarter, in alphabetical order (by last name):

Paul Abbamondi from New Jersey
Russell Adams from New Jersey
Rigel Ailur from Pennsylvania
Brenda Anderson of Australia
Dave Anderson from Oregon
Brenna Asplund from Utah
Wayne Austin from South Australia
Aaron Bilodeau from Indiana
Louise Caroline Booth from England
Christian Carvajal from Washington
AnneMarie Buhl from Oregon
Avery Cahill from Florida
John Chu from Massachusetts
Renee Collins from Colorado
L. J. Daly from Pennsylvania
Ryan Paul DeCaria from Utah
M.C. DeMarco from Massachusetts
Christine M. Doering from New York
James Fitzsimmons from California
Katrina S. Forest from Pennsylvania
Rob Haines from Wales, United Kingdom
Brennan Harvey from California
Andrew Heard from Washington
Louise Herring-Jones from Alabama
Candace Hunter from Oregon
Erik Alexander Hill from California
Adam Israel from Ontario, Canada
Patty Jansen from New South Wales, Australia
Kristin Janz from Masachusetts
K.G. Jewell from Texas
Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon from Michigan
Christopher Kastensmidt from Brazil
Geir Lanesskog from Washington
William Ledbetter from Texas
Corry L. Lee from Washington
Christine Lucas from Greece
Gregg Marchese from Oregon
Kenneth W. Meade from Georgia
Jared Millet from Alabama
Jeremiah Monk from Illinois
Marjorie Montague from Oklahoma
Silvia Moreno-Garcia from Canada
Holly Mui from Missouri
Valerie Muller from Virginia
Rick Novy from Arizona
Kat Otis from Virginia
Michael Parker from New York
J.M. Peltier from Utah
Lori Phillips from Wisconsin
Shawna Reppert from Oregon
Zachary Ricks from Texas
Tom Rodgers from Texas
Julie Sea-Borne from England
Jerry Seeger from California
Mark Silcox from Oklahoma
Jeremy Sim from California
David Sklar from New Jersey
Daniel A. Smyth from Utah
Chris Tissell from Oregon
Pam L. Wallace from California
Tom L. Waters from New Mexico
Kathy Watts from California
William Wood from Virginia

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL!

Your certificates are already on the way to you.

I'm looking forward to your nextstory! (unless you've already sent it in)

Semi-finalists and Finalists announced tomorrow on this blog - before
a press release is sent!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE AND HERE WE GO WITH THE START OF 4TH QUARTER RESULTS

2010-01-03T00:15:00.001-08:00

Dear All,

Sorry I've been gone for so long but the holidays were big around
here this year.

I'm now going to announce the first batch of Honorable Mentions for
the 4th quarter. Do not fret if you have not heard from me and your
name is not on here. There are more results to come.

The FIRST set of Honorable Mentions for the 4th quarter are:

Z.S. Adani of Florida
Hilary B. Bisenieks of Pennsylvania
Tracy Canfield of Indiana
Ami Chopine of Utah
Jared Collins of New York
Marie Croke of Maryland
Daemon Crowe of Massachusetts
Scott Davis of Massachusetts
David D'Amico of Massachusetts
Dave Dunn of Florida
Anthony George of Colorado
Ken Hoover of New Mexico
Vincent Jorgensen of California
Cheryl McCreary of The Path Home
Scott Mikula of Washington
David Miles of Cape Town, South Africa
Lawrence Martin Nysschens of California
Damien Navillus of Arkansas
J.H. Norris of Louisiana
Simon Parfitt of Doncaster, England
Scotland Peters of California
Lon Prater of Ohio
Rebecca Roland of New Mexico
Lisa L. Satterlund of Washington
Eric Stever of Nevada
Elizabeth Stock of Massachusetts
Nick Tchan of New South Wales, Australia
Ken Thomas of Hamburg, Germany
Gerald Warfield of Texas
Mark D. West of North Carolina
Bruce J. Willoughby of Kentucky
Jessica Wilson of Maryland

Congratulations to all!!!!!!!! I'll post the
next set as soon as possible but in the mean
time I'll pepper you with good news!!!!!

Joni

As it appeared in national media! - 3rd Quarter Illustrator Winners Announced

2009-11-20T21:34:00.000-08:00

WINNERS ANNOUNCED IN INTERNATIONAL
ILLUSTRATORS OF THE FUTURE CONTEST

3RD Quarter Winners in the famed contest are all women

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HOLLYWOOD – The 3rd Quarter winners of the 26th year of the L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future Contest were announced today by Joni Labaqui, the contest Director.

The winners for this quarter are from California and the Ukraine.

THIRD QUARTER WINNERS

Jordan Cornthwaite of Carlsbad, California
Rebecca Gleason of Los Angeles, California
Irena Giraud of Chernigov, Ukraine

They were chosen from a group of 8 finalists and are now awarded cash prizes, a week long intensive workshop, an awards ceremony and are also published in the annual L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future. Jordan, Rebecca and Irena will receive a cash prize for their win this quarter.

The winners announced today will now compete with the other winners of the year for the Grand Prize of $5,000.00. They will now be required to create an illustration for a story sent to them from the pool of writer winners from the companion Writers of the Future contest. This is the final test. The illustrator who best illustrates the story sent to them wins the big cash prize.

Well-known contest judges include Frank Frazetta, Laura Brodian Freas, Stephen Hickman, Cliff Nielsen, Stephan Martiniere, Bob Eggleton, Ron Lindahn and Val Lakey Lindahn.

For more information about the contest, go to www.writersofthefuture.com.
On the home page click on “contest rules”. Just below the writer rules you will find the illustrator rules.

3rd Quarter Writer Winners Announced!

2009-11-18T10:33:00.001-08:00

Dear All,

The results are IN.

I've copied the press release that is going out today or tomorrow below.
You will see ithere first as millions will see it later today or tomorrow
morning.

WINNERS ANNOUNCED IN INTERNATIONAL
WRITERS OF THE FUTURE CONTEST

3RD Quarter Winners are from Three Countries

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HOLLYWOOD – The 3rd Quarter winners of the 26th year of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest were announced today by Joni Labaqui, the contest Director.

The winners for this quarter are from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.

THIRD QUARTER WINNERS

1st Place - Brent Knowles of Alberta, Canada
2nd Place - Adam Colston of Devon, United Kingdom
3rd Place - Brad Torgersen of Utah

They were chosen from a group of 8 finalists and are awarded cash prizes, a week long intensive workshop, an awards ceremony and are also published in the annual L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future. Brent, Adam and Brad will receive a cash prize for their win this quarter.

A Grand Prize winner is announced at the annual awards ceremony and is selected by another panel of judges. Brent Knowles will now compete with the other first place winners from the other quarters for the Grand Prize of $5,000.00.

Well-known contest judges include multiple Nebula and Hugo Award winners and finalists such as Kevin J. Anderson, Orson Scott Card, Anne McCaffrey, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Tim Powers, Robert J. Sawyer, Robert Silverberg, Dave Wolverton, Sean Williams and K.D. Wentworth, to name a few.

“The chance of being published elsewhere in the publishing industry is much, much smaller,” Labaqui said. “Only three out of every 10,000 manuscripts submitted in the United States each year get published—1,800 are science fiction and fantasy novels—and most of them are written by established authors. This is one very effective way to get in the door for the newcomer.”

3rd Quarter Illustrators of the Future Contest Semi-Finalists and Finalists Announced!

2009-11-02T11:27:00.000-08:00

Finally - we have our Semi-Finalists and Finalists for
the 3rd Quarter. Semi-Finalists get a critique from
our coordinating judge Ron Lindahn. Finalists art
goes to 4 of our judges and 3 will be winners.

Semi-Finalists:

Kennedy Cooke-Garza of Texas
Starla Friend of Texas
Bethany Koll of Connecticut
Gretchen Lewis of California
Anthony May of Oregon
Zakary Newman of Ohio
Nick Oliveto of Michigan
Tony Zukas of Ohio

FINALISTS:

Jordan Cornthwaite of California
Irena Giraud of Ukraine - Russia
Rebecca Gleason of California
Ashley Goh of Virginia
Scott Hargrave of Indiana
Joey Jordan of Washington
Steve Laws of Colorado
Brianna Wu of Massacussetts

Congratulations to all of you! We will announce
the winners as soon as possible!

WOTF Finalist Will Mitchell Has Great News!

2009-10-20T23:31:00.000-07:00

War Of The Words shortlist announcement

by James Rundle

The War Of The Words competition has closed, the hundreds of entries have been read, and finally, Tor UK and SciFiNow are happy to announce that the shortlist has been drawn up for who will go ahead to the final stages of the contest.
Although the original plan for War Of The Words was to have a shortlist of only five, the quality that we received from all corners of the world prompted us to expand that to ten, to accurately represent the best of the many stories we’ve had the pleasure of reading. What this competition has demonstrated to us, more than anything else, is that the spirit of science fiction and fantasy is still very much alive and kicking, and the literary scene for both genres still has incredible potential to offer. It wasn’t easy to narrow our choices down to just ten, but after weeks of deliberation, it’s ready.

The shortlist for the 2009 War Of The Words competition is, in no particular order:

1. The Sun Song – Andrew Tisbert
2. The Nemesis List – RJ Frith
3. Mech – Jim Keen
4. Children Of Yaltza – Kerrie Maxwell
5. Pale Queen’s Courtyard – Marcin Wrona
6. Evacuee – Paula Hadlum
7. Thorn – Steff Green
8. The Darkness Kept – Lamar Giles
9. The Barocles Codicil – Susan Sarapuk
10. Creations – William Mitchell

The shortlisted entrants have already been notified, and we at SciFiNow and Tor UK would like to offer our heartfelt congratulations for reaching it this far, against incredible odds. We’d also like to offer our thanks to those who entered but didn’t make the shortlist – it takes great courage to put your work to an audience, and the level of quality that we encountered while reading through the entries was astounding.
The final stage of the competition is now underway, and the winner of War Of The Words will be announced on 25 November 2009 both on www.scifinow.co.uk and in the pages of the magazine.

3rd Quarter Semi-Finalists and Finalists Announced!

2009-10-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

The Semi-Finalists for the 3rd Quarter are:

Amanda Clark of Oregon
John Chu of Massachusetts
Alex Perdian of Washington
John Shade of Texas
T.C. McCarthy of South Carolina
John McMullen of Ontario, Canada
Chris Owens of Virginia
Harrison Paul of California
Garth Upshaw of Oregon
Rachel Zakuta of Massachusetts

Semi-finalists receive a critique from our coordinating judge,
K.D. Wentworth, which is worth its weight in GOLD.

Congratulations to you all. Now, for the finalists..........

The FINALISTS for the 3rd Quarter are:

Adam Colston of Devon, United Kingdom
Jakob Drud of Denmark
Brent Knowles of Alberta, Canada
Geir Lanesskog of Washington
Dwayne Minton of Hawaii
Robert Pritchard of California
Brad Torgersen of Utah
Tom Waters of New Mexico

Congratulations!! Now the nail biting begins. The eight finalists stories are now being judged by 4 of our judges. Names not to be divulged at this point for obvious reasons. Also, do not blab around which story belongs to which writer above. If you know the name of the story that one of the above wrote, don't blab it around. If you are wondering why, it is because this contest is anonymous. The judges do not know who wrote the stories they are reading and if they do know, they cannot judge the quarter.

So at this stage, celebrate the contestant, yell through the hilltops that you, or your friend or writing buddy is a FINALIST, but don't say for what story please.

Again, Congratulations to all of you. And everyone should be on their next story already, if not done!

Honorable Mentions - Final Group

2009-10-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Here are the final group of Honorable Mentions for this quarter:

BonnieJean Bavido of Oklahoma
Louise Caroline Booth of Lincolnshire, England
AnneMarie Buhl of Oregon
Christopher Cook of Utah
Robert Cutchin of New Hampshire
Blake Casselman of Utah
M.C. DeMarco of Massachusetts
Sara King of Alaska
Amanda McCarter of Oklahoma
Valerie Mullerof Virginia
Mark Patrick Morehead of Colorado
Dave Raines of Oregon
Desmond Warzel of Pennsylvania

Congratulations to you all!!

Semi-finalists and finalists will be announced tomorrow.

Best,

Joni

Second Set of Honorable Mentions for the 3rd Quarter

2009-10-06T23:36:00.000-07:00

OK, we have more results in now from our coordinating
judge, K.D. Wentworth.

Our second set of Honorable Mentions for the Writers
of the Future Contest are:

Tom Abbott of Utah
Dave Anderson of Oregon
Scott Andrews of Virginia
Sharon Anielski of Michigan
Eric Bakutis of Maryland
Ellen Dawn Benefield of California
Steven Boe of California
Michael Britton of Utah
Kenneth Cassell of Utah
Mortique Cellar of Japan
Joshua Cole of Colorado
Sara Cotter of Arizona
Oliver Dale of Oklahoma
T.W. Fendley of Missouri
Chris Flippo of Arkansas
John Glover of Virginia
Rob Haines of Wales, United Kingdom
Jonathan Hansen of Minnesota
Karrin Jackson of Oregon
Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon of Michigan
Amanda Ligman of Washington
Christine Lucas of the country of Greece
Michelle Pang of Ontario, Canada
Joyce Reynolds-Ward of Oregon
Joseph Romano of Pennsylvania
Hilary Smith of California
Daniel Smyth of Utah
Renee Stern of Washington
A.W. Sullivan of Kentucky
LaShawn Wanak of Wisconsin
S.E. Ward of Oklahoma
Wendy Waring of New South Wales, Australia
Michael Wawrzycki of Louisiana
Ryan Williams of Washington
Alex Wilson of North Carolina
Chad Wilson of Arizona
Cliff Winnig of California

Congratulations to you all!

I will have more Honorable Mentions shortly and will then
announce the Semi-finalists and then the Finalists.

Best, Joni

Gary Kloster gets press coverage as Writers of the Future winner

2009-10-01T13:23:00.000-07:00

Gary Kloster, who won 2nd place with his story, The Farthest Born (L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume XXV) was interviewed by the Isanti County News about his award.

The newspaper quoted Gary saying, "When writing you have to have some egotism that you can do it, but you also have to have humility that a lot of other people are doing it."

He said in the interview, that his story tells of "the difficulties of parenting over interstellar differences." He got the idea for it from biologists who were rebuilding the California Condor population which he remembered watching as a kid.

Another article appeared on him at the website of Red Rock On Air and you can read the article here.

Gary receiving his award from Josh Robert Thompson and coordinating judge K. D. Wentworth at the 25th annual awards celebration.

WOTF Judge Robert J. Sawyer's Book - Flash Forward is a new HIT TV show

2009-09-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

I urge you to tune into ABC next week on Thursday night
at 8:00pm for this wonderful adaptation of Robert J. Sawyer's
bestseller, Flash Forward. They did a wonderful job, I loved the
show personally. It was Number 1 in its time slot last week and
the reviews are rave as well. I selected a review all the way from
the UK which I've posted below! Congratulations Rob!!!!! - Joni

Review from the UK:

In this compelling new sci-fi thriller everyone in the world blacks out at the same time while their consciousness leaves their bodies and travels six months into the future - allowing us to glimpse in the very first episode what’'s going to happen to the show’'s characters. A very risky formula indeed, for a weekly tv drama.

But FlashForward isn't a typical Hollywood product. Based on award-winning Canadian science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer’s's novel of the same name - Mr. Sawyer also works as a series writer - it creates great promise that future episodes will be as good as the premier show.

The plot revolves around the work and personal lives of a team of FBI agents in Los Angeles. The lead character Mark, played by British actor Joseph Fiennes, is a recovering alcoholic who is married to a surgeon.

Mark and partner Demetri, played surprisingly but well by comedian John Cho, go on a destructive car chase to capture terrorist suspects in a black SUV.

The cacophony of car crashes and squealing rubber sets the stage for more chaos and then abruptly the blackout occurs - not just on the LA freeway but everywhere in the world.

Characters begin sharing their stories of the future and that's when the real fun begins. Mark, disturbingly, sees himself drinking again while working on a top-secret case called Mosaic.

But even more disturbingly, Dimitri has no future vision. The woman FBI agent is heavily pregnant and having a sonogram done of her baby girl. In real time, she doesn't even have a boyfriend. Mark's doctor wife is deeply involved in a romance but with an unknown man who isn’'t her husband.

Mr. Sawyer has a lot of explaining to do. Can the future be changed? If there are no visions does it mean death in six months? What's the significance of six months and two minutes seventeen seconds anyway?

Is Mark's AA sponsor's soldier daughter really dead or alive in Afghanistan as he envisioned? And who is the one conscious man captured on tape walking in a sports stadium in Detroit during the blackout?

There's one sure thing that is going to happen in the future: DVRs will be whirring to record every episode of this wonderfully provocative show.

3rd Quarter - first set of Honorable Mentions

2009-09-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

OK, we have our first set of Honorable Mentions for the
3rd Quarter of the writers contest:

Andrew Baines of Texas
Scott W. Baker of Tennessee
Cheryl Barkauskas of New Jersey
John Biggs of Oklahoma
Claudia Casser of New Jersey
Alvin Chua of California
Willis Couvillier of Nevada
Scott Davis of Massachusetts
Laurie Dennison of Florida
Felicity Dowker of Victoria, Australia
Mark Finnemore of California
Margaret Fisk of Nevada
M. Landau Friedman of Ohio
Auston Habershaw of Massachusetts
Patty Jansen of New South Wales, Australia
Jeff Jeffcoat of Arkansas
KJ Kabza of Massachusetts
Addie J. King of Ohio
Derek Kunsken of Quebec, Canada
Matthew Kirk of Michigan
Terra LeMay of Georgia
Kurt MacPhearson of Michigan
Django Mathijsen of The Netherlands
Corbin Maxwell of California
Scott Mikula of Washington
Eric Moore of Ohio
Leslie Ann Moore of California
Sanda Odell of Washington
Philip Perna of Massachusetts
Margit Schmitt of California
Kenneth Schneyer of Rhode Island
Wesley Swingley of Montana
Scott Vilhauer of California

Congratulations to you all!

2nd Quarter Winners Announced!!!

2009-09-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

The Second Quarter Winners of the L. Ron Hubbard
Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contest are:

Writers:

1st Place - Jason Fischer from South Australia
for his story - The House of Nameless

2nd Place - Simon Cooper from Ireland for his story
Confliction

3rd Place - Jeff Young from Pennsylvania for his story
Written in Light

Illustrator Winners:

Tyler Carter of Utah
Ryan Winch of California
Rachael Jade Sweeney of Vermont

Congratulations to all of you!!!!

Joni Labaqui

Great News from Volume XXIII Winner Aliette de Bodard!

2009-09-21T23:28:00.000-07:00

Hi Joni,

This is just to let you and the other WOTF folks know that I've sold three books to new HarperCollins imprint Angry Robot. The books are fantasy-mysteries set in Aztec times: the first one "Servant of the Underworld", will be released in Spring 2010.
The novels are based on my WOTF-winning story "Obsidian Shards", which appeared in volume XXIII: it was at the workshop that I first had the idea to turn it into a novel (based on enthusiastic feedback from a number of my fellow WOTF winners). I also made use of a lot of techniques I learnt at the workshop while I was writing this novel. Thanks again for the awesome experience!

In other news, I didn't win the Campbell Award, but I did take second place, and Tony Pi ended up in third place, so it wasn't such a bad showing.

25th Anniversary Grand Prize Winners

2009-09-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

The Grand Prize Winners of the 25th Annual Achievement Awards of Writers & Illustrators of the Future have been interviewed by XM/Sirius Satellite Radio and these interviews are now airing on XM/Sirius.

The schedule of the airings is:

Saturday, 19 September, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT.

Monday, 21 September, 9 pm ET, 6 pm PT.

Wednesday, 22 September, 11 pm ET, 8 pm PT.

Friday, 23 September, 8 am ET, 5 am PT.

Saturday, 24 September, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT.

Other contest winners as well as judges have also been interviewed and those interviews will be on the air as well during the above time. The channel is XM 163 and Sirius 117, Book Radio on the Maggie Linton Show.

Emery Huang, who lives in Orlando, Florida, receives the Writers of the Future Grand Prize from Dion Graham (stars in the TV series Law & Order) and K. D. Wentworth, coordinating judge of the Writers of the Future Contest.

Illustrators of the Future Grand Prize Winner, Oleksandra Barysheva receives her award from Ron Lindahn, coordinating judge for the Illustrators of the Future Contest and Sophia Milos (stars in CSI: Miami).

The Grand Prize Winners getting awarded each with a ride in a skyship as part of the World Sky Race by Don Hartsell, the commissioner and managing director of the World Air League.

Listen to them on satellite radio!

Writers of the Future Vol. 25 Winner Interview - Jordan Lapp

2009-09-11T14:20:00.000-07:00

Jordan Lapp, 1st place winner of the Writers of the Future Contest and published in the newly released Volume 25, is being interviewed by David Steffen of www.diabologicalplots.com.

You can read the interview here:

www.diabolicalplots.com/?p=437

He talks about writing his winning story, "After the Final Sunset, Again" and his career as a writer after winning the contest.

Jordan also has a section of his own website that is dedicated to the Writers of the Future Contest which you can find here:

http://www.jordanlapp.com/withoutreallytrying/writers-of-the-future-resources/

We wish you the best of luck in your writing career!

The 25th Anniversary Event Video is Online

2009-09-10T10:14:00.001-07:00

You can now watch the entire event that took place on 29 August 2009 at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood online.

The link is below:

www.WritersOfTheFuture.com/w25/eventvideo.html

Enjoy!

Winners & Judges at the 25th Anniversary Event

2009-09-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo with all the winners and judges after the 25th Awards Ceremony (click on the image to enlarge it).

From left to right (front row): Doug Beason, Eric Kotani, Laura Brodian-Freas, Val Lakey-Lindahn, K. D. Wentworth, Rebecca Moesta, Jerry Pournelle, Stephen Hickman, Tim Powers.
From left to right (second row): Donald Mead, C. L. Holland, Fiona Lehn, Sean Williams, Mark Payton, Ron Lindahn, Oleksandara Barysheva (ILOF Grand Prize winner), Gunhild Jacobs (Vice President Author Services Inc.), John Goodwin (President Galaxy Press), Joni Labaqui (WOTF & ILOF Contest Director), Emery Huang (WOTF Grand Prize winner), Schon Zwakman, Kevin J. Anderson, Krista Hoeppner-Leahy, Dave Wolverton, Joshua Stewart, Robert J. Sawyer, Douglas Bosley, Matthew S. Rotundo, Heather McDougal.
From left to right (third row): Ryan Behrens, Luke Eidenschink, Brianne Hills, Gra Linnaea, Jamie Luhn, Aaron Anderson, Gary Kloster, Jordan Lapp, Evan Jensen, Mike Wood, Tobias A. Fruge.

Writers of the Future 25th Anniversary Update!

2009-09-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update as to where things are at and to answer questions that were asked in various comments.

Thank you all for commenting on the different posts. It was great fun putting together the workshop and the event of course. This was our best ever event yet, and with the live video stream, we had over 1,000 fans watching it live.

That brings me to the next topic. When will the full 2 hour event video be available online?

We are feverishly working on this and it looks like we will have it up by Monday, 7 September.

Meanwhile we have the WOTF XXV book trailer posted at the website. If you haven't seen it yet, it's absolutely stunning. Here is the link:

www.writersofthefuture.com/BookTrailer.htm

Somebody was asking about the results being posted. To see a list of all the winners with the name of the story and some select photos from the event with a group shot of all the winners and judges, go here:

www.writersofthefuture.com/awards.htm

We'll are also putting together a newsletter with photos from the event and the winners including a visually stunning slide show that takes you through the workshop and the event by showing the highlights. I'll keep you posted.

Thursday: Writers & Illustrators of the Future Workshop

2009-09-02T21:28:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, 27 August, the workshop for the illustrators continued with Illustrators of the Future judges instructing the contest winners in various aspects of their trade while also covering the business side of being an illustrator.

The writers completed their 24-hour short story and returned at 5:00 pm each with a completed story in their hands. This was just enough time to get ready for the barbeque that was about to start.

Enjoy the photos!

Illustrators of the Future judge Vincent Di Fate talks to the illustrators.

Book cover artist and Illustrators of the Future judge, Cliff Nielsen gives tips to the winners about breaking into the business.

Illustrators of the Future judges, Cliff Nielsen, Vincent Di Fate, Ron Lindahn and Val Lakey Lindahn are critiquing illustrations from the portfolios of the illustrators.

The writers are gathering after having finished their short story which they wrote within 24 hours.

The barbecue is in full swing with judges, winners and guests.

Dave Wolverton (on the right) with writer Jordan Lapp (on the left) and illustrator Joshua Stewart (middle).

The Grand Prize winners Oleksandra and Emery (in the middle) with illustrator Ryan Behrens (left) and writer Schon Zwakman (right).

From left, Ron Lindahn, John Goodwin, Val Lakey Lindahn and Vincent Di Fate with two ladies who just arrived from XM/Sirius satellite radio to interview winners and judges about the contests.

Asimovs.com attended the Awards Ceremony at the Hotel Roosevelt

2009-09-02T17:04:00.000-07:00

John E. Rogers, Jr. from Asimovs.com evidently attended the awards ceremony last Saturday and picked up his copy of the newly released Volume XXV.

He not only talks about his experience at the event but he has read the first 3 stories of the new anthology and gives a review of each.

You can find it here:

http://www.asimovs.com/aspnet_forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=2468

Day 3: Writers of the Future workshop

2009-08-31T21:51:00.000-07:00

K. D. Wentworth and Tim Powers telling the students about the activities that are scheduled for the day, including a trip to the library, meeting a stranger and having a conversation with him/her and how this relates to the story they have to write after doing this.

All the new writers gather in front of the library. From left: Gary Kloster, Krista Hoeppner-Leahy, Matthew Rotundo, Heather McDougal, Donald Mead, Cheryl Holland, Emery Huang, Jordan Lapp, Gra Linnaea and Schon Zwakman.

After coming back from the library to do research Tim Powers discusses some final points with them before sending the group off to meet a stranger and strike up a conversation with them.

Fiona is having a lively conversation with this "stranger" who is getting less strange, the more she talks to her.

Gary is approaching the stranger with the big guitar, still figuring out what he should talk to him about.

Emery is having a lot of fun with his "stranger." This security guard was probably bored anyway and was happy to talk to somebody.

The four 1st place winners are doing their first radio interview! From left: Jordan Lapp, Emery Huang, Matthew Rotundo and Donald Mead.

Tim Powers has released them to go and write their story within 24 hours. Here are (from left to right): Cheryl Holland, Gra Linnaea and Heather McDougal.

Day 2: Illustrators of the Future Workshop Starts

2009-08-31T20:47:00.000-07:00

I got a little bit behind with the posting of the workshop photos last week, so I am catching it up now!

Here are some photos from the first day of the illustrators workshop and more photos from the writers workshop are following soon.

Joni Labaqui is touring the illustrators through the Writers & Illustrators of the Future hall at Author Services Inc.

The judges and workshop instructors; Ron Lindahn, Val Lakey-Lindahn and Stephen Hickman.

The illustrators are reading a story which they will then illustrate.

Grand Prize winner Oleksandra Barysheva at the workshop.

The judges critiquing one of the illustrations with all the winners listening and learning. From left to right: Tobias Fruge, Brianne Hills, Ron Lindahn, Val Lakey Lindahn, Joshua Stewart, Jamie Luhn, Oleksandra Barysheva and Evan Jensen.

Everybody is learning from the observations about the illustration of Tobias. From left to right: Evan Jensen, Luke Eidenschink, Ron Lindahn, Mark Payton, Val Lakey Lindahn, Brianne Hills, Tobias Fruge, Ryan Behrens, Joshua Stewart, Aaron Anderson, Oleksandra Barysheva.

Final meeting with the illustrators for the day.

2009-08-28T15:47:00.000-07:00

Hi there,

We tested the live video stream today and it all works great!

It will be streaming at 500 kbps (kilo bites per second) and for best transmission it is recommended that for the time of the event, you just run the video stream on your computer over your internet connection. Running other applications or computers over the same connection might result in slows of receiving the video stream.

Here is the link again to the website:

www.writersofthefuture.com/w25/live.html

Have fun watching the event!

Day 2: The Writers of the Future Workshop begins

2009-08-27T22:20:00.001-07:00

The winners are getting a tour of Author Services which starts with the L. Ron Hubbard Fiction Library.

Joni tours the winners through the Writers of the Future hall which is packed with photos of previous awards ceremonies and books that were published by winners of the contest for the last 25 years.

Tim must think it is very funny, whatever it is that K. D. is explaining to the new writers.

Coordinating judge, K. D. Wentworth, with several of the winners, Krista Hoeppner, Mike Wood, Emery Huang, Cheryl Holland (who came all the way from Wales, GB) and Fiona Lehn.

Tim Powers is making a point.

Fiona, Krista and Mike listening attentively to the words of their instructors. Especially that key phrase from Tim Powers, "write this down, this is gold."

The writers receive the objects they will be using for the story they are going to write. They all seem genuinely happy about the objects they received. From bottom left, clockwise: Donald Mead, Jordan Lapp, Krista Hoeppner-Leahy, Gra Linnaea, Fiona Lehn and Matthew Rotundo (in the center).

The conclusion of Day 2. They learned a good deal and are in good spirits about starting Day 3 with the research they need to do, in order to write a story within 24 hours which will be critiqued by the other winners.

Day 1: Illustrators of the Future arrive!

2009-08-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

Luke Eidenschink arrives at the airport and so does Brianne Hills with her mother. They received a warm welcome and were brought straight to the hotel.

Here is from left to right: Jamie Luhn, Oleksandra Barysheva and Evan Jensen.

This is Author Services Inc. in Hollywood, the home of the Writers of the Future Contest and Galaxy Press (publishing house of the Writers & Illustrators of the Future anthology). We are ready for a productive week with the writers and illustrators.

Illustrators are getting checked into the hotel by Joni Labaqui, director of the Illustrators of the Future Contest.

The first meeting takes with the workshop instructor, Ron Lindahn. Ron, who teaches the workshop with his wife Val Lakey-Lindahn (who is missing from the photo) is doing a great job every year with the new illustrators. From left to right: Jamie Luhn, Aaron Anderson, Joshua Stewart, Ron Lindahn, Jason Toth (Galaxy Press), Brianne Hills, Oleksandra Barysheva (she is kind of hidden) and Ryan Behrens.

Live Video Transmission of the Event

2009-08-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hello Everybody.

Thanks very much for your comments!

We are in the thick of the workshop and the event preparations for Saturday. Judges are arriving in Los Angeles with Dave Wolverton flying in this morning, Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta arriving this afternoon as well as Eric Kotani (aka Yoji Kondo). Doug Beason arrived yesterday and Sean Williams has been here since the beginning of the week. More judges are coming in for the barbecue tonight.

As to illustrator judges, we have had Vincent Di Fate and Stephen Hickman here with the winners in addition to Ron and Val Lindahn.

But here is the link to the live video transmission of the event on Saturday. Make sure you are online at 8.30 pm PST to watch the full event, live!

http://www.writersofthefuture.com/w25/live.html

Further we have several winners talking about the workshop at the forum, so if you want, you can join in the discussion with them:

http://goldenagestories.com/beta/bb/phpBB2/index.php

I'll shortly be posting more photos from the workshop of both the writers and illustrators. Stay tuned.

Day 1: Writers of the Future XXV winners arrive!

2009-08-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

The first winners have arrived at the airport and are being greeted by Writers of the Future. From left to right: Peter Breyer (Writers of the Future), Schon Zwakman, Emery Huang, Gra Linnaea.

The Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood is where the Writers and Illustrators of the Future winners are staying during the week. It is a historical site as this is where the first Acadamy Awards, also known as the Oscars, were awarded.

The 2 winners from Canada have arrived! From left: Fiona Lehn, Joni Labaqui (Writers of the Future Contest Director) and Jordan Lapp.

Donald Mead and Gary Kloster have arrived and are being checked in with the help of Joni.

Several of the winners are being welcomed by Joni Labaqui (Writers of the Future Contest Director) at the hotel. From left to right: Krista Hoeppner Leahy, Gra Linnaea, Schon Zwakman, Joni Labaqui, Emery Huang.

The very first meeting with all the writers of the future winners as well as Tim Powers (judge and workshop instructor), K. D. Wentworth (coordinating judge) and Joni Labaqui. From left going in a circle around the table: Heather McDougal, K. D. Wentworth, Gra Linnaea, Mike Wood, Emery Huang, Tim Powers, Joni Labaqui, Matt Rotundo, Donald Mead, Schon Zwakman, Krista Hoeppner Leahy, Fiona Lehn, Gary Kloster, Jordan Lapp.

Tim Powers with Gra Linnaea on Hollywood Boulevard after the first meeting where they got to know each other.

The writers of the future on Hollywood Boulevard after the initial meeting with the workshop instructors. From left to right: Gra Linnaea, Joni Labaqui, K. D. Wentworth, Matt Rotundo, Gary Kloster, Krista Hoeppner Leahy, Donald Mead, Mike Wood and Emery Huang.

Jeff Carlson (Volume XXIII) has 2nd book in series in stores now

2009-07-19T01:21:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Check out Jeff Carlson's web site.

I particularly like it because is is simple,
and get you to participate, he has several
videos for you and promotes his trilogy, all
on the first page.

www.jverse.com

Best, Joni

David Sakmyster (Volume XXII) has new book!

2009-07-15T02:51:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Check out the link below. David has a great site
that is informative and keeps fellow writers and fans in
the loop. If you don't already have one, this is a great
example of how to keep everyone informed of your latest
news.

Sak.jpg

Best,

Joni

ILLUSTRATOR 2ND QUARTER FINALISTS AND SEMI-FINLIASTS ANNOUNCED!

2009-07-03T13:46:00.000-07:00

Here are the finalists and semi-finalists for the 2nd quarter of the
Illustrators of the Future contest:

Finalists

Tyler Carter of Utah
Olivia Pelaez of New Jersey
Jillian Marie Simpson of Kentucky
Rachael Jade Sweeney of Vermont
Ryan Winch of California
Michael James Wysochanski of California
Matthew Yale of Minnesota

Congratulations - Finalist art is sent to the 4 final judges and
there will be 3 winners from this group

Semi-Finalists

Starla Friend of Texas
William Muchiri Mbuba of Kenya
Peter Reed of New Hampshire
Jose Sanchez of Florida
James F. Smith of Florida
Lucy Welsh of Illinois
Adam Gabriel Winnie of Michigan

Congratulations! Semi-finalists are sent a critique
by contest coordinating judge Ron Lindahn

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO ALL!!!!

Final List of Honorable Mentions for the 2nd Quarter

2009-07-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Here are the last of the Honorable Mentions
for the 2nd Quarter:

Paul Abbamondi of New Jersey
Eric Bakutis of Maryland
Jacob A. Boyd of Oregon
Steve Cameron of Victoria, Australia
Robert Cutchin of New Hampshire
M.C. DeMarco of Massachusetts
Rebecca Fowler of California
Steven Gurr of Washington
Scott Hancock of Alabama
James Hurley of Oklahoma
R.M Kehrli of Washington
Karen Magon of Michigan
Amanda McCarter of Oklahoma
Eilis O'Neal of Oklahoma
Rodello Santos of New York

Congratulations to all of you!

I do hope you all have already submitted your
next story or are in the process of writing it.

2nd Quarter Finalists, Semi-Finalists and Honorable Mentions

2009-06-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Here are the results of the initial judging. If you do not
find your name on this list, we will have a few more Honorables
come in and I will post them as soon as I get them.

drumroll please!!!!

FINALISTS:

Dario Ciriello of California
Simon Cooper of Antrim, Ireland
John Parke Davis of North Carolina
Jason Fischer of Australia
William Mitchell of London, England
Chris Tissell of Oregon
Susan Watkins of Oregon
Jeff Young of Pennsylvania

Finalists stories go to 4 of our final judges and 3 of
the above writers will be our winners for the 2nd Quarter

SEMI-FINALISTS:

Sarah Adams of California
Shelley K. Davenport of Pennsylvania
Sara King of Alaska
Geir Lanesskog of Washington
William Ledbetter of Texas
Alastair Mayer of Colorado
Nikki McCormack of Washington
Tyler Powell of Oregon
Tom Rogers of Texas
Alvaro Zinos-Amaro of California

All semi-finalists stories are critiqued by our coordinating
judge, K.D. Wentworth.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Scott Andrews of Virginia
John Arkwright of Georgia
Bill Beauviche of Hunsingore, United Kingdom
Chris Boardman of Colorado
Jennifer Campbell-Hicks of Colorado
Louise Caroline Booth of Lincolnshire, England
Kenneth Cassell of Utah
Travis Coates of Calgary, Canada
Lisa Janice Cohen of Massachusetts
Spencer Cramer of Missouri
Vashti Brandy of Pennsylvania
Kathryn Brown of Arizona
Terry Burlison of Washington
Gwendolyn Clare of North Carolina
Kitti Cogswell of Virginia
L.J. Daly of Pennsylvania
Christopher Donahue of Texas
Jakob Nexo Drud of Denmark
Spencer Ellsworth of Washington
Robert Mitchell Evans of California
Katrina Forest of Pennsylvania
Carole Franklin of Michigan
Kelly A. Harmon of Maryland
Brennan Harvey of California
Judith Herman of Washington
Louise Herring-Jones of Alabama
William Hipp of South Carolina
Michael Hund of Pennsylvania
Peter Jessup of California
Emily Kajsa Herrstrom of Illinois
Erik Hoel of Massachusetts
Karrin Jackson of Oregon
Amy Power Jansen of Cambridge, England
J.C. Jenkins Jr. of Mississippi
Laura K.D. Jennings of Texas
K.J. Kabza of Massachusetts
Robert Laughlin of California
Anna-Lisa Macon of Massachusetts
Muri McCage of Tennessee
Scott Mikula of Washington
Nayad A. Monroe of Wisconsin
El Montaague of Missouri
Matthew Moore of Ontario, Canada
Mark Patrick Morehead of Colorado
Josh Morrey of Utah
Scott Overton of Ontario, Canada
Michelle Pang of Toronto, Canada
Douglas Sharp of Utah
Joseph Simmons of Texas
Steen R. Southard of Maryland
Lucien Spelman of Massachusetts
A.W. Sullivan of Kentucky
Brad Torgersen of Utah
Brian Trent of Connecticut
Helen Venn of Australia
Suanne Warr of North Carolina
Desmond Warzel of Pennsylvania
Cliff Winnig of California
L.L. Wise of Oregon

WOTF Winner from Volume XXIV Patrick Lundrigan Wins Another Writing Award

2009-06-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

Message from Patrick:

I have a bit of good news: I won second place in the Jim Baen Memorial
Writing Contest. The story that won, "Burst Mode," was quarter finalist
from a few years ago when I first started entering the contest. I
rewrote it before sending it out again, though. I had to put all the
great information I learned at the workshop to good use.

The contest announcement is here:
http://williamledbetter.com/contest

First Set of 2nd Quarter Honorable Mentions Announced

2009-06-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Here is the FIRST set of Honorable Mentions for the Second
Quarter of the contest:

Daniel Ausema of Colorado
Gustavo Bondoni of Argentina
Valerie Boss of Georgia
Robert Boumis of Arizona
Brent Bowen of Kansas
Alvin Chua of California
Murray Clay of Connecticut
Russ Colson of Minnesota
Erik Elness of Tennessee
Jim Hartnett of Minnesota
Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon of Michigan
Lancer & Shelli Kind of Washington
Sean Lovett of New York
Mary E. Lowd of Washington
Django Mathijsen of The Netherlands
Corbin Maxwell of California
Christopher Moran of Alaska
Eugene Myers of New York
Sandra Odell of Washington
Mike Phillips of Michigan
Angela Rega of Australia
Robert Santa of Rhode Island
Jeff Soesbe of California
Andy Spackman of Utah
Jason Wallace of Connecticut
Richard Wolkomir of Vermont

Congratulations to you all. Your certificate is on its way
now. More Honorables coming soon. Best, Joni

1ST QUARTER WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!!!

2009-05-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

OK, we have the final voting in and here are the winners for the 1st quarter
of the 2009 contest!!!

WRITERS OF THE FUTURE

1ST Place from New York is Tom Crosshill for his story Seeing Double

2nd Place from Oregon is Alex Black for his story Lisa with Child

3rd Place from Washington is K.C. Ball for her story Coward's Steel

ILLUSTRATORS OF THE FUTURE

The Three WINNERS

Kelsey Wroten of Kansas

Casssandra Shaffer of Arizona

Seth Rowanwood of Ontario, Canada

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL. The winners will appear in
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume XXVI
which will be released in 2010.

Ahhh.....the success! Contest winners continue to show their stuff.

2009-04-21T00:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I must tell you all, we are experiencing the largest quarter
(numbers wise) in living memory, and the good news has been
flooding in as I've been wading through the piles of manuscripts.

To keep you up-to-date in case you don't already know.
The Hugo nominations were announced and WOTF has a strong
presence as usual. Our former winners up this year are:

Robert Reed for Best Novella "Truth"

James Alan Gardner for his Novelette "The Ray-Gun: A Love Story"

Jay Lake and Tobias Buckell for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form for
"METAtropolis"

Shaun Tan for Best Professional Artist

(Illustrator contest judge Bob Eggleton is also up for Best Professional Artist)

Aliette de Bodard and Tony Pi are both up for the John W. Campbell Award
for BestNew Writer (both are from Volume XXIII)

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!!! But there is more good news......

ART NEWS - PUBLICATION

Bryan Beus (VOLUME XXIII) has a piece appearing in this years SPECTRUM,
which is THE illustration annual for Fantastic Art. CONGRATULATIONS Bryan!

Also, Sarah Totton (Volume XXII) has made her third SFWA qualifying sale to
Fantasy Magazine for her story "Choke Point". CONGRATULATIONS Sarah!

Illustrators of the Future 1st Quarter Semi-finalists and Finalists announced!

2009-03-31T10:06:00.000-07:00

The first quarter semi-finalists and finalists for the
L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future are as follows:

Semi-Finalists:

Anna Castro of Texas
Wenting Gao of California
Chelsey Moyer of California
Nico Photos of California
Laerta Premto of Connecticut

Congratulations to you all! Each semi-finalists has
been sent a critique by our coordinating judge Ron Lindahn

Finalists:

Yannick Bouchard of Quebec, Canada
Gilbert Juarez of Texas
Seth Rowanwood of Ontario, Canada
Cassandra Shaffer of Arizona
Kelsey Wroten of Kansas

Congratulations to you all! The finalists stories are being
sent to 4 of our judges and the top 3 are our winners for
the quarter. Good luck!

Joni

10 more Honorable Mentions for the 1st Quarter!

2009-03-30T21:28:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

I got the last box in and had some surprise Honorable Mentions. So
here they are:

Barbara A. Barnett of New Jersey
Jacob Boyd of Oregon
Lee Burgess of Illinois
Rebecca Fowler of California
Julie Frost of Utah
Laurie Gailunas of Michigan
Caw Miller of Pennsylvania
Shawna Reppert of Oregon
Charles Stucker of Texas
Jay Werkheister of USA

Congratulations to you all!!!

Illustrators of the Future contest semi-finalists and finalists announced tomorrow!

Best, Joni

1st Quarter 2009 Semi-finalists and Finalists Announced!

2009-03-23T10:48:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Drumroll.......... The results are in and we have our
semi-finalists and Finalists for the
1st Quarter of the 2009 contest. They are:

Semi-Finalists:

Joseph Baxter of Missouri
Shaun Farrell of California
Jason Fischer of South Australia
Michael Merriam of Minnesota
Silvia Moreno-Garcia of British Columbia, Canada
Chris Owens of Virginia
Kenneth Schneyer of Rhode Island
Katherine Sparrow of California
LaShenda Vavra of Washington

Semi-finalists receive a critique from our
Coordinating Judge K.D. Wentworth

Finalists:

K.C. Ball of Washington
Alex Black of Oregon
Tom Crosshill of Connecticut
David Gullen of Surrey, England
Vincent Jorgensen of California
Robert Pritchard of California
Lee Seentes of New Zealand
Brad Torgersen of Utah

Finalists stories go to 4 of our judges and
of the 8, there will be 3 winners.

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL!!

Best, Joni

The "First Set" of Honorable Mentions Arrive to your screen Now! - Also, the most recent set of Honorables are just below

2009-03-19T00:10:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Here is the first set of Honorable Mentions from this quarter -
now arriving to you. I know, its all backwards, but here they are,
nonetheless:

Paul Abbamondi of New Jersey
Tom Abbot of Utah
Z.S. Adani of Florida
Karen Azinger of Oregon
Scott W. Baker of Tennessee
J.S. Bangs of Washington
Bill Beauviche of California
S.A. Bolich of Washington
A.D. Cahill of Florida
Jennifer Campbell-Hicks of Colorado
Scott Cleveland of Washington
Gary Cuba of South Carolina
L.J. Daly of Pennsylvania
Ellen Dawn Benefield of California
Chris Densborn of Illinois
Clyde Dixon of Oregon
Logan Evans of Washington
Michael Ezell of California
Stephen Goll of Kansas
Jasmine Hammer of California
Jack Harllee of District of Columbia
Philip Harris of British Columbia Canada
KJ Kabza of Massachusetts
Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon of Michigan
Erik Lenhart of Maryland
Django Mathijsen of The Netherlands
Corbin Maxwell of California
Abigail Miles of New York
Ellis O'Neal of Oklahoma
Lynn Rushlau of Texas
Jason Sizemore of Kentucky
Maggie Slater of Oregon
Jeff Soesbe of California
Steven R. Southard of Maryland
Michael Steele of Texas
J.M. Tanenbaum of California
Kevin Timko of Florida
Shereen Vedam of British Columbia Canada
John Walters of Greece (yes, the country)
S.E. Ward of Oklahoma

The latest Honorable Mentions (really):

Rowad Bresno of Australia
Simon Cooper of Ireland
Margaret McGaffey Fisk of Nevada
Patty Jansen of Planet Earth
Keffy R.M. Kehrli of Washington
Patrick Kokinda of Ohio
Amanda McCarter of Oklahoma
Mark Patrick Morehead of Colorado
Marshall Payne of Texas
Sofia Samatar of Egypt (yes, the country)
LaShawn Wanak of Wisconsin

Honorable Mentions for the 1st Quarter

2009-03-12T15:19:00.001-07:00

Here is the next set of Honorable Mentions for the 1st Quarter:

Matthew Bey of Texas
Thomas Briggs of Illinois
J. Brundage of Arizona
Steve Clancey of California
Paul Comstock of Iowa
Christopher Cook of Utah
Tony Friedel Daley of Wisconsin
T.N. Dockrey of Oklahoma
Tim Fox of Oregon
Stephen Gaskell of the United Kingdom
Stuart Gibbon of West Australia
Benjamin Hardin of Utah
Emily Kajsa Herrstrom of Illinois
Michael Hund of Pennsylvania
Irina Ivanova of California
Karrin Jackson of Oregon
Dal Jeanis of Texas
John Kratman of Rhode Island
Geir Lanesskog of Washington
Muri McCage of Tennessee
Kelli Meyer of Texas
Scott Mikula of Washington
Justin Patrick Moore of Ohio
M.O. Muriel of California
Thomas Olges of Kentucky
Francesco Radicati of California
Jenny Rae Rappaport of New Jersey
David Schibi of Missouri
Keith Sen of California
Daniel Smyth of Utah
A.W. Sullivan of Kentucky
Dave Thompson of California
Brian Tillotson of Washington
Helen Venn of West Australia
Pam Wallace of California
Susan Watkins of Oregon
Ryan Williams of Washington
Alvaro Zinos-Amaro of California

Congratulations to all of you!!!!

Tips from an entrant

2009-03-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

Any entrants writing hard sf might consider getting a hold
of the following.

"It's ONLY Rocket Science - An Introduction in Plain English"
(Springer, ISBN 978-0-387-75377-5) has just been reviewed in
Vector Magazine The Critical Journal of the British Science
Fiction Association (Number 258, Winter 2008).

The reviewer, Gary Dalkin, writes:

"Anyone wanting to get the technology details right, or at least have
a check list of points to consider, while writing a hard SF near
present day space adventure would do well to have this book on their
desk"

Update - Change in Nominees

2009-03-03T23:48:00.000-08:00

This just sent in. Apparently there was an incorrect calculation,

therefore the ballot was changed slightly below. It DOES affect

the winning answer from the question posed below. There are

two winners already from the previous post. So, here is your

second chance to win the new WOTF book.

Best, Joni

Novelettes

If Angels Fight - Richard Bowes (F&SF, Feb08)
The Ray-Gun: A Love Story - James Alan Gardner (Asimovs, Feb08)
Dark Rooms - Lisa Goldstein (Asimovs, Oct/Nov 07)
Pride and Prometheus - John Kessel (F&SF, Jan08)
Night Wind - Mary Rosenblum (Lace and Blade, ed. Deborah J. Ross, Norilana Books, Feb08)
Baby Doll - Johanna Sinisalo (The SFWA European Hall of Fame, ed. James Morrow & Kathryn Morrow, Tor, Jun07 [trans. from the Finnish by David Hackston])
Kaleidoscope - K.D. Wentworth (F&SF, May07)

Short Stories

The Button Bin - Mike Allen (Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly, Oct07)
The Dreaming Wind - Jeffrey Ford (The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales, ed. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Viking, Jul07)
Trophy Wives - Nina Kiriki Hoffman (Fellowship Fantastic, ed. Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes, DAW Books, Jan08)
26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss- Kij Johnson (Asimovs, Jul08)
The Tomb Wife- Gwyneth Jones (F&SF, Aug07)
Dont Stop - James Patrick Kelly(Asimovs, Jun07)
Mars: A Travelers Guide - Ruth Nestvold (F&SF, Jan08)

Nebula's Announced!

2009-03-02T15:24:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

Check out the Nebula's below. Win the latest Writers of the Future volume if
you name for me all WOTF related nominees. (judges or former winners).
E-mail me at: contests@authorservicesinc.com with the correct answer and
you win!

2009 Nebula Award® Ballot

Guest Blog by SFWA on February 26 2009

SFWA is proud to announce the nominees for the 2009 Nebula Awards. The awards will be presented at the 2009 Nebula Awards® Weekend, April 24-26,2009 in Los Angeles, California. For more information on the awards and the Nebulas Weekend, please see http://www.nebulaawards.com/index.php/nebulaweekend

Novels

Little Brother - Doctorow, Cory (Tor, Apr08)
Powers - Le Guin, Ursula K. (Harcourt, Sep07)
Cauldron - McDevitt, Jack (Ace, Nov07)
Brasyl - McDonald, Ian (Pyr, May07)
Making Money - Pratchett, Terry (Harper, Sep07)
Superpowers - Schwartz, David J. (Three Rivers Press, Jun08)

Novellas

The Spacetime Pool - Asaro, Catherine (Analog, Mar08)
Dark Heaven - Benford, Gregory (Alien Crimes, ed. Mike Resnick, SFBC, Jan07)
Dangerous Space - Eskridge, Kelley (Dangerous Space, Aqueduct Press, Jun07)
The Political Prisoner - Finlay, Charles Coleman (F&SF, Aug08)
The Duke in His Castle - Nazarian, Vera (Norilana Books, Jun08)

Novelettes

If Angels Fight - Bowes, Richard (F&SF, Feb08)
Dark Rooms - Goldstein, Lisa (Asimovs, Oct/Nov 07)
Pride and Prometheus - Kessel, John (F&SF, Jan08)
Night Wind - Rosenblum, Mary (Lace and Blade, ed. Deborah J. Ross, Norilana Books, Feb08)
Baby Doll - Sinisalo, Johanna (The SFWA European Hall of Fame, ed. James Morrow & Kathryn Morrow, Tor, Jun07 )
Kaleidoscope - Wentworth, K.D. (F&SF, May07)

Short Stories

The Button Bin - Allen, Mike (Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly, Oct07)
The Dreaming Wind - Ford, Jeffrey (The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales, ed. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Viking, Jul07)
Trophy Wives - Hoffman, Nina Kiriki (Fellowship Fantastic, ed. Greenberg and Hughes, DAW Books, Jan08)
26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss- Johnson, Kij (Asimovs, Jul08)
The Tomb Wife- Jones, Gwyneth (F&SF, Aug07)
Dont Stop - Kelly, James Patrick (Asimovs, Jun07)

Scripts

The Dark Knight - Nolan, Jonathan; Nolan, Christopher, Goyer, David S. (Warner Bros., Jul08)
WALL-E Screenplay - Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter (Walt Disney June 2008)
The Shrine - Wright, Brad (Stargate Atlantis, Aug08)

Norton

Graceling - Cashore, Kristin (Harcourt, Oct08)
Lamplighter - Cornish, D.M. (Monster Blood Tattoo, Book 2, Putnam Juvenile,
May08))
Savvy - Law, Ingrid (Dial, May08)
The Adoration of Jenna Fox - Pearson, Mary E. (Henry Holt and Company, Apr08)
Floras Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room) - Wilce, Ysabeau S. (Harcourt, Sep08)

Writers and Illustrators of the Future well represented in the Winners Circle at the Aurelus Awards in Australia

2009-02-05T10:18:00.000-08:00

The Aurealis Awards were held in late January down-under and
here are our former winners who won:

Best Fantasy Short Story
Cat Sparks, ‘Sammarynda Deep’, Paper Cities, Senses 5 Press

Best Collection
Sean Williams & Russell B Farr (editor), Magic Dirt: The Best of Sean Williams, Ticonderoga Publications

Best Illustrated Book/Graphic novel
Shaun Tan, Tales From Outer Suburbia, Allen & Unwin

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU!!!

And the Winner is.................................

2009-02-04T09:47:00.000-08:00

The winners of the 4th Quarter of the 25th year of the contest are:

Writers of the Future Contest:

1st place is Emery Huang of Florida for his story The Garden of Tian Zi

2nd place is Heather McDougal of California for her story The Candy Store

3rd place is Krista Hoeppner Leahy of New York for her story The Dizzy Bridge

Illustrators of the Future Contest:

Jamie Luhn of Maryland

Brianne Hills of Massachusetts

Luke Eidenschink of Minnesota

Congratulations to you all! You will be published in the 25th Volume of
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future.

Tony Pi - Volume 23 Winner on a roll.......

2009-02-03T10:05:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

Here is great news from Tony Pi!

Tony is in his second year of eligibility for the John W. Campbell Best
New Writer Award. Locus reported that he missed the ballot last year by 3 votes!

Tony recently wrote to me the following

"It's confirmed...my novelette in Writers of the Future XXIII, "The
Stone Cipher", will be on the curriculum of the summer Science Fiction
course at the Department of English at the University of Toronto. The
class will be studying selected short stories from the anthology. The
complete list of stories slated for study are:

"The Stone Cipher" by Tony Pi
"Saturn in G Minor" by Stephen Kotowych
"The Frozen Sky" by Jeff Carlson
"Primetime" by Douglas Texter
"The Sun God at Dawn, Rising From A Lotus Blossom" by Andrea Kail
"Ripping Carovella" by Kim Zimring "

Tony been invited to go to the class and speak to the students about
the story, the anthology, and writing speculative fiction.

He also has several stories coming out (check out his website at
http://www.eyrie.org/~pi). Of particular interest is "Tekkai
Exhales His Avatar", which is coming out in Orson Scott Card's
Intergalactic Medicine Show in the February 2009 issue.
That is the story that Tony had to write in 24 hours during the
Writers of the Future workshop.

Tony states that even after several revisions it's still
pretty much the story he wrote at the workshop, but better - for the
advice he received from the WOTF class.

In his own words "That's quite satisfying!".

4th quarter Volume 25 winners announced tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4th Quarter Writer Finalists Announced!

2008-12-30T09:27:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

OK, just returned from the North Pole where its been hectic as you can imagine.
So now, I'm going to announce the 4th Quarter Semi-Finalists and Finalists for the
Writers of the Future Contest. Here goes:

Semi-Finalists:

Amelia Margetts of Utah
F.A. Fisher of North Carolina
Jason Heller of Colorado
Sean R. Moorhead of Colorado
John Chu of Massachusetts
Robert Pritchard of California
Carina C. Jones of Texas
B. J. Ranson of California
Nicole Duson of Texas
Karrin Jackson of Oregon

Congratulations to you all. You will have critiques from KD soon.

The Finalists are:

Steven Jopek of Ohio
Heather McDougal of California
Emery Huang of Florida
Krista Hoeppner Leahy of New York
Jakob Nexo Drud of Denmark
Brenta Blevins of Virginia
Keffy R.M. Kehrli of Washington
Max Gladstone of Massachusetts

Congratulations to you all!

4th Quarter Illustrator Finalists Announced

2008-12-10T14:51:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

The finalists for the illustrator contest for the 4th quarter are:

Brianne Hills of Provo Utah
Young Nam Heller of New York City
Scott Hargrave of Indiana
Jamie Luhn of Maryland
Luke Eidenschink of Minnesota

Congratulations to all of you! --- Joni

2nd Set of Honorable Mentions for the 4th Quarter

2008-12-03T11:16:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

Here is the second set of Honorable Mentions for the 4th Quarter. I will post
the finalists and semi-finalists in the next couple of days. We will have a few
more Honorables and I will post all of them before moving on to the finalists.

Congratulations to you all!!

Here goes:

Paul Abbamondi of New Jersey
Jim Adam of North Carolina
Lou Antonelli of Texas
Joshua Babcock of New York
Ellen Benefield of California
Robert Boumis of Arizona
Michael Britton of Utah
Kathryn Brown of Arizona
Dan Burkhard of Utah
Lisa Janice Cohen of Massachusetts
Jeffrey Creer of Utah
Kent Davis of California
Katrina Forest of Pennsylvania
Stuart Gibbon of Washington
Elana Gomel of California
Teresa Howard of Alabama
Irina Ivanova of California
KJ Kabza of Massachusetts
Alethea Kontis of Tennessee
Toms Kreicbergs of Connecticut
Geir Lanesskog of Washington
Mary E. Lowd of Washington
C. Mallary of Massachusetts
Michael Meyerhofer of Indiana
Danielle Monson of Texas
Eric Moore of Ohio
Mark Murata of Washington
Rick Novy of Arizona
Lindlae Parish of Florida
Rhonda Porrett of Maryland
Gray Rinehart of North Carolina
Alice Sabo of North Carolina
Felicity Shoulders of Oregon
Adrian Simmons of Oklahoma
Dr. Charles C. Spray of Oregon
Erika Tracy of Georgia
Amy Tibbetts of Rhode Island
Brian Tillotson of Washington
Brad Torgersen of Utah
William Vandemark 0f Texas
John Waters of Greece
Jay Werkheiser of Pennsylvania
T.F. Wilcox of Illinois
Tracy Wiltz of California
Alvaro Zinos-Amaro of California

3rd Quarter Illustrator Winners Announced!

2008-11-26T12:19:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

Here are the 3 winners of the illustrators of the future contest
for the 3rd quarter. Drumroll..............

Ryan Behrens of Washington
Douglas Bosley of Washington
Evan Jensen of Maryland

Congratulations! $500.00 checks are being sent to each winner.

All three will compete for the grand prize
of $5,000.00 when they are each sent a winning story.

Grand prize will be announced at the event next year.

First Set of Honorable Mentions for the 4th Quarter Writers Contest

2008-11-04T09:37:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

The following are the first set of Honorable Mentions. Do not fret if your
name is not here. There will be more. CONGRATULATIONS!

Tom Abbott of Utah
Matthew Bey of Wisconsin
Tyler Bumpus of Florida
James Callaghan of California
Frank Dutkiewicz of Michigan
Steve Dullum of Wisconsin
Farley L. Dunn of Texas
Toiya Kristen Finley of Tennessee
Jack Forey of Nebraska
Scott Franzen of Minnesota
John and Alison Golden of Texas
Lancer Kind of Washington
Lydia Laurenson of Illinois
Byron Lee of Illinois
Justin Macumber of Texas
Mark P. Morehead of Colorado
Brendan Myers of Massachusetts
Jason O'Brien of Arizona
Sandra Odell of Washington
Jennifer Povey of Virginia
Anthony Pultrone of New Jersey
Mark Reagan of Colorado
Kenneth Schneyer of Rhode Island
Karen T. Smith of Illinois
H. Bradley Stucki of Utah
Brian Trent of Connecticut
Scott Turner of California
Sarah Tytler of New York
Geoffrey Wasch of Alaska

3rd Quarter Writer Winners Announced!!

2008-10-31T22:25:00.000-07:00

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

And the winners are:

1st Place from Coquitlam Canada - Jordan Lapp
2nd Place from Anglesey Wales - C.L. Holland
3rd Place from Cottage Grove, MN - Schon Zwakman

Congratulations to all of you!!!!

Also, we just got the first batch of Honorable Mentions
in for the 4th quarter. I will be posting those names on
Monday. Until then............ Joni

3rd Quarter Writer Winners Announced Tomorrow!

2008-10-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

OK, tomorrow the winners of the 3rd quarter will be officially announced.
I'm right now contacting all concerned and can't wait to tell you the news.

Best, Joni

3rd Quarter Illustrator Semi-Finalists and Finalists Announced!

2008-09-29T06:10:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Here are the semi-finalists and finalists for the
3rd Quarter of the Illustrator Contest:

Semi-finalists:

April Ann Aldridge of Florida
Kennedy Cooke-Garza of Texas
Leo Dasso of North Carolina
Starla O. Friend of Texas
Jack Griffith of Tennessee
Todd Hebertson of Utah
Dayna Rusnak of Illinois
Nate Shaw of Virginia
Riki Takaoka of Colorado

All semi-finalists are being sent a
critique by our coordinating judge
Ron Lindahn

FINALISTS:

Douglas Bosley of Washington
Ryan Behrens of Washington
YaoJen Chang of California
Vera Gaskari of California
Evan Jensen of Texas
Kollin Strand of Illinois
Martin Dimchev Terziev of the United Kingdom

All finalists art will be sent to 4 of our judges
and 3 will be the winners of the 3rd quarter

Congratulations to you all!

Podcast of this year's winners now on-line. Check it out!

2008-09-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

Dear All, The podcast featuring all the winners is now live: http://www.adventuresinscifipublishing.com/2008/09/aisfp-62-writers-and-illustrators-of-the-future/ It is also the feature story on the home page and in iTunes (or it will be once iTunes refreshes their page). Thanks again for inviting me. I hope the podcast helps new writers get excited about it. Best,-- Shaun Farrell Note from Joni - readers - please give me feedback on this.

Illustrator Finalists coming soon

2008-09-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Clarification.... the below are the Honorable Mentions for
Writers of the Future only. The illustrator finalists will be
announced sometime this week when I get the initial
judging back. So, stay tuned.

Best regards, Joni

The Final Honorable Mentions for the 3rd Quarter

2008-09-22T12:56:00.001-07:00

Dear All,

OK, the last box has arrived and the following are the
last of the Honorable Mentions for the 3rd Quarter.
(see earlier postings for the Finalists and Semi-Finalists)

3rd Quarter Honorable Mentions

Paul Abbamondi of New Jersey
Lisa Bao of Delaware
Gustavo Bondoni of Argentina
Avery Cahill of Florida
Alison Chan of Massachusetts
Suzanne Church of Canada
Gwendolyn Clare of North Carolina
Lisa Janice Cohen of Massachusetts
Stephen D. Covey of Florida
Gary Cuba of South Carolina
Scott Dalrymple of New York
S.R. Dantzler of Florida
Laurance Davis of Florida
Richardo J. De La Cruz of Illinois
Shaun Duke of California
Nicole Duson of Texas
Adam Edgington of Iowa
Jason Fischer of Australia
Sara Genge of Spain
Warren Goodwin of New Jersey
Clifford T.A. Heseltine of Washington
David E. Hughes of Colorado
Matthew Herreshoff of Michigan
Deb Hoag of Arizona
John Kratman of Rhode Island
Christopher Lopez of Florida
Jason McMurray of New York
Alena McNamara of Minnesota
Kamila Miller of Washington
Jennifer Moody of Alaska
Thirii Myint of California
Adam Nakama of Massachussetts
Yusuf Ozuysal of California
Rebecca Inch Partridge of California
Eric Pierce of Michigan
Dave Raines of Oregon
B.J. Ranson of California
Nathanael H. Raun of Utah
Denni Schnapp of the United Kingdom
Adrian Simmons of Oklahoma
Daniel Smyth of Utah
Jeff Soesbe of California
C.M. Stuker of Texas
Amy Treadwell of Oklahoma
Scott Turner of California
Garth Upshaw of Oregon
LaShawn Wanak of Wisconsin
Mark Ward of the United Kingdom
Susan Watkins of Oregon
Matt Weber of New Jersey
Jeremy Yoder of South Dakota

More Honorable Mentions to come

2008-09-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

There will be more Honorable Mentions posted
in the next few days. I'm waiting for that last box
to come back from K.D. and I'll then
announce the remaining Honorables.

Also, this week I'll be filling you in on other
good news from our winners, past and present.
So do stay tuned.

Best, Joni

And the SEMI-FINALISTS AND FINALISTS ARE....

2008-09-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

OK, here we go:

The 3rd Quarter Semi-Finalists will get a critique
from our coordinating judge, K.D. Wentworth.

They are:

Vashti Bandy of Pennsylvania
Bill Beauviche of California
Mortique Cellar of Tokyo Japan
Christopher Cook of Utah
Rjan Khanna of New York
Anne Pinckard of California
Joyce Reynolds-Ward of Oregon
Alice Sabo of North Carolina
A.R. Stone of Oregon
Tracy Wilz of California

Congratulations to all of you.

Now, for the drumroll...................
.....................................................

The FINALISTS for the 3rd Quarter are:

Chris Azure of Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam
Peter Ball of Upper Mount Gravatt, Australia
C.L. Holland of Anglesey, United Kingdom
Jordan Lapp of Coquitlam, Canada
Robert Rhoden of South Carolina
Ayne Terceira of Rhode Island
Alex Wilson of North Carolina
Schon Zwakman of Minnesota

These 8 writers stories will be sent to 4 of our judges
and of the 8, 3 will be winners, 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL AND GOOD LUCK!

Best, Joni

Honorable Mentions - 2nd Set for the 3rd Quarter

2008-09-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Here you go. The Second (but not the last) set of
Honorable Mentions for the 3rd Quarter.

Congratulations to you all.

Angelina Adams from Texas
John Biggs from Oklahoma
T.A. Birkel from Indiana
Brenta Blevins from Virgina
Norma Boe from Minnesota
Dan Burkhard from Utah
Catherine Cheek from Arizona
Ami Chopine from Utah
Vonnie Winslow Crist from Maryland
Ricardo Delgado from California
John Derderian from California
Christopher Donahue from Texas
Linda Donahue from Texas
Marlene Dotterer from California
Darren Eggett from Utah
Lori E. Erickson from Indiana
Pat Esden from Vermont
Manny Frishberg from Washington
Julie Frost from Utah
Laurie Gailunas from Michigan
Robert Gissing from Ontario Canada
Charles Gladfelter from Pennsylvania
Amy Rosa from Arizona
Louise Herring-Jones from Alabama
Charles Hightower from Alabama
Michael S. Hund from Pennsylvania
Steve Husk from Virginia
Megan Kay Hutchins from Utah
Jaelithe Ingold from Pennsylvania
Rahul Kanakia from California
Alethea Kontis from Tennessee
David Korinetz from British Columbia Canada
Kristin Janz from Massachusetts
Clifford Royal Johns from Illinois
Geir Lanesskog from Washington
J.C. Mangold from New York
Corbin Maxwell from California
Muri McCage from Tennessee
Cheryl McCreary from South Carolina
D. Thomas Minton from Hawaii
Matthew Moore from Ontario Canada
David Neuburger from New York
Rick Novy from Arizona
Hank Quense from New Jersey
David Resch from Wisconsin
Graham Rinehart from North Carolina
Jens Rushing from Korea
Rodello Santos from New York
Janna Silverstein from Washington
David Simons from Massachusetts
Andy Spackman from Utah
Brad Torgersen from Utah
DeWayne Twitchell from Illinois
Michael Varela from Connecticut
Suanne Warr from North Carolina
Michael Wawrzycki from Louisiana
Donna Glee Williams from North Carolina

Contest Judge Hits #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List

2008-08-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

Sean Williams - contest judge and winner from
Writers of the Future Volume 8 will be
#1 on the New York Times bestseller list for his
novel THE FORCE UNLEASHED,
his new Star Wars novel.

CONGRATULATIONS SEAN!!!

Another Amazing Event

2008-08-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

We had a very successful event on the 15th of August
with our Grand Prize winners for the year being
announced.

They are:

Illustrator of the Year -- Brittany Jackson of
Detroit Michigan for her illustration of the story
Circuit.

Writer of the Year -- Ian McHugh of Australia

for his story Bitter Dreams

Honorable Mentions for the 3rd Quarter - First Round

2008-07-28T02:18:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

For those of you who entered the contest early in the
quarter, we already have some results. This is the first
set of Honorable Mentions for the 3rd Quarter (ended
on 30 June). The next set won't be for another several
weeks as we have the annual event coming up soon.
So, here we go:

HONORABLE MENTIONS - 3RD QUARTER

Daniel Barrett of Florida
Ellen Dawn Benefield of California
Robert J. Boumis of Arizona
Michael J. Burton of Michigan
Monica Byrne of North Carolina
C.S. Cole of Washington
Tina Connolly of Oregon
Spencer Cramer of Missouri
Robert Cutchin of New Hampshire
Fox Cutter of Washington
Linda J. Daly of Pennsylvania
Laurance Davis of Florida
David M deLeon of New Jersey
Chris Densborn of Illinois
Robert W. DePree of Florida
Margaret McCaffey Fisk of Nevada
Derek J. Goodman of Wisconsin
Rhiannon Held of Washington
Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon of Michigan
Kherezae of Maryland
Ben Moger-Williams of Colorado
Simon Parfitt of England
Jennifer R. Povey of Virginia
Kate Runnels of Oregon
Juliette Wade of California
Joel Walsh of Massachusetts
J. Starr Welty of New Mexico
Jeff Young of Pennsylvania

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU!

Stay tuned for more information on the annual awards
event coming up in August and late breaking news
tomorrow on former winners.

Illustrator Winners for the 2nd Quarter!

2008-07-23T15:04:00.001-07:00

Dear All,

Here are the 3 Illustrator winners for the
2nd Quarter of the Contest:

Mark Payton of Colorado
Aaron Anderson of Utah
Joshua Stewarrt of Idaho

Congratulations to the three of you.

I'll be posting Honorable Mentions next Monday.
I'm off to Comic-Con, so if you are there, come
to our booth.

Best, Joni