“It has been my experience that almost everyone, at one period or another of his life, has harbored a desire to write.”
—L. Ron Hubbard
“The best-selling SF anthology series of all time.”
—Locus Magazine
Throughout his life, L. Ron Hubbard not only harbored that desire to write, but he was also a singularly unselfish writer.
In the mid-1930s, soon after his own stories started appearing in the pages of America’s popular fiction magazines, he shared his hard-earned experience with creative writing students in speaking engagements at institutions such as Harvard and George Washington University. In those forums he offered practical advice on how to break into the ranks of professional writers.
In 1935, when he was named president of the New York Chapter of the American Fiction Guild, he made it easier for writers to join the Guild and readily shared his knowledge of writing and publishing with those who sought his help.
Ron also generated a series of “how to” articles that appeared in several writing magazines in the 1930s and 1940s. In them, he offered guidance to help new writers navigate the obstacles they were likely to encounter. In 1940, while on an Explorers Club–sanctioned expedition, he hosted a radio program on station KGBU in Ketchikan, Alaska. In one regular feature of the program, he offered advice to beginning writers and initiated the “Golden Pen Award” to encourage listeners to write fiction and awarded prizes for the best stories submitted.
Years later, in recognition of the increasingly difficult path between first manuscript and published work, particularly in an era in which publishers devoted the lion’s share of their promotional budgets to a few household names, L. Ron Hubbard “initiated a means for new and budding writers to have a chance for their creative efforts to be seen and acknowledged.” That means was the Writers of the Future Contest, established in 1983. Five years later, its companion contest, Illustrators of the Future, was established.
“See the best of the best culled for you, curated and selected in a single volume every year.”
—Robert J. Sawyer
author of Flashforward
The following is excerpted from L. Ron Hubbard’s introduction to the first volume of Writers of the Future winners, published in 1985:
“A culture is as rich and as capable of surviving as it has imaginative artists. The artist is looked upon to start things. The artist injects the spirit of life into a culture. And through his creative endeavors, the writer works continually to give tomorrow a new form.
“In these modern times, there are many communication lines for works of art. Because a few works of art can be shown so easily to so many, there may even be fewer artists. The competition is very keen and even dagger sharp.
“It is with this in mind that I initiated a means for new and budding writers to have a chance for their creative efforts to be seen and acknowledged.”
Each year, the Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests’ blue-ribbon panel of judges search the world to discover and introduce the very best new talent in science fiction and fantasy. There is no charge to enter, and the judging is all done anonymously. Race, gender, age, and location are unknown to the judges, ensuring that winners are selected based on merit alone.
The elite character of the Contest is evident from the roster of judges that follows.
Current Judges
Current Judges
Each quarter, the Contest judges select three winning writers and three artists for inclusion in the annual anthology, twenty-four in total each year. The result is an eclectic collection ranging from alien invasion to alternate history, from cyberpunk to comic fantasy to post-apocalyptic worlds. There are stories to fit every taste—the best of the best selected by the best.
The anthology serves as a springboard into the professional ranks. Aspiring writers first appearing in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future have subsequently authored hundreds of novels and thousands of short stories. A full third of them have gone on to become professional authors, which is unparalleled in literary circles. More than a few are internationally acclaimed, New York Times bestselling authors.
From their humble beginnings on a small radio program in 1940 to L. Ron Hubbard’s inspiration and vision in 1983, both Contests have grown into the most prestigious of their kind. Each year creates its own magic and wonder with a distinct collection of unique stories and magnificent illustrations.
All in testament to what Algis Budrys, the founding Coordinating Judge for the Writers of the Future Contest, stated, “To me the impressive thing is not so much that L. Ron Hubbard chose this way to impart a lasting, fruitful legacy to the field in which he had done so much significant work. It is that he did it so well.”
The best new science fiction and fantasy stories of the year selected by your favorite authors.
See what it takes to win the Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests.
Learn the business of writing and illustration through articles and essays included in each anthology.
Writers of the Future 9-Book Package + Bonus
Writers of the Future 7-Book Package + Bonus