Author Services, Inc. and Galaxy Press will present the 33rd Annual L. Ron Hubbard Achievement Awards celebrating the winners of the Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests, honoring 12 writers and 12 illustrators from around the world for their excellence in the genres of Science Fiction and Fantasy.
The Black Tie Optional or Medieval Fantasy Formal event will be held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre, 743 Lucerne Boulevard (at Wilshire Boulevard), Los Angeles, CA 90005 on Sunday, April 2, 2017. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. The event starts at 6:30 p.m.
Joni Labaqui, Director of the Contests for Author Services, Inc. said, “Author Services, Inc. will present awards to 24 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers and Illustrators of the Future that have been chosen as winners of the 33rd Annual Contests adjudicated by 27 world renowned Science Fiction and Fantasy writer and illustrator judges. One Grand Prize Writer Winner and One Grand Prize Illustrator Winner will be selected from a field of 12 Quarterly Writer Winners and 12 Quarterly Illustrator Winners, respectively. Our theme for this year’s awards show and event attire will be Medieval Fantasy,with a predominant dragon theme. The opening performance of the event will feature performers from EMCirque in a Live Fire Dance on stage while internationally renowned artists and Contest Judges, Rob Prior and Larry Elmore, together create a painting from scratch for the audience during the performance. Acrobats, Stilt Artists and Aerialistsfrom EMCirque will also perform during the course of the awards show. Awards Show Celebrity Presenters will soon be announced.”
Pat Henry, President and Co-Founder of Dragon Con, Inc.,Atlanta’s 31-year-old internationally known pop culture, fantasy and science fiction convention, combining fandoms and genres into a single event featuring comics, film, television, costuming, art, music and gaming over Labor Day Weekend, will serve as the event’s Keynote Speaker. Henry said, “I am honored to speak at an event recognizing emerging new talents in the genres of fantasy and science fiction, which I am so passionate about. I’ve heard the event will have a Medieval Dragon theme to it, which thrills me to no end. I’m looking forward to it!”
John Goodwin, President and Publisher of Galaxy Press,publishers of the fiction works of author L. Ron Hubbard, said: “This year’s L. Ron Hubbard Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Mike Resnick, the genre’s all-time leading award-winner for short fiction, authoring 62 novels, over 250 short stories and editing more than 40 anthologies.”
Gunhild Jacobs, Executive Director for Fiction Affairs for Author Services, Inc. will Emcee the event, and Joni Labaqui will present The Golden Pen Award and a $5,000 Grand Prize Check to the winner of the of the Writers of the Future Contest, and The Golden Quill Award and another $5,000 Grand Prize Check will be presented to the winner of the Illustrators Contest. John Goodwin will unveil the 33rd edition of “L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 33”as painted by internationally renowned artist, Larry Elmore.
This year’s live awards show will be simultaneously broadcast to a worldwide audience via the Internet. Streaming will be live beginning at 6:30 p.m. PST from www.writersofthefuture.com where a link will be set up. The airing time of the broadcast will vary depending on the time zone viewers are residing in. Directly following the awards show the winning authors and illustrators will sign books at a reception to be held on the Wilshire Ebell Theatre grounds. This year’s contest winners will also have the opportunity to attend workshops held here in Los Angeles one week prior to the awards show to network with the renowned writer and illustrator judges of this year’s competitions to gain valuable feedback to help them advance their careers in their chosen fields of interest.
The 12 Writer Winners of this year’s contest include:
- Walter Dinjos of Anambra State, Nigeria (who will participate via video) (Second Quarter Winner)
- Sean Hazlett of Pleasant Hill, CA (First Quarter Winner)
- Ziporah Hildebrandt of Shutesbury, MA (Fourth Quarter Winner)
- Stephen Lawson of Louisville, KY (Second Quarter Winner)
- C.L. Kagmi of Ann Arbor, MI (Third Quarter Winner)
- Jake Marley of Garden Grove, CA (Third Quarter Winner)
- Vile Meriläinen of Joensuu, Finland (Third Quarter Winner)
- Andrew Peery of Durham, NC (Fourth Quarter Winner)
- Andrew L. Roberts of San Lorenzo, CA (Fourth Quarter Winner)
- Anton Rose of Durham, United Kingdom (First Quarter Winner)
- Doug C. Souza of Modesta, CA (Second Quarter Winner)
- Dustin Steinacker of Orem, UT (First Quarter Winner)
In addition, this year’s book will also include the stories of two published finalists, Mary Elizabeth Atkins of St. Louis, MO and David VonAllmen of St. Louis, MO.
The 12 Illustrator Winners of this year’s contest include:
- Asher Ben Alpay of Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Philippines (Fourth Quarter Winner) (who will participate via video)
- Hanna Al-Shaer of Grand Rapids, MI (Third Quarter Winner)
- Yader Fonseca of Woodside, NY (First Quarter Winner)
- David Furnal of Beaverton, OR (Third Quarter Winner)
- Christopher Kiklowicz of Lakewood, CA (Second Quarter Winner)
- Chan ha Kim of Los Angeles, CA (First Quarter Winner)
- Aituar Manas of Kazakhstan, Almaty (First Quarter Winner)
- Michael Michera of Pabianice, Poland (Third Quarter Winner)
- Anthony Moravian of Brooklyn, NY (Second Quarter Winner)
- Jason Park of Pasadena, CA (Second Quarter Winner)
- Rachel Quinlan of St. Clair Shores, MI (Fourth Quarter Winner)
- Ryan Richmond of Carmel, IN (Fourth Quarter Winner)
This year’s 16 Distinguished Writer Contest Judges include:
- Kevin J. Anderson (An international bestselling author of more than 100 books, as well as a comic writer, anthology editor, record and film producer. Co-Author of the “Dune” prequels.)
- Dr. Doug Beason (Has written 14 high-tech novels. He also served in the President’s Science Office in Washington, D.C.)
- Dr. Gregory Benford (Has won four Hugo Awards and is an astrophysicist who is on the faculty of the Department of Physic and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine.)
- David Farland (Editor of “L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume 33;” Grand Prize Winner of Writers of the Future Volume Three; a New York Times bestselling author as Dave Farland (his pen name for fantasy stories) and as Dave Wolverton (his real name that he uses for science fiction stories.)
- Eric Flint (A former contest winner from 1993, Flint has written over 40 novels, both solo and in collaboration and is Founder and Editor of Jim Baen’s Universe.)
- Nina Kiriki Hoffman (A 1985 contest winner, Hoffman is the winner of the Nebula and Bram Stoker Awards.)
- Nancy Kress (Multiple award-winning author of science fiction and fantasy, two Hugo, six Nebula, one Campbell and one Sturgeon awards.)
- Todd McCaffrey (Has authored many novels and short stories, including works in the Pern Series, created by his mother, Anne McCaffrey.)
- Rebecca Moesta (Co-Author of The New York Times bestselling“Star Wars: Young Jedi Knights” series as well as the “Star Challengers” books.)
- Larry Niven (Winner of every major science fiction award. The legendary creator of “Ringworld” and the”Known Space”series.)
- Jody Lynn Nye (Authored or co-authored over 50 books and over 150 short stories and she has written everything from science fiction, fantasy, military to humor.)
- Nnedi Okorafor (An international award-winning novelist and professor of African-based science fiction, fantasy and magical realism for both children and adults. She was a finalist in Writers of the Future in 2002. Her novels include: “Binti: A Novella Series,” Winner of both the Nebula and Hugo Awards for Best Novella.)
- Dr. Jerry Pournelle (A multiple award-winning, bestselling writer and popular columnist including such novels as “Lucifer’s Hammer.”)
- Timothy Thomas “Tim” Powers (American science fiction and fantasy author. He has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels “Last Call” and “Declare.” His 1988 novel, On Stranger Tides served as the inspiration for the“Monkey Island” franchise of video games and was optioned for adaptation into the four “Pirates of the Caribbean” film.)
- Mike Resnick (Recipient of this year’s L. Ron Hubbard Lifetime Achievement Award. The genre’s all-time leading award-winner for short fiction, authoring 62 novels, over 250 short stories and editing more than 40 anthologies.)
- Robert J. Sawyer (Dean of Canadian Science Fiction. Sawyer has won every major science fiction award. One of his novellas was the basis for the ABC-TV series,“Flash Forward.”)
This year’s 11 Distinguished Illustrator Judges include:
- Echo Chernik (Award-Winning Illustrator for advertising, packaging and publishing, whose work has been featured in many commercial design magazine articles. Her artwork has also been displayed in many galleries.)
- Lazarus Chernik (An experienced Creative Director, Brand Manager, and award-winning Designer)
- Circuelo Cabral (Born Gustavo Cabral, Ciruelo is an Argentine fantasy artist whose work focuses especially on dragons. He now resides in Spain.)
- Laura Freas Beraha (She was married to the famous artist, Frank Kelly Freas. She won a Chelsey Award for illustration.)
- Dave Dorman (An Eisner Award-winning illustrator known for his painting including work for“Star Wars,” “Batman,” “Indiana Jones” and “Aliens.”)
- Larry Elmore (Well known as a fantasy artist for“Dungeons & Dragons.” He worked on “Dragonlance” amongst dozens of magazines and book covers. Cover Designer of this year’s book,“L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume 33”)
- Val Lakey Lindahn (Illustrator Judge since the inception of the contest. Lindahn was nominated twice for the Hugo, Chesley, Frank R. Paul and Jack Gone Awards.)
- Stephan Martiniere (Has received a Gold Award from Spectrum in 2004 and Thea Award in 2001 for his work on Paramount’s “Super Saturator” theme park ride. He was personally nominated for an Emmy Awardâ in 1994 for directorial work on Family Channel’s “Madeleine” series.)
- Gary Meyer (Has done design work for such studios as Disney, Universal and MGM, in movies like “Star Trek,” “Star Wars,” “2010”and “The Thing.”)
- Sergey Poyarkov (A 1991 contest winner from the Ukraine, who has now become a contest judge and has gone on to a successful career as a fine artist with works displayed in exhibitions across Russia, United Kingdoem, Europe and the USA.)
- Rob Prior (Artist who paints with two hands, event paints two separate paintings at the same time. He has created comics, most notably “Spawn,” “Terminator,” “Deep Space 9” and“Heavy Metal.”)
This Black Tie Optional or Medieval Formal Awards Show is open to the General Public and is FREE of Charge, however RSVPs are required, and may be made by calling Author Services, Inc. at323-466-3310 or 800-624-7907, or by E-mailingcontests@authorservicesinc.com
For more information, on the Contests, please visit the website, www.writersofthefuture.com. Network with Writers of the Future at https://www.facebook.com/
About The Keynote Speaker and His Company, Dragon Con:
Pat Henry is the President and Co-Founder, along with David Cody, John Bunnell and Robert Dennis of Dragon Con, Inc., Atlanta’s 31-year-old internationally known pop culture, fantasy and science fiction convention, combining fandoms and genres into a single event featuring comics, film, television, costuming, art, music and gaming over Labor Day Weekend annually. For many Dragon Con fans, the quality of the cosplay and costuming distinguishes this one convention from all the others. Under Pat Henry’s leadership, Dragon Con has become one of the largest pop culture conventions in the nation, based on attendance. The convention attracted over 77,000 unique individuals (over 250,000 turnstile) for the thirtieth anniversary in 2016. Over nearly three decades, Dragon Con has grown from the little Atlanta convention that defied the rules to one of the largest pop culture conventions in the world. Along the way, it changed the expectations for a successful convention. While small conventions still focus on one or two genres, the largest conventions combine literature, television and movies, comics and gaming, just as Dragon Con did for the first time back in 1986. To learn more, please visit www.dragoncon.org.
2016 Winners book signing:
About The Lifetime Achievement Award Winner:
Mike Resnick is a native of Chicago. He attended the University of Chicago from 1959 to 1961 where he met his future wife, Carol. The couple married in 1961. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Resnick wrote more than 200 “adult” novels under pseudonyms, edited seven tabloid newspapers, and edited a trio of men’s magazines. He also produced a weekly column on horse racing for more than a decade, and for 11 years wrote a monthly column on purebred collies, which he and his wife bred and exhibited. His wife Carol is also a writer, as is his daughter, Laura Resnick, who is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author. Resnick’s papers, consisting of at least 125 boxes, are in the Special Collections Library of the University of South Florida in Tampa. He was the Guest of Honor at Chicon 7, the 2012 Worldcon held in Chicago. He now lives in Cincinnati, OH. Resnick is the recipient of five Hugo Awards. He has won numerous other awards from places as diverse as France, Japan, Spain, Croatia and Poland. Mike Resnick is first on the Locus list of all-time award winners, living or dead, for short fiction, and 4th on the Locus list of science fiction’s all-time top award winners in all fiction categories. To learn more, please visit http://mikeresnick.com.
About The Contests:
Following the 1982 release of his internationally acclaimed bestselling science fiction novel, “Battlefield Earth,” written in celebration of 50 years as a professional writer, L. Ron Hubbard created the Writers of the Future Contest (www.writersofthefuture.com) in 1983 to provide a means for aspiring writers of speculative fiction to get that much-needed break. Due to the success of the Writing Contest, the companion Illustrators of the Future Contest was created in 1988.
The intensive mentoring process has proven very successful. The 380 past winners of the Writing Contest have published 1,150 novels and 4,450 short stories. The contests have produced 32 New York Timesbestsellers. Collectively, the winners of the contests have sold over 53 million books over the years. The 310 past winners of the Illustrating Contest have produced over 4,500 illustrations, 356 comic books, graced 594 books and albums with their art and visually contributed to 36 television shows and 46 major movies.
The Writers of the Future Award is the genre’s most prestigious award of its kind and has now become the largest, most successful and demonstrably most influential vehicle for budding creative talent in the world of contemporary fiction. Since its inception, the Writers and Illustrators of the Future contests have produced 33 anthology volumes and awarded upwards of $1 million in cash prizes and royalties. For more information please visit www.writersofthefuture.com andwww.galaxypress.com.
