The L. Ron Hubbard Gold Award (above left), presented annually to the winner of the Writers of the Future Contest. Finalists and winners of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest are published in annual anthologies. For many winners this provides the catalyst for a professional writing career.

     Then in late 1983, declaring, “I initiated a means for new and budding writers to have a chance for their creative efforts to be seen and acknowledged,” he announced his Writers of the Future Contest. Specifically founded in the name of discovering and encouraging new writers of speculative fiction, the Writers of the Future Award has become the genre’s most prestigious award of its kind. Indeed, it has become the largest, most successful and demonstrably most influential vehicle for budding creative talent in the world of contemporary fiction. Reflective of Mr. Hubbard’s concern for the aspiring artist, the only entry prohibition is that candidates must not have been previously published. To ensure professional expertise in the selection of winners, judges represent some of the very greatest names in speculative fiction, including: Robert Silverberg, Frank Herbert, Jerry Pournelle, Jack Williamson, Andre Norton and Anne McCaffrey.