L.Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest/ How to Apply ($5000 + More)
The L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest has left an indelible mark on the fields of science fiction and fantasy. With more than three decades of developing new professional writers and more than a quarter century of cultivating new professional illustrators, the impact that the two Contests have had on the field is impossible to measure.
L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest is an opportunity for new writers of science fiction and fantasy to have their work judged by some of the masters in the field and discovered by a wide audience.
Eligibility for L.Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest
- No entry fee is required and entrants retain all publication rights.
Submission Guidelines for the Contest
- By submitting to the Contest, the entrant agrees to abide by all Contest rules.
- All entries must be original works by the entrant, in English. Plagiarism, which includes the use of third-party poetry, song lyrics, characters, or another person’s universe, without written permission, will result in disqualification.
- Short stories or novelettes generated or created by computer software and/or artificial intelligence will be disqualified.
- Excessive violence or sex and the use of profane, vulgar, racist or offensive words, determined by the judges, will result in the story being rejected. Entries may not have been previously published in professional media.
- To be eligible, entries must be works of prose, up to 17,000 words in length. They regret that they cannot consider poetry, or works intended for children.
- The Contest is open only to those who have not professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium. Professional publication is deemed to be payment of at least eight cents per word, and at least 5,000 copies, or 5,000 hits.
- Entries submitted in hard copy must be typewritten or a computer printout in black ink on white paper, printed only on the front of the paper, double-spaced, with numbered pages. All other formats will be disqualified.
- Each entry must have a cover page with the title of the work, the author’s legal name, a pen name if applicable, address, telephone number, e-mail address and an approximate word count. Every subsequent page must carry the title and a page number, but the author’s name must be deleted to facilitate fair, anonymous judging.
- Entries submitted electronically must be double-spaced and must include the title and page number on each page, but not the author’s name. Electronic submissions will separately include the author’s legal name, pen name if applicable, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and approximate word count.
- Manuscripts will be returned after judging only if the author has provided return postage on a self-addressed envelope.
- They accept only entries that do not require a delivery signature for them to receive them.
- Submit Using the Submission Website
Prize
- Prizes of $1000, $750 and $500 are awarded every three months.
- There shall be three cash prizes in each quarter: a First Prize of $1,000, a Second Prize of $750, and a Third Prize of $500, in US dollars.
- In addition, at the end of the year the First Place winners will have their entries judged by a panel of judges, and a Grand Prize winner shall be determined and receive an additional $5,000. All winners will also receive trophies. The Grand Prize winner shall be announced and awarded, along with the trophies to winners, at the L. Ron Hubbard awards ceremony held in the following year or when it is able to be held due to government regulations.
