Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest is an opportunity for new writers of science fiction and fantasy to have their work seen by some of the experts in the field and be discovered by a wide audience.
Eligibility for The Future Contest
- No entry fee is required and entrants retain all publication rights.
- Entries in the Writers of the Future Contest are adjudicated only by professional writers.
How To Submit
- Make your submission via their official page by creating an account and logging in.
- 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.
- Excessive violence or sex, determined by the judges, will result in disqualification.
- Entries may not have been previously published in professional media.
- Writers must be submit works of prose that are up to 17,000 words in length.
- 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.
- We accept only entries that do not require a delivery signature for us to receive them.
- The Contest has four quarters, beginning on October 1, January 1, April 1, and July 1. The year will end on September 30. To be eligible for judging in its quarter, an entry must be postmarked or received
Prizes
- Prizes of $1000, $750 and $500 are awarded every three months. From the four quarterly 1st Place winners each year, a panel of judges select one story as the grand prize winner.
- 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.