This showed up in my Facebook feed the other day:
Kevin J Anderson, while I’ve never read him, is a sci-fi name I know off the top of my head. So when I saw this, I thought “Maybe I should learn a bit more about this contest to which he’s lent his face.”
I went to the Writer’s Of The Future contest website. The first and most immediate thing that caught my eye is that is it was originally set up and sponsored by L Ron Hubbard. Most people, I think, associate the name L Ron Hubbard with Scientology, a “religion” Hubbard created/invented/found lying around somewhere. And when people think Scientology, they think Tom Cruise. And not the charming million dollar smile Top Gun Tom Cruise. They think of the couch jumping, Matt Lauer “glibbing” Tom Cruise.
Well, okay, maybe they don’t think of Tom Cruise. But Scientology, like it or not, has been taking a bit of a beating in the press these days.
So the big question, then, is: do you really want to submit to a contest that has a(n) [albeit tenuous] link to Scientology via its founder?
The answer: Why the hell not?
Cause here’s the thing: the contest has nothing to do with Scientology. It’s all about the fiction (or artwork if you’re an illustrator–there’s a Artist of the Future contest as well).
In addition, the contest runs quarterly. That’s right. Quarterly. You have four chances per year to have your work selected for one of the contest prizes. It doesn’t hurt that they’re cash prizes either. And not to pile on, but there’s a annual grand prize as well, and that’s even more cash. Add to this mix the fact that there’s no entry fee and that the upper limit for word count is 17,000, which puts it near the edge of short novella, I’m hard pressed to find a reason NOT to enter the contest.
So what are you waiting for? Get writing!
Here’s the link to the rules: http://www.writersofthefuture.com/Contest-Rules-Writers
Scott C Lyerly 