Orlando, FL – Writers of the Future (http://wotfblog.galaxypress.com) contest winners which included both authors and illustrators, were honored at 25th L. Ron Hubbard Achievement Awards ceremony where Emery Huang of Orlando, Florida took the L. Ron Hubbard Gold Award (http://www.writersofthefuture.com/awards.htm) for his work titled “Garden of Tian Zi” .  Twenty-four writers and artists from around the globe were honored at the famed Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel; in the very room the first Academy Awards were held. Over 400 fans, including Sophia Milos (CSI: Miami), Dion Graham (Law and Order and The Wire), Kevin Sorbo (Hercules, the Legendary Journeys and Gene Roddenberry's, Andromeda), and John Francis Daley (Fox TVs Bones) were on hand in the standing room only main event hall.

Each writing and illustrating contest winner was presented their trophy by contest judges at the ceremony and combined cash prizes and royalties of over $30,000 were awarded. The Gold Award for the author of the Story of the Year was presented by Dion Graham and KD Wentworth, Editor for Writers of the Future, to Emery Huang of Orlando, Florida, for his story "Garden of Tian Zi." The Gold Award for the Illustrator of the Year was presented to Oleksandra Barysheva, a native of Ukraine, now residing in New Jersey by Sophia Milos and Ron Lindahn, a multiple award winning artist and Illustrator of the Future Contest coordinating judge.
 
Dion Graham, commented after the event, "It was great to see how excited everyone was to be recognized for their excellence and promise. Truly inspiring!"
 
 Prior to the awards ceremony, the winners were flown in from as far away as the UK for two of the Writers winners, to attend a week long workshop taught by contest judges -- including New York Times bestselling authors Kevin J. Anderson (Dune series), Sean Williams (The Resurrected Man) and internationally acclaimed artist, Stephen Hickman--each one an experienced professional in the field providing sound advice based on hard-won experience.
 
 The intensive mentoring process has proven very successful. Past winners of the Writing and  Illustrating Contests have published over 550 novels, 3,000 short stories and more than 3 million illustrations in the field. The contests were initiated by L. Ron Hubbard in 1983 shortly after returning to the field of science fiction with his bestseller Battlefield Earth.
 
Writers of the Future (http://wotfblog.galaxypress.com) contest was established and sponsored by L. Ron Hubbard in 1983, the "Writers Award Contest" was a budding competition aimed at discovering, and eventually publishing, deserving amateur and aspiring writers. The field of speculative fiction and fantasy was chosen not only for Mr. Hubbard's love of and success within the genre-but for the freedom of imagination and expression it provided as what he described as the "herald of possibility." For more information on the ceremony and Writers of the Future, go to http://wotfblog.galaxypress.com