HOLLYWOOD — Twelve winning writers and 12 illustrators from around the globe—including Kyle Kirrin of Creede—will be honored during the 35th Annual L. Ron Hubbard Achievement Awards at the Taglyan Complex, Hollywood, California, on Friday, April 5, 2019 beginning at 6 pm.

Kyle Kirrin works on a ranch 9,000 feet above sea level in Creede, where he tends to the needs of two Irish Wolfhounds, three Icelandic sheep, two geriatric horses, four chickens, a miniature donkey, and a very loud cat. He’s spent the last seven winters writing on the side while resort-hopping as a snowboard instructor and guide, most recently based out of Big Sky, Montana. During the summer, he climbed trees professionally as an arborist, hosted wine tastings in northern Virginia, and done fine woodworking in North Carolina. He’s a first reader for Apex Magazine and this is his second professional sale.

The highlight of the ceremony will be the announcement of the year’s two Grand Prize winners who will each receive $5,000. Quarterly winners also receive cash prizes from $1,000 to $500. Their winning stories and illustrations will appear in the annual anthology L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers and Illustrators of the Future Volume 35 (Galaxy Press, April 2019).

Participating in the ceremony will be best-selling authors Kevin J. Anderson (Dune prequel series), Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game), Eric Flint (1632), Larry Niven (Ringworld), Tim Powers (On Stranger Tides, which Pirates of the Caribbean IV was based on), Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn series, Stormlight Archive) and Robert J. Sawyer, referred to as Canada’s Dean of Science Fiction; as well as award winning artists Bob Eggleton (11 Chesley Awards and 7 Hugo Awards), Larry Elmore (Dungeons & Dragons book covers), Rob Prior (art for Spawn, Heavy Metal comics and Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Ciruelo (Eragon Coloring Book), who will all serve as presenters.

Throughout the contests’ 35-year history, over 750 writers and illustrators have been recognized as winners. “What’s amazing to me is that a good 60 to 70 percent of winners go on to successful careers,” says New York Times’ best-selling author Anderson. “You could call it ‘The American Idol’ for writers—long before there ever was such a show.”

The Writers of the Future writing contest (www.writersofthefuture.com) was initiated by L. Ron Hubbard in 1983 to provide “a means for new and budding writers to have a chance for their creative efforts to be seen and acknowledged.” Based on its success, its sister contest, Illustrators of the Future was created five years later to provide that same opportunity for the aspiring artist.

The intensive mentoring process has proven very successful. The 416 past winners of the Writing Contest have published 1,150 novels and nearly 4,500 short stories. They have produced 32 New York Times bestsellers and their works have sold over 60 million copies.

The 346 past winners of the Illustrating Contest have produced over 6,000 illustrations, 360 comic books, graced 624 books and albums with their art and visually contributed to 68 TV shows and 40 major movies.

For more information and to see the awards ceremony online, go to www.writersofthefuture.com