Bernado Mota of Setubal is to be honoured as Winner of the Worldwide Illustrating Contest.
Twelve winning writers and twelve illustrators from around the globe—including Bernardo Mota of Setubal—will be honored during the 30th Annual L. Ron Hubbard Achievement Awards at the famed Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Hollywood, on Sunday, April 13th, 2014 beginning at 6:30 pm. This year also marks the silver anniversary for the Illustrators of the Future Contest where its first 25 years will be celebrated.
Bernardo Mota was born on February 5, 1996, in Setúbal, Portugal, and has had a fun ride so far. Interested in genetically engineering animals, convincing friends that the world was at stake and playing out more fantasies in his head than keeping memories, his childhood was confusing and lacked drawing.
Growing up surrounded by books, movies, video games and the internet was what brought out in him the interest in science fiction, fantasy and, eventually, illustration. He started drawing at the age of thirteen desperate to find out if it was an interesting path before having to choose an high school course and it quickly became an everyday obsession. His short comic won the second place in AmadoraBD 2011 contest in his age range and was formally honored as a young talent by his home town the next year.
He is now in his last high school year and is very excited about what the future holds for him.
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 30 (Galaxy Press, 2014).
Participating in the ceremony will be best-selling authors Kevin J. Anderson (Dune prequels), Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game), Larry Niven (Ringworld), Jerry Pournelle (A Mote in God’s Eye), Tim Powers (On Stranger Tides, which Pirates of the Caribbean IV was based on) and Robert Sawyer, referred to as Canada’s Dean of Science Fiction; as well as award winning artists Cliff Nielsen (Narnia book covers), Larry Elmore (Dungeons & Dragons book covers), Steven Hickman (over 400 book covers), who will all serve as presenters.
Throughout the Contests’ 30-year history, over 650 writers and illustrators have been recognized as winners. “What’s amazing to me is that a good 60 to 70% of winners go on to successful careers,” says New York Times’ best-selling author Anderson (Dune prequels, Seven Suns series). “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 aspiring writers to get that much-needed break. Due to the success of the Writing Contest, the companion Illustrators of the Future Contest was created in 1988.
The writing contest was created by L. Ron Hubbard 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 348 past winners of the Writing Contest have published 838 novels and nearly 4,000 short stories. They have produced 27 New York Times bestsellers and their works have sold over 50 million copies.
The 276 past winners of the Illustrating Contest have produced over 4,500 illustrations, 356 comic books, graced 594 books and albums with their art and visually contributed to 36 TV shows and 46 major movies.
To see the awards ceremony online, go to www.youtube.com/writersofthefuture
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