Swansea Author Honored At Hollywood Awards Event, Featured In New Release

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HOLLYWOOD – Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom author Joel C. Scoberg is a winner in the L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future Contest and was honored along with eleven other writers and eleven artists at the Taglyan Complex in Hollywood, California on April 10th. His story, “The Stench of Freedom,” is published along with the other writers’ and illustrators’ stories and art in the international bestselling anthology, L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 41 which was officially released on April 22nd 2025.

Joel C. Scoberg lives on the beautiful Gower Peninsula in Wales, United Kingdom, with his very supportive wife, two somewhat feral children, and a growing menagerie of animals. He predominantly writes science fiction and fantasy stories, usually at night after his children have gone to bed and before he collapses from exhaustion. His stories have appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Gwyllion Science Fiction and Fantasy, 365tomorrows, and Every Day Fiction.

Joel’s love of science fiction and fantasy goes back further than his earliest memories. From watching The Never Ending Story so many times he wore out the video, to his family’s Christmas tradition of watching the original Star Wars trilogy back-to-back, and discovering The Hobbit on a caravan holiday as a teenager and reading it, utterly mesmerised, in one sitting. He hopes to one day write a story that will equally enthrall a reader and make them fall in love with fantastical characters that, currently, only exist in his head.

“The Stench of Freedom” was inspired by the transformational perspective that becoming a parent brings. Joel had long dreamt of becoming a writer, but pursuing a career in law and the long hours that entailed, as well as the fear of ridicule for putting something so personal as your own creation into the world, acted as excuses not to follow those dreams. Then, when his children were born, he realised he could hardly tell them to pursue their dreams if he hadn’t done so himself.

The Contest, one of the most prestigious writing and illustrating competitions in the world, is currently in its 42nd year and is judged by some of the premier names in speculative fiction.

The Writers of the Future Contest judges include, Tim Powers (author of On Stranger Tides), Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert (Dune prequel series), Robert J. Sawyer (The Oppenheimer Alternative), Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn series, The Stormlight Archive), Larry Niven (Ringworld), Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game), Nnedi Okorafor (Who Fears Death), Hugh Howey (Wool), and Katherine Kurtz (Deryni series) to name a few.

 

The Illustrators of the Future Contest judges include, Bob Eggleton (11 Chesley Awards and 9 Hugo Awards), Larry Elmore (Dungeons & Dragons book covers), Echo Chernik (graphic designs for major corporations including Celestial Seasonings tea packaging), Rob Prior (art for Spawn, Heavy Metal comics and Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Ciruelo (Eragon Coloring Book).

Following the 1982 release of his internationally acclaimed bestselling science fiction novel, Battlefield Earth, written in celebration of 50 years as a professional writer, L. Ron Hubbard created the Writers of the Future (writersofthefuture.com) in 1983 to provide a means for aspiring writers of speculative fiction to get that much-needed break. Due to the success of the Writers of the Future Contest, the companion Illustrators of the Future Contest was inaugurated five years later.

In the 41 years of the Writers of the Future Contest, there have been 571 winners and published finalists. The past winners of the Writing Contest have published 2,000 novels and nearly 6,300 short stories. They have produced 36 New York Times bestsellers, and their works have sold over 60 million copies.

In the 36 years of the Illustrators of the Future Contest, there have been 418 winners. The past winners of the Illustrating Contest have produced over 6,800 illustrations, 390 comic books, graced 700 books and albums with their art, and visually contributed to 68 television shows and 40 major movies. 1

The Writers of the Future Award is the genre’s most prestigious award of its kind and has now become the largest, most successful, and demonstrably most influential vehicle for budding creative talent in the world of speculative fiction. Since its inception, the Writers and Illustrators of the Future contests have produced 41 anthology volumes and awarded upwards of $1 million in cash prizes and royalties.

For more information about the Contests, go to www.WritersoftheFuture.com.

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