Nigeria’s Luke Wildman wins Writers of the Future award

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Luke Wildman

Luke Wildman

Nigerian native, Luke Wildman, will travel to Hollywood as a winner in the Writers of the Future Contest, now in its 38th year.

His winning story will be published in the international bestselling anthology, L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 37. Luke is currently living in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.

Anticipating that the pandemic will be over and large events able to occur once again with visitors from around the world, Mr. Wildman will travel to Hollywood this fall for a weeklong workshop and be honored at a black-tie awards gala.

Luke’s story has earned him a cash prize and a trip to Hollywood as well as having his story published in the annual bestseller, L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 37.

Luke Wildman may be a figment of your imagination—or you may be one of his. Either way, he was born and raised in West Africa, came to the U.S. for college at nineteen, and has lived with his wife in Indianapolis ever since. If you ever find yourself wandering the Indiana woods and notice a rambling weirdo muttering about books, that’s probably Luke.

When not terrorizing the countryside, Luke reads copiously, devotes unhealthy amounts of time to working on his novels, and dreams of making his living through fiction. His work has appeared in Havok magazine and Parnassus, Taylor University’s literary journal.

The Contest, one of the most prestigious writing competitions in the world, is currently in its 38th 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 (Quantum Night), Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn series, Stormlight Archive), Larry Niven (Ringworld), Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game), Nnedi Okorafor (Who Fears Death), David Farland (Runelords), and Katherine Kurtz (Deryni series) to name a few.

Illustrators of the Future Contest judges include, Bob Eggleton (11 Chesley Awards and 7 Hugo Awards), Larry Elmore (Dungeons & Dragons book covers), Echo Chernik (graphic designs for major corporations including Celestial Seasons 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.

The intensive mentoring process has proven very successful. The 440 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 370 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.

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 contemporary fiction.

Since inception, the Writers and Illustrators of the Future contests have produced 36 anthology volumes and awarded over $1,000,000 cumulatively in prize moneys and royalties.

Hundreds of winners have had successful writing careers following their win and publication in the anthology, and to date has launched the careers of 12 New York Times bestselling authors including: Jo Beverley, Tobias S. Buckell, Nancy Farmer, Eric Flint, Karen Joy Fowler, Tim Myers, Patrick Rothfuss, Lisa Smedman, Dean Wesley Smith, Elizabeth Wein, Sean Williams, and Dave Wolverton aka David Farland.

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