Publisher Tor Books, Tom Doherty, to be Feted with Lifetime Achievement Award at Writers of the Fu

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - April 6, 2015 - PRLog -- Tom Doherty, publisher of Tor Books, will be honored this coming Sunday at the Writers and Illustrators of the Future Achievement Awards ceremony where he will receive the L. Ron Hubbard Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts in recognition of his stellar achievements as publisher of Tempo Books, then Ace Books and now as founder and publisher of Tor Books.  The event marks the culmination of the 31^st year of the awards ceremony where the 12 winning writers and 12 winning illustrators are flown in from around the world for the black tie gala affair at the famed Wilshire Ebell Theatre, on Sunday, April 12^th, 2015 beginning at 6:00 pm.   In addition to the annual winners, Contest writer judges who will also be on hand for the celebration include Kevin J. Anderson, Doug Beason, Gregory Benford, Orson Scott Card, David Farland, Eric Flint, Nancy Kress, Todd McCaffrey, Rebecca Moesta, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Tim Powers, Mike Resnick, Robert J. Sawyer and Sean Williams.

Doherty’s earlier involvement with the Writers of the Future Achievement Awards includes attending the 1990 celebration at the Las Vegas Flamingo Hilton, during that year’s Book Expo America, where he was an award presenter.

When discussing coming to Hollywood to receive his award, Doherty’s affiliation with the contest became all the more evident when he began listing the number of contest judges and past winners he has published at Tor.  Contest judges have included:  Kevin J Anderson, Doug Beason, Gregory Benford, Orson Scott Card, Hal Clement, Brian Herbert, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Yogi Kondo, Nancy Kress, Anne McCaffrey, Larry Niven, Andre Norton, Frederik Pohl, Jerry Pournelle, Tim Powers, Robert J. Sawyer, Charles Sheffield, Robert Silverberg, Jack Williamson and Roger Zelazny.  Contest winners that Tor has published include: Tobias Buckell, Stephen Baxter, Tom Doyle, R. Garcia y Robertson, James Alan Gardner, David Farland, Carolyn Gilbert Ives, Randy Henderson, Jay Lake, David D. Levine, Ken Liu, Jamil Nasir, Nnedi Okorafor, Robert Reed, Steven Savile, Ken Scholes and David Zindell.

This year also marks the 75^th anniversary of the Golden Pen Award, a writing award created by Hubbard in 1940 in Ketchikan, Alaska, and the forerunner to the internationally acclaimed Writers of the Future Contest.

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 intensive mentoring process has proven very successful.  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.

The event is open to all provided you RSVP.  There will be no admittance without prior RSVP.  For more information on the event and to see the awards ceremony online, go to www.writersofthefuture.com