William Pomerantz, VP Special Projects at Virgin Galactic, Announced as Keynote Speaker for Write

LOS ANGELES - March 26, 2015 - PRLog -- William Pomerantz, VP Special Projects Virgin Galactic, will address the judges, winners and audience of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future Awards Ceremony being held Sunday, April 12, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre it was announced by Contest Administrator, Joni Labaqui.

Pomerantz is the Vice President for Special Projects at Virgin Galactic, the world’s first spaceline. Virgin Galactic, part of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, is building on the legacy of the award-winning SpaceShipOne effort by bringing a new fleet of commercial spacecraft for private, civil and scientific passengers into service.

Pomerantz will be joined by 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), Dave Dorman (Star Wars artwork), who will all serve as presenters.

Throughout the Contests’ 31-year history, over 700 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 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.

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