S.J. Stevenson has won L. Ron Hubbard The Writers of the Future and will fly to the USA next year for an awards event and a week-long of masterclass workshops.
The contest, which is in its 42nd year, is one of the most distinguished writing and illustrating competitions in the world and is judged by some of the premier names in science fiction, including Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert (Dune prequel series), and Robert J. Sawyer (The Oppenheimer Alternative).
Mr Stevenson, who is a civil servant, said that the win was “fantastic” news: “I just found out that a colleague of mine was very poorly, so the news sort of came on when I was sort of reeling a little bit with that, so it was a nice slice of good news amidst otherwise not a great time.”
His award-winning story ‘The Triceratops Effect’ uses classic tropes like time-travel and dinosaurs, to tell a goofy story about overcoming adversity in difficult situations. This idea came from thinking about the asteroid that had wiped out the dinosaurs and wanting to travel back in time to watch its trajectory through the sky.
He said: “I’ve scribbled away and written stories for years, and you know I have a couple of little things published here and there, but kind of nothing really to this sort of level of recognition.”
Asked where he gets his inspiration from, he told Mersey News Live: “Honestly, most of my ideas come when I’m bumbling home slightly drunk.” He added that while he currently has “a lot of impostor syndrome”, he is “really looking forward” to heading to America next year.
As for what’s next, he said: “I’m working on a few different things. I want to revisit a children’s book that I wrote a while back…That’s about ninjas working for Father Christmas to protect him.”
His advice for other writers struggling to get published? “In the same way that anyone can jog a little bit, you need to train to be a marathon runner. I think writing is very much like that. You ned to do a lot of training to get over the line and just need to keep practising.”
The Writers of the Future Award has become the largest and most influential channel for creating talent in the world of speculative fiction. It was created and endowed by L.Ron Hubbard in 1983, a year after the release of his international bestselling science fiction novel Battlefield Earth. Five years later, the related Illustrators of the Future contest was launched.
Emily Goodwin, of Author Services Inc, which runs the competition, said that winning is a huge opportunity for previously undiscovered authors like Mr Stevenson: “With the big-name authors on the cover of the Writers of the Future anthologies, that alone will attract attention and put a spotlight on the new writers in the book.”
She added: “A key to writing well is reading, but I don’t think of it as a chore, those who write are generally also fans of reading.
“Orson Scott Card who is a judge for the Contest has told me on numerous occasions that he looks forward to the new Writers of the Future anthology, so he has ‘more reading material and new authors to follow’.
Mr Stevenson’s story will be published in the bestselling anthology L.Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 42, which will be officially released in April 2026.
Featured image: Copyright Shaun Stevenson
