HOLLYWOOD – Senoia, Georgia author Lauren McGuire 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.  Her story, “Karma Birds,” 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.

Lauren McGuire lives in a small southern town where one cannot throw a rock without hitting a church. Ironically, the town is funded by zombies. Growing up as an army brat, she traveled all over the world including a stint in the Middle East which instilled a deep curiosity for other cultures and religions. She began writing in 2016 as a way of processing a chaotic cultural landscape and has since written six full manuscripts and several short stories. When not wrangling a family of five or training for half-marathons, she writes about space and monsters.

She is an active member of the Atlanta Writing Club and their 2020 winner for the Terry Kay prize for short fiction as well as a 2023 runner up for the Natasha Trethewey Prize for Poetry. She received two honorable mentions for the Writers of the Future contest before becoming a finalist. “Karma Birds” is her first professional sale.

Lauren’s story “Karma Birds” was inspired by a question—what would it take for humanity to choose kindness? What if morality stood outside the purview of religion or law and became instead a mandate from nature? “Karma Birds” imagines morality, not so much as a choice, but as a mechanism for survival. 

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.

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.