Way to Go Jerry!

Congratulations to former Dr. Dobb's columnist and long-time BYTE senior contributing editor Jerry Pournelle who, along with co-author Larry Niven, will be awarded the L. Ron Hubbard Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to the Arts at the Writers and Illustrators of the Future Awardsceremony at the San Diego Air and Space Museum, on Friday 18 August.

Both Niven and Pournelle will be in attendance to receive their award as well as honor this year's contest winners, along with veteran NASA astronaut Richard Searfoss.

New York Times bestselling authors Niven and Pournelle each have extensive lists of both fiction and non-fiction works and have collaborated on several very successful novels, including The Mote in Gods Eye, Lucifer's Hammer, and Footfall--with virtually all of their story-telling focused on maintaining that very vital goal of man's drive into space. Beginning in 1980, they served on the Citizen's Advisory Council on National Space Policy to the President, which Pournelle chaired and for which Niven hosted meetings.

"We are very pleased to be able to acknowledge the accomplishments of Mr. Niven and Dr. Pournelle," said Hugh Wilhere, Public Affairs for Author Services, the literary agency sponsoring the event. "L. Ron Hubbard once referred to science fiction as the 'herald of possibility.' They both exemplify this in their life with their continued efforts to see these possibilities once suggested as science fiction be made into science fact."

Niven and Pournelle have been judges for the Writers of the Future Contest, the largest international writing contest in existence, since 1985. They are also very outspoken supporters of the contest. "It's been my experience," said Pournelle at last year's awards ceremony at the Seattle Science Fiction Museum, "that this program is the best there is--no fee to enter the contest, anyone who can write can enter, the winners keep their rights to the stories, and they get an all-expense-paid trip to be taught by some of the greatest science fiction writers there are and a great ceremony in their honor. Plus they get paid! I would estimate that at least 65-70% of the winners of the Writers of the Future Contest have gone on with careers in writing."

Posted by Jon Erickson at 03:49 PM  Permalink