Hollywood, Calif - Seattle resident Jon Lasser has been officially announced as a winner in the Writers of the Future Contest. The contest, one of the most prestigious writing competitions, is in its 32nd year and is judged by some of the premier names in speculative fiction.

Mr. Lasser was chosen from a group of 8 finalists with the win earning him a cash prize, a trip to Hollywood for a week long intensive workshop, an Oscar-style awards ceremony which draws in excess of one thousand attendees as well as having his winning short story published.

Contest judges include, Tim Powers, author of On Stranger Tides, Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert, Dune, Robert J. Sawyer Flash Forward, Robert Silverberg, Sailing to Byzantium, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, A Mote in God's Eye, Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game, and Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death, to name a few.

Hundreds of winners have had successful writing careers following their win and publication in the anthology, and to date has launched the careers of 12 New York Times best selling authors including:

Jo Beverley, Tobias S. Buckell, Nancy Farmer, Eric Flint, Karen Joy Fowler, Tim Myers, Patrick Rothfuss, Lisa Smedmen, Dean Wesley Smith, Elizabeth Wein, Sean Williams, and Dave Wolverton aka David Farland.
For more information about the contest, go to www.WritersOfTheFuture.com.