reported by Emily Burgess, FictionFanatic.com

Rebecca Moesta, award-winning author of over 30 books -- both adult and young adult science fiction and fantasy -- has been named as a writing judge for the L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest. The announcement came today from Author Services, Inc., the literary agency and administrator of the Contest.

Now in its 23rd year, the Writers of the Future Contest awards annual cash prizes totaling $30,000 for writers and illustrators of never-before-published works of science fiction and fantasy. It includes annual publication of the year's winning stories in the anthology titled "L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future" (Galaxy Press).

Moesta, who lives in Colorado with her husband and fellow writer, Kevin J. Anderson, has been writing in earnest since 1991. She has written 14 best-selling "Young Jedi Knights" novels, and 3 "Junior Jedi Knights" novels. She has also written novels based on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," the "StarCraft" computer game, the animated movie "Titan A.E.," and a "Star Trek" graphic novel. She and Anderson are currently working on book three of their original young adult fantasy series, "Crystal Doors."

The Writers of the Future Contest was established by L. Ron Hubbard in 1983 to discover and provide talented new and aspiring writers of science fiction and fantasy a chance to have their work seen and acknowledged. Publishers Weekly proclaimed Writers of the Future in its review of volume 22, now a national bestselling anthology, "The best speculative fiction reaches beyond the bells and whistles of the genre to explore the deeper complexities of the human condition. The original stories selected in this year's 'Writers of the Future' contest include strong attempts to do just that."

Over the past 22 years, over 300 novels -- including a number of New York Times bestsellers -- and over 3,000 short stories have been published by Writers of the Future Contest winners in the field of speculative fiction, as well as in other major genres.

For more information, visit www.writersofthefuture.com.