After fifteen annual trips to Fort Lauderdale in conjunction with the Dell Magazines Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing (which is annually bestowed by Dell Magazines and the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts), I found myself in Orlando, Florida, on March 18—180 miles north of the world’s Spring Break capital. The new location held no side trip to Disney World for me, however. I was too busy holding story consultations with our award finalists, as well as attending the conference’s readings and panels.
My co-judge, Rick Wilber, and I had an unusually strong crop of stories to choose from. With so many good stories, we decided to expand our circle of semi-finalists over most other years. On Saturday night, I bestowed the award (and the check for $500) on the winner, Stephen Leech of the University of South Florida, and handed out certificates to our finalists. Stephen, who had placed as an honorable mention in the contest in 2007, won this year's award with "Blank, White, and Blue," an extremely funny and well-researched tale that displayed a great leap forward in plotting and control.
Seth Dickinson, a second-year student at the University of Chicago, was this year’s first runner-up with his story “Hypocrite.” Like Stephen, Seth was also an honorable mention in last year’s contest. In addition to his certificate, Seth will receive a two-year complementary subscription to Asimov’s. Our second runner-up was Jeremy Figgins, a student of science fiction author John Kessel at North Carolina State University. Although Jeremy couldn’t be in attendance, he received a certificate and a one-year subscription to Asimov’s for his story, “An Acre in the Woods.” Another finalist who couldn’t be in attendance was our third runner-up, Rebekah White of The University of Auckland. If she had made her way from New Zealand to Florida to pick up her certificate for “Girl Wonder,” Rebekah would certainly have also won the award for furthest distance traveled.
Two of this year’s honorable mentions could not be on hand to receive their citations. These students were Kasey Orrell, another student from North Carolina State University and the author of “Fly True,” and Sarah Miller of Bard College at Simon’s Rock, who wrote “Clockwork Angels.” Fortunately, we did have the delightful chance to meet Emily Tersoff of Bard College, who was the author of “Stay With Me.”
Besides spending time with some of the contenders for the Dell Award, I also had a chance to hang out with a number of SF authors. In addition to visiting with regular conference-goers like James Patrick Kelly, Ted Chiang, John Kessel, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Eileen Gunn, and Brian Aldiss, I got to spend some quality time with conference newcomers like Judith Moffett and Robert J. Sawyer. Over drinks, Vernor Vinge and I discussed the science and music in a story by a brand-new author named Gord Sellar that Vernor had critiqued at the Clarion West Writers Workshop and that I’d scheduled for the July 2008 issue of Asimov’s. It’s new writers like Gord and Stephen and past winners of the Dell Magazines Award who will take science fiction into its unpredictable future.
We’re actively looking for next year’s winner. The deadline for submissions will be announced shortly. All full-time undergraduate students at any accredited university or college are eligible. Stories must be in English, and should run from 1,000 to 10,000 words. No submission can be returned, and all stories must be previously unpublished and unsold. There is a $10 entry fee, with up to three stories accepted for each fee paid. A special flat fee of $25 is available for an entire classroom of writers. Instructors should send all the submissions in one or more clearly labeled envelopes with a check or money order. Checks should be made out to the Dell Magazines Award. There is no limit to the number of submissions from each writer. Each submission must include the writer’s name, address, phone number, and college or university on the cover sheet, but please do not put your name on the actual story.
Before entering the contest, contact Rick Wilber for more information, rules, and manuscript guidelines. He can be reached care of:
