Illinois Science Fiction in Chicago (ISFiC) announced the winner of their annual ISFiC Writers Contest on 9 November at Windycon. The contest, which was founded in 1986, is open to unpublished writers in the Midwest. The winner’s story is published in the Windycon program book and the winner receives a gold coin, convention membership, and a hotel room. This year’s winner is Joe McCauley for his story “Ivan and the Plate of Fried Chicken.” Stephanie Young received an honorable mention for her story “On the Edge.”
The contest’s first winner, Richard Chwedyk (who won the Nebula Award in 2002), was this year’s toastmaster. In conjunction with the award, this year Windycon held a retrospective look at the awards featuring award administrators Marcy Lyn-Waitsman and Kathleen Meyer, former winners Francisco Ruiz and Richard Chwedyk, and judge Roland Green. Other judges this year included Elizabeth Ann Hull and Bill Fawcett. The complete list of winners is available on this page.