Illinois Science Fiction in Chicago (ISFiC) announced the winner of their annual ISFiC Writers Contest on 13 November at Windycon. The contest, which was founded in 1986, is open to unpublished writers living in the Illinois “or any adjoining state, or any member of Windycon.” 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 John M. Cowan for his short story “Oracle”.
This year’s entrants were judged by Roland Green, Betty Ann Hull, and Bill Fawcett. Cowan was previously an attendee at the Windycon Writers Workshop, administered by former ISFiC Writers Contest winner and Nebula Award winner Richard Chwedyk.
The complete list of winners is available on this page. And for those who noticed we didn’t announce last year’s winner, that was due to the fact that there was no contest winner in 2008. There were also no awards in 1989, 2000, 2001, or 2002.