L. Ron Hubbard Scholarship (Scientology)? Opinions? Legitimacy?

Paying for College
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This is my first ever post.

A few weeks ago I created an account on UNIGO, after realizing what a garbage tier site Fastweb was (my school swears by it but I don’t trust my school). Of course, out of “3.6 million scholarships”, I am only matched to 19- despite having a wide array of interests, activities, and clubs. Most of them are the free 'ships everyone applies to and thus you only have a 1% chance of winning. So helpful! However, two of the more interesting scholarships I’ve been matched with are the “L. Ron Hubbard’s Illustrators of the Future” and “L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future” scholarships, both worth up to $5,000.

I’m no Bob Ross or Anthony Burgess but I do consider myself to be a decently talented artist and writer, considering I’ve had no formal classes or training (I go to a cruddy 2A rural school that eats, sleeps, and breathes sports). My initial thought was “I can’t compete with all these Deviant Art and Tumblr artists really, but I can at least try, since art is subjective”, but then I remembered why the name L. Ron Hubbard sounded familiar. I know that before founding Scientology, LRH was a well received fiction writer (truly shocked), which I can respect as a lover of fiction. I know it is imperative in academia to be tolerant to all religions/denominations, which isn’t a problem for me, but most people don’t put Scientology on the same shelf as Buddhism, so to speak. The scholarships’ topics fit my bill nicely, but I don’t want Scientology “agents” or Sea Org members showing up at my doorstep, harassing me, blacklisting me, etc. if I enter. Also, if I were to enter and somehow win a placing, I don’t want people to say “Ahhh! FFASecretary is a Scientologist! She won their scholarship! Reeeee!” (I’m Methodist).

Has anyone entered it, and if so what happened?
Opinions?

Yes, of course I’ll take Scientology’s money…Lord knows they’ve got it, but…?

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Watch some of the Leah Remini programs about scientology on A&E before giving them your name.

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I would be nervous about Scientology. Research it carefully. Personally, I would rather have my child take out a student loan or take out a parent loan myself than take Scientology money.

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Avoid anything having to do with Scientology. Do research as suggested above.

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Obviously you have concerns, otherwise you would be working on your submission, rather than asking here. That little voice in the back of your head is probably correct to be concerned. It also should probably suspect that the winners will be current Scientologists.

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Look up a blog by Jim C. Hines.
He was winner of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest years ago. There is both a contest for writing and illustrating fantasy and science fiction. His was a good experience.

The actual judges of the contest are all professional writers and artists (not scientologists)
but the administrators of the contest may be all scientologists…
You do retain rights to your works (which is good when looking at these contests no matter what).

At the time, he believed (and was told) that the scholarship money was through the L. Ron Hubbard estate which founded the scholarship which is quite believable since Hubbard was a great SF writer. That the money did not come through scientology.

He was never contacted by Scientology and was happy to get the money at the time. He does not believe it is a recruitment scheme (as in they don’t sign you up because you entered or won) nor was it rigged in any way.

But…while not a direct recruitment it is a way for the “church” to advertise the L. Ron Hubbard brand especially to kids in high school.
His thought now is that the 'church" uses the contests to promote the name of Hubbard and his science fiction work in the high schools. It promotes scientology at the same time since being introduced to his fiction works can lead to reading Dianetics also. It’s a good way for them to get into high schools.

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This thread is about entering a contest run by a cult organization but…
Gotta say --I read a LOT of Hubbard’s sci-fi as a kid. I enjoyed it. He had some fun stories.

In one of those books a character espoused the theory that the fastest and most lucrative way to make money and gain power is to create your own religion. That thought was intriguing which was why I remember it so well.
We kids sat around and talked about it. We even tried coming up with one (no success or maybe we’d be rich too)…

But L. Ron actually did it. He made one up. And then put it in action. He told readers up front long ago that he could. What would you expect of a sci-fi writer? And the “religion” is total sci-fi just like you’d expect.

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BTW - see if your church has a scholarship. My DS got one from one of the ministries at our Methodist church.

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More importantly @FFASecretary , what is it that you do want to study in college? What are your grades and test scores? Can your family help pay for your education, or are you on your own for this?

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@FFASecretary Hines’ blog post has it right.

The Writers / Illustrators of the Future competitions are legit. Submissions are judged anonymously by professional authors and illustrators, none of whom Scientologists themselves. Examples from the author side include Orson Scott Card, Larry Niven, the late Jerry Pournelle, Kevin J. Anderson, Tim Powers, Nancy Kress, Nnedi Okorafor, Nina Kiriki Hoffman and several others.

Winners include names such as Pat Rothfuss, Jim Hines, Shaun Tan, Jay Lake, Karen Joy Fowler and Aliette de Bodard.

The contest administrators are Scientologists, but they have very strict rules separating the contest part of things from the Scientology part of things. No one from the contest will even mention Scientology. Nobody will try to convert you, they won’t hand you literature, they won’t email you or call you about it, nobody will come to your house, etc. The only call you will ever get will be a notification if your entry happens to be selected as a finalist.

All of that said, this isn’t at all the sort of thing where you can dash off an entry (even one you’ve worked hard on) and have any hope of winning. Stop by your library and page through the recent winning volumes for a look at the art. Read a couple of the winning stories. Or Google until you find the samples on the contests’ forum and blog site.

The winners are doing amazing pro quality work, and the two contests get thousands of entries every quarter and tens of thousands in a year. Many of the winners have entered every quarter for well over a year, sometimes several, before they win. In the last couple of years, some of the writer winners have gotten Hugo and Nebula nominations within a few months of winning - they’re that good.

Very few of writers are students, btw. They tend to be aspiring writers, many of whom already have some pro publications to their name. The illustrators, however, tend to be much younger, and many of them are students.

If you win, you will attend a free week-long workshop and awards ceremony in Los Angeles, and you’ll be taught by some of the biggest names in the field. The awards ceremony is a black-tie event with a red carpet. It’s kind of a mini-Academy Awards, really. You can find videos of it on YouTube.

These contests can launch a writing or illustration career, but they’re of limited use (meaning high effort for little chance of reward) if that’s not what you want to do with your life.

Disclaimer: I am not a Scientologist. I am, however, a pro author in the SFF field, which is how I know.

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“The winners are doing amazing pro quality work, and the two contests get thousands of entries every quarter.”

If I understand the contest workings correctly-- Applicants may enter quarterly with a $1500 prize per quarter and then a final 5K prize awarded annually. Sounds good superficially.
From a marketing standpoint that is way beyond SUPER cheap for CONTINUAL advertising.
Not ONCE a year but every QUARTER (unlike most scholarships). An ongoing campaign. To hit a very targeted audience.

Call it a 10K a year in contest money to hit all high schools. Everywhere. With thousands of responses. Not meant strictly as a true scholarship but meant primarily for promoting your cause.
That’s scary in many ways. Not sure how to react–in horror or marvel at such a marketing scheme.

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To hit all high schools? That’s way over-stating things. The average high school has never heard of this contest, and I’d be surprised if the number of those who have tops 5%.

Note that the OP didn’t find out about the contest from a school, but from a listing on a scholarship site. Most people find out about it because they read one of the anthologies, which they bought because they like fantasy & science fiction and usually had no clue there was a contest they could enter. It’s also a word of mouth thing in various writers groups and forums.

The winners who are students are usually college students. I know of one winner in the last six or seven years who was a high school student. One.

Yeah, there’s a marketing/publicity element to it, no doubt about that. There is for the Oscars, too, right? But publishing books, especially trade paperbacks with full color plates inside, isn’t cheap. Putting on a week-long, Hollywood-style workshop and awards ceremony every years isn’t cheap either. Probably hundreds of thousands.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a reputable, pro-level writing or art contest that doesn’t charge an entry fee, btw. (This one doesn’t.) Sure, there’s no fee for the Hugos or the Nebulas, but you have to be independently nominated for those, either by readers and fans (the Hugos) or by industry professionals (the Nebs). You can’t just send them something and enter.

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@DiotimaDM

Not sure of your point to be honest.

No, they aren’t hitting all (or even a decent portion) of high schools directly as you say.
But numbers are everything in the marketing world.
I will bet that every school has heard of it though. No stone left un-turned.
Whether it is publicized by the school is another matter.
Just like ANY advertising it is sent out hoping to hit even the tiniest fraction of the targeted audience.
And this particular promotion is distributed virtually free since it is part of a “scholarship” opportunity.
Four times a year no less.

You say:
“You’d be hard-pressed to find a reputable, pro-level writing or art contest that doesn’t charge an entry fee, btw. (This one doesn’t.) Sure, there’s no fee for the Hugos or the Nebulas, but you have to be independently nominated for those, either by readers and fans (the Hugos) or by industry professionals (the Nebs). You can’t just send them something and enter.”

My response:
So what? You’re right. I agree.
There are TONS of legitimate reasons for applicant fees to a contest. Standard practice.
It’s up to the entrant to apply. They need to know to what they may be applying…

BUT this is sent out as a SCHOLARSHIP opportunity. Apples to oranges. Fees do not apply
But again. I don’t see the point.

I’m surprised at your reaction actually. There has been NO discussion on the merits of the contest and entry fees etc.
The judges are professionals. It’s not rigged as far as I know. The contest though is run by Scientology.

The best arguments for forgoing entry into this contest came from you.
It’s tough, pro-level competition far beyond HS abilities and chances of winning are slim against the competition.

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My kids wouldn’t be signing up for any awards sponsored by LRH or any organization even remotely connected to scientology.

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I agree. I’d run far and fast from it. Period.

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I apologize @DiotimaDM --I think we’re on the same page after a re-read. This stuff makes me nuts!

I can’t say the contest is “bad” or “not legit” or anything else except being run by what I consider a suspect organization. It’s just up to the OP.

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My point is simply that no, it’s not super cheap, not at all, and that outreach to high schools is minimal. In fact, I guess I’m surprised that they call it a scholarship, because it isn’t. It’s a contest, one of the few that doesn’t have an entry fee.

Entrants don’t have to be students, the prize money is awarded directly to winners, not to schools, and there’s no requirement that the funds be used for educational purposes.

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Don’t give them your fiction. Unless you’re a Scientologist, you won’t win. I wouldn’t put it past them to steal from you if they like your story. I understand wanting to take the money…but you won’t get it. You’ll get games and con artistry…because in my experience, that’s what Scientology is.

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@gouf78 I think we’re on similar pages. :wink:

Is the contest legit? Yes.

Is there a connection to Scientology? Yes.

Is it better odds than the 1% or so mentioned by the OP? No. Worse, in fact. Much worse.

'Nuff said. Dia out. :slight_smile:

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I admit my fear and prejudice of cults. One of my roommates ‘joined’ the moonies when we were in college. She was more friendly with the other roommates, and I just kept saying ‘call her mother, call her mother.’ Finally someone did and her mother was on the next plane.

A co-worker’s brother joined the scientologists. I think he was in his early 20’s. All he did was call home asking for money for two or three years. He then developed some kind of cancer (maybe leukemia?) His parents were then called and told they could have him back if they wanted, but the scientologists would not pay for his medical care.

Yep, my kids’ names are not going on any lists.