I taught a workshop in the fall at Chapman University on Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy. It was an advanced workshop, partly grad students and partly undergrads. I organized the undergrad section around helping students prepare stories to submit to the Dell Award, which is an annual contest for “Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing.” Today the Dell Award Winners were announced, and three of my students were on the list!

My student Sam Wilson won the Award outright for his story “blooming bleeding hearts.” Olivia Garcia was the first runner-up with her story “Of the Known Universe,” and Emely Menjivar was an Honorable Mention with her story “Blind Faith.”

The Dell Award is a pretty big deal in Science Fiction & Fantasy; it’s judged in part by Sheila Williams, who is the editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction, and the winning story each year is published in Asimov’s (which is a career goal in itself for many writers (including me!)). Many Dell Award honorees go on to have long careers in SF&F. The students are also invited to the award ceremony, which is next month at ICFA, the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, in Orlando, Florida.

You can read more about the Dell Award here.

And you can see the winners and finalists from the last 30 years here.