Los Angeles Mayor Honors Orlando Resident Emery Huang

Twenty-four writers and illustrators were recently honored at the 25th Annual L. Ron Hubbard Achievement Awards Ceremony held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. International in scope, the contest winners were flown in from as far away as the United Kingdom for a week long expense-paid workshop delivered by award winning artists and bestselling authors on the crafts of illustration and writing, culminating in the gala black-tie ceremony.

In honor of this very special achievement, the Mayor of Los Angeles sent a letter of congratulations to each and every winner including Orlando resident, Emery Huang.  In his certificate, Mayor Villaraigosa wrote, “Congratulations Emery Huang.  As Mayor of the City of Los Angeles and on behalf of its residents, it is my pleasure to congratulate you on being selected as one of the winners of the 25th Annual L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contest.”  He concluded by stating, “Congratulations and best wishes!”

Emery Huang was born in Fairfax, Virginia but moved down to Orlando, Florida at age five and hasn’t left. As a young boy, Emery was “self-directed” in his learning, having little understanding of the difference between fiction and nonfiction. Books like My Teacher Is an Alien made him squint funny at his schoolteachers, while James and the Giant Peach made him clutch tightly to fruit in fear that his lunch might fly away. Though the passage of time has disabused his mind of such fanciful notions, his heart still believes. To keep his heart happy, he feeds it a steady diet of fantasy, science fiction, anime, and comics. As a writer, Emery’s dream is to finish a series that places China’s rich dynastic background firmly on the map of American fantasy literature.

The Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests have proven themselves the most effective means for aspiring artists to make their break into the publishing arena. Past Contest winners have published over 550 novels, 3,000 short stories and more than 3 million illustrations in the field. The Contests were initiated by L. Ron Hubbard in 1983 shortly after returning to the field of science fiction with his bestseller Battlefield Earth.