2023 Contest Winners
It's time to announce of Dream Foundry Contest winners! This year, we once again had entrants from every continent other than Antarctica. Every year we are extremely pleased to see so many creatives come out to participate. It's clear the current wave of emerging creatives are poised to push the field into new levels of excellence and it's a great privilege to be able to reward some of that effort.
Writing Contest | Art Contest |
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1st Place - Albert Nkereuwem 2nd Place - Fatima Abdullahi 3rd Place - Jessica Andrewartha |
1st Place, Monu Bose Prize for Art - ReYtzin 2nd Place - Ahmed Asi 3rd Place - Brave Burattino |
In addition to their cash prizes, all of the winners will be offered special showcases at Flights of Foundry 2024, and their choice of the convention’s workshop and limited seating sessions. Congratulations to the winners! This was a very competitive year and we're proud to showcase these winners. Thanks also to everyone who participated. Our gratitude also to contest coordinators Julia Rios and Dante Luiz and this year's contest judges: Suzan Palumbo, John Wiswell, Solomon Enos and Sloane Hong.
Goldman Fund Applications for Palestinians Attending Glasgow WorldCon Are Open
Dream Foundry is thrilled to announce that applications for grants from the Goldman Fund for Palestinian creatives and fans seeking to attend the 2024 World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow are now open! The preferred application window is 31 July - 5 November 2023, though applications outside this window may be considered for any remaining funds.
This is the Goldman Fund’s inaugural year. Offered through Dream Foundry’s Con or Bust program, the fund has a total of £8,000 per year for five years, and will assist citizens of Palestine and self-identified members of the Palestinian diaspora with expenses incurred from travel to and attendance at the annual WorldCon. The fund was created by Farah Mendlesohn in memory of her mother, Carole Goldman.
Con or Bust is a grant-making program that provides greater access for creators and fans of color to science fiction conventions, events, and professional development opportunities. Since its relaunch as a Dream Foundry program in 2023 it has provided direct support to fifteen individuals, and hosted multiple networking and support events. Dream Foundry is actively accepting donations and endowments to expand this program.
The find more information about Con or Bust, or apply for support from the Goldman Fund, visit www.dreamfoundry.org/dreamfoundry.org/con-or-bust/
Announcing the 2023 Contest Finalists
Here at the Dream Foundry, we’re always amazed by the level of talent both new and emerging. This year was no exception. We had an amazing turn out with submissions from all around the globe to both contests.
Our finalists were chosen by Julia Rios and Dante Luiz for the writing and art contests respectively. The finalists’ entries have been sent to writing contest judges John Wiswell and Suzan Palumbo, and art contest judges Sloane Hong and Solomon Enos, who will pick our three winners.
Each of the winners will receive a cash prize, but all the finalists will get their choice of seats at Flights of Foundry 2024’s workshops and limited seating sessions.
Writing Contest | Art Contest |
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Congratulations to all our finalists! The winners will be announced soon so keep an eye on this space!
Dream Foundry Announces Fund to Bring Palestinian Fans to WorldCon
Dream Foundry announces a new initiative under its Con or Bust program to assist Palestinian creators and fans of speculative fiction in attending the World Science Fiction Convention through 2028.
Con or Bust was conceived as a program to provide greater access for creators and fans of color to science fiction conventions, events, and professional development opportunities. Thanks to the generosity of Farah Mendlesohn from the estate of, and in memory of her mother, Carole Goldman, Dream Foundry has been granted £40,000 to assist self-identified citizens of Palestine and members of the Palestinian diaspora to pay travel and membership expenses to five Worldcons beginning in 2024. Awards from the Goldman Fund will be in the form of direct cash grants.
Applications to the Goldman Fund for the 2024 WorldCon will open from July through September of 2023. For more information about Con or Bust, visit www.dreamfoundry.org/dreamfoundry.org/con-or-bust/
Announcing the 2022 Dream Foundry Contest Winners
Happy December, everyone! It's time to announce of Dream Foundry Contest winners! Every year we are extremely pleased to see so many creatives come out to participate. It's clear the current wave of emerging creatives are poised to push the field into new levels of excellence and it's a great privilege to be able to reward some of that effort. Without further rambling, our winners!
Writing Contest | Art Contest |
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1st Place - Audrey Obuobisa-Darko 2nd Place - Takim WIlliams 3rd Place - Davida Kilgore |
1st Place, Monu Bose Prize for Art - Eryk Souza 2nd Place - Daniela Ivanova 3rd Place - Elemei |
In addition to their cash prizes, all of the winners will be offered special showcases at Flights of Foundry 2023, and their choice of the convention’s workshop and limited seating sessions. Congratulations to the winners! We've had a very competitive year and we're proud to showcase these winners. And a BIG thank you to everyone who participated. Another massive thanks to contest coordinators Julia Rios and Dante Luiz and contest judges L.D. Lewis, Sarah Gailey, Mateus Manhanini and Daniela Viçoso.
Announcing the 2022 Dream Foundry Contest Finalists
We at the Dream Foundry are always pleased to round out the second half of the year with our Emerging Writer and Artist Contests. This is always a deeply heartening part of the year, as we get to see the sheer quality of work that is out there in the speculative arts and especially those who are new and emerging. Finalists this year were chosen by Julia Rios and Dante Luiz for the writing and art contests respectively and passed along to judges writing contest judges L.D. Lewis and Sarah Gailey, and art contest judges Mateus Manhanini and Daniela Viçoso.
Contest winners will be announced in December, and all finalists have been given priority, pre-lottery seating to workshops at Flights of Foundry 2023.
Writing Contest | Art Contest |
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• Ry Rosenhirsch • Katlina Sommerberg • Angela Acosta • Nico Montoya • Davida Kilgore • Audrey Obuobisa-Darko • Sarah Ang • Laura Chilibeck • Takim WIlliams • Georgie Morvis |
• Eryk Souza • Serene Illustrations • Elemei • Albokhari Mohamed Tahir Bashir • Daniela Ivanova • Winter Ross • Jeff Stirling • Larissa Usuki • Nino • Clare Reid |
A big congratulations to all our finalists!
An Interview with the Dream Foundry's Writing Contest Judge Sarah Gailey
Sarah Gailey is a Hugo Award Winning and Bestselling author of speculative fiction, short stories, and essays. They have been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards for multiple years running. Their bestselling adult novel debut, Magic For Liars, was published by Tor Books in 2019. Their most recent novel, The Echo Wife, and first original comic book series with BOOM! Studios, Eat the Rich, are available now. Their shorter works and essays have been published in Mashable, The Boston Globe, Vice, Tor.com, and the Atlantic. Their work has been translated into seven different languages and published around the world. You can find links to their work at sarahgailey.com and on social media at @gaileyfrey.
An Interview with the Dream Foundry's Writing Contest Coordinator Julia Rios
Announcing the 2021 Dream Foundry Contest Finalists
As 2021 comes to a close, so do our Emerging Writer and Artist contests! We have been astounded by the increasing turn out year after year and it's been humbling to watch. We were especially excited to see entrants from so many in the international community. This year, our contests had around 465 submissions from across 41 countries (as were declared by those submitting): Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Cyprus, Denmark, DR Congo, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sweden, UK, USA, and Vietnam.
Finalists were chosen by Vajra Chandrasekera and Dante Luiz for the writing and art contests respectively and their names have been passed along to our contest judges Premee Mohamed, Charis Loke, and Juliana Pinho for final deliberations.
Without further ado, we are delighted to announce the finalists in the 2021 Dream Foundry contests:
Writing Contest | Art Contest |
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• Shinjini Dey • Sigrid Marianne Gayangos • Brienne D. Hayes • Amy Johnson • Kellye McBride • Kay Orchison • Robin Sebolino • Cat T. • Jarred Thompson • C. Bradley White |
• Yue Feng • Ellen He • Mikoto • Albokhari Mohamed • Nair Nascimento • Alex Pernau • Vinnia Kemala Putri • Julia Quandt • Mols Slom • Cathlyn Vania |
Congratulations to all our finalists! The winners will be announced early December so stay tuned and keep an eye on this space!
Free Fall Challenge 2021
We're delighted to announce that this fall, our Free Fall Challenge will be returning! This event is for creatives of all kinds, with a community space to encourage attaining goals, fostering skills, and honing craft.
The challenge will begin November 1st. Prepare to stretch your creative muscles, set goals, leap into new feats, and cheer each other on!
The goal of this month-long event is to foster skills that will help you translate your current workflow into something sustainable as you learn your limits, expand your boundaries, build endurance, and learn how to work without burning yourself out. Build a plan! Set goals! Make a schedule! And cheer each other on! And if you don't succeed, that's okay too. In fact, failing is a valuable learning experience and we're here to help guide you through it.
Maybe you're writing a novel this November. Or perhaps a series of short stories? Awesome. This is for you. If you're thinking of making a new interactive fiction game? Good! This is for you, too. Want to stretch your drawing practice or try a new medium for a month? This challenge is all yours. Want to translate a poem a day, or write the scripts for your next SFF podcast? Jump right in! Whatever your project is, if you’re dedicating the month to doing something big and difficult for you, the Free-Fall November challenge is for you, and we're here to help you with it.
We're running the challenge through our Discord server, complete with a dedicated channel for co-working, tips, and encouragement.
How it works!
- The Dream Foundry is providing space for co-working, accountability, and scheduling help.
- Come over to our Discord server and find the #free-fall-challenge channel.
- Let us know what your plans and goals are - and if you’re not sure how to set goals that are the right level of challenging, we’ll help you out!
- When you have your plan ready, you can sign-up here. If you want to join the official co-working sessions, you’ll need to sign up.
- You can also share your progress and join in on twitter with the hashtag #freefallchallenge.
- And if you stumble along the way? We’ll help you recover, with some cheerleading from the other folks working on their own challenges.
- The official launch of the Free Fall Challenge will take place in our community room November 1st. Details and invites will be sent to those who sign up using the form below. We look forward to seeing everyone there!
Preparations for your jump can start now! Drop in, get hyped, and prepare to make November a challenge that gives you life!
Sign up here!