Slovak illustrator Bohuslav Argaláš was during the gala evening of the 42nd edition of the prestigious international competition Writers of the Future and the 37th edition of Illustrators of the Future, which took place in mid-April in Hollywood, announced as the absolute winner and the main prize holder, TASR informs on Friday.
The artist from Ružomberok and performing under the name Bafu succeeded in competition from all over the world. In addition to the prestigious trophy, he also received the main financial prize of 5,000 dollars.
Founded by Lafayette writer Ron Hubbard in 1983, the competition is considered the most important platform for budding science fiction and fantasy creators in the world. “It’s crazy! I’m so grateful for this life-changing experience,” Bafu said in his acceptance speech and became the first Slovak in history to win this competition. When he was called to the stage for the second time at the end of the ceremony, he received a standing ovation from the audience during his next speech.
The Slovak illustrator received an award for the rendering of the short story “Saffron and Marigolds” by the author Kathleen Powell. The main prize in the literary category (Golden Pen Award) went to Michael T. Kuester from the USA for the short story “In Living Color”.
The Illustrators of the Future competition takes place throughout the year and is divided into four quarters, in each of which three winners will be selected by an expert jury composed of recognized masters of the field. These twelve quarterly finalists will then be invited to Hollywood for an intensive week-long workshop led by professionals, culminating in a gala dinner where one of them will receive the top prize of the “Golden Brush Award”.
The award-winning illustrator of science fiction, fantasy and horror works Bob Eggleton, the illustrator of the covers of the Dungeons & Dragons book series Larry Elmore and the graphic designer for global companies Echo Cherniková sat in this year’s jury for the illustration part of the competition, the organizers said.
