Primetime by Randall Ensley

Primetime by Randall Ensley

This illustration was created for the Writers of the Future contest, which I entered in 2006/2007.  I did end up winning one of the Illustrators of the Future quarterly awards, of which there are 12 winners.  The Gold Prize is the big deal with the artist winning $5,000.  My friend Lorraine Schleter was the well deserved winner that year.  As it was, being a quarterly winner is quite a nice deal too...I did win $500 and they pay you for the illustrations which appear in the book, Writers of the Future.  Also provided is an all-expense paid trip to Hollywood for an illustrators workshop, which was headed that year by Ron and Val Lindahn and Stephen Hickman.
The contest is well worth entering for those who have a desire to create science fiction or fantasy art for books, magazines, role-playing games, etc.  I made friendships which persist to this day and was treated very well during the workshop week, which culminates in a black tie awards ceremony.  So many luminaries in the science fiction and fantasy world are in attendance that one can get a little starstruck.  All in all a very memorable and rewarding experience!
I was lucky enough to be asked to produce two illustrations for the book because one of the winners dropped out.  This illustration, Primetime, is for a story of the same name by author Douglas Texter.  It is about a future where journalists are able to traverse time to record important events in human history, similar to a reality show/primetime news program.  Things go amiss when one reporter attempts to record the bombing of Hiroshima.