The winners of the second Clarke-Bradbury International Science Fiction Competition organized by European Space Agency’s Technology Transfer and Promotion Office have been selected. The competition, on the theme of ‘the Space Elevator’, was open to all ages, and encouraged images to be submitted as well as stories.

The Space Elevator is conceived as a 100,000 km ribbon of carbon nanotubes extending into space up which climbers will travel to release payloads into different orbits. From the fairytale "Jack and the Beanstalk" to Arthur C. Clarke’s 1979 novel The Fountains of Paradise, the idea of a Space Elevator has captured the imagination of scientists, engineers, writers and artists alike.

From a total of 109 stories and images submitted from 29 different countries, the winners are:

Story category: Clever by Christian Doan, a writer and artist living and working in Melbourne, Australia.

Image category: Frank Lewecke from Nuernberg, Germany for his image entitled Africa Tower - the African Space Elevator.

Story category: Scott Rolsen from Denver, USA for his work entitled Ervin's Watch.
Image category: Richard Bizley, an artist from Lyme Regis in England, for his image entitled Rising at Dusk.

Posted July 21, 2005