2025

J. Claire finalist in the American Book Fest Awards

Congratulations to J. Claire for her poetry collection, Revelry

X. Ho Yen's novel wins 1st place!

Minimum Safe Distance (2022) has won the 1st place prize in the Literary Fiction category in the International Firebird Book Awards for Q3 2025. This Literary Fiction win is extra special for XHY, since MSD is science fiction, and now all three of his books have won literary awards.

Petra Perkins is performed her humor essay

Petra performed her humorous essay "Listen To Your Mother" at the Holiday stage show in Boulder on Nov 29TH.

Pageturner Awards Finalist

Peggy Wirgau's book has been chosen by Pageturner Awards as a Finalist for their Book Award, and the cover has been chosen as a Finalist for their Cover Award.

Peggy has also been busy writing for the e-zine, Girl Talk HQ: The Revitalization of Women’s History Through Historical Fiction - GirlTalkHQ. She has also been a guest on the podcast Spycraft 101. The episode will air on October 20th, 2025.

Silver Medal in Non-Fiction Spirituality from Reader's Favorites Awarded

Victress Hitchcock's memoir - A Tree with My Name on It: Finding a Way Home which was the winner of this year's CAL Memoir award just received a Silver Medal in Non-Fiction Spirituality from Reader's Favorites.

CAL Members Well-Represented at the CIPA Evvy Awards

Gold winners include CAL members Patricia Eagle ("Dog Love Stories"), Derek Lowstuter ("Fiddler on the Roof of Africa"), Monica E. Young ("How to Move an Aging Parent to Their Next Home... Like a Pro"), MJ Evans ("Coal Dust and Dreams"), Richard A. Noble ("King Cotton III") and Joni Franks, double winner ("The Crooked Forest, Beyond"). The named CAL silver winners are Jerry Fabyanic ("Chacolata"), Jerry Mitchell ("Migrations of Butterflies and Lies"), and John F. Andrews ("An American Nurse In

Paris"). Bronze winners are League members Jean Jacobsen and Susan Rocco-McKeel ("Douglas County Past and Present").

Debut novel selected as a finalist in the Storytrade Awards

Clifton Brown's, "In the Ghost's Shadow" is a finalist in the Romance-Fantasy/SciFi category

Rick Noble is Finalist

Rick Noble's book King Cotton, has been nominated as a finalist in the 19th Annual National Indie Excellence® Awards (NIEA).

CAL Authors Win First Place for Best Television Screenplay!

Dianne Blomberg and her co-writer, Joe Carabello, are thrilled to announce their romcom pilot script, HAPPY LANDING, won First Place for Best Television Screenplay at the 2025 International Oxford Script Awards. This is an important IMDb-qualifying win, located in Oxford, UK.

Author Spotlight on Literal Literary e-magazine

Gini Rifkin is featured on Literal Literary e-magazine's author spotlight!

CAL Members Take CBA Honors

The Colorado Book Awards honored Barbara Nickless as winner of the Mystery category with Play of Shadows, while Mark Stevens, Lisa C. Taylor and Chuck Greaves won the Anthology category for Four Corners Voices.

Kerrie Faye a Killer Nashville Finalist

Faye's Dead Girl is a finalist in the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards.

Colorado Book Awards Finds Finalist Fare in CAL Members

Mystery: Barb Nickless--Play of Shadows and Scott Graham--Death Valley Duel

Romance: Bethany Turner--Cole and Laila are Just Friends, Sheri Cobb South--Fairest of the Fayre

Sci Fi: John Be Lane--The Future Lies

Children: Denise Vega--Adela's Mariachi Band

YA: Kendra Merritt--Unmasked

Gran Kissed the Blarney Stone Singled Out

Luann Atkin Koester’s children’s picture book "Gran Kissed the Blarney Stone" was the 2025 winner of the Bloomsday Literary Award sponsored by the Minnesota Irish Network.

Poet J. Claire Makes Big Debut

J. Claire's inaugural poetry book "Revelry" won two 2025 American Fiction Awards in Nature and Narrative poetry. It was also a finalist in the Contemporary and General poetry categories.

Top Honors For Coal Dust and Dreams

"Coal Dust and Dreams" by CAL member M.J. Evans (Margi) is a first place winner in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards, The Nautilus Book Awards, and the Chanticleer International Book Awards. (All in the middle-grade fiction category.) It was also awarded first in the Literary Global Children's Book awards for Historical Fiction.

DV Chernov's series a CIBA finalist

DV Chernov’s crime fiction series Nick Severs Mysteries was named a finalist in the Mystery and Suspense 2024 Book Series category of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs). The winners of the 16 fiction divisions and 7 non-fiction divisions were announced April 6 in Bellingham, WA. The Nick Severs Mysteries (Severed Echoes, 2002, and Cold Trace, 2024) is a Colorado-based detective series with more twists and turns than a Rocky Mountains highway, taking readers to the dark fringe where crime, psychology, and high-tech collide.

Members named finalists in the CIPA Evvy Awards

Patricia Eagle: Dog Love Stories

J.M. Mitchell: Migrations of Butterflies and Lies

Derek Lowstuter: Fiddler on the Roof of Africa

Jean Jacobsen & Susan Rocco-McKeel: Douglas County Past and Present

MJ Evans: Coal Dust and Dreams

Monica E. Young: How to Move an Aging Parent to Their New Home... Like a Pro

John F. Andrews: An American Nurse in Paris

Richard A. Noble: King Cotton III

Joni Franks: The Crooked Forest Beyond

M.J. Evans Wins Chanticleer Prize

Evans' Coal Dust and Dreams won 1st place in the Chanticleer International Book Awards--the Gertrude Warner Award for middle grade fiction.

PPLD Announce Mountain of Authors Showcase

Nine authors will represent CAL at the 2025 Mountain of Authors on May 17: John Wesley Anderson, Jodi Bowersox, Kevin Bowersox, Jim Henderson, Dian Curtis Regan, Helen Starbuck, Tena Stetler, Mike Torreano, and Bethany Turner. Mountain of Authors takes place at the 21c library in CO Springs and is sponsored by the Pikes Peak Library District.

Samuelson-Brown's book a finalist for Spur Award

The Western Horse: A Popular History of the Wild and Working Animal, by Randi Samuelson-Brown, published by TwoDot, has been named a finalist in the Western Writers of America's SPUR Award for 2025.

Braden's "Lies and Illusion" named a finalist

L.R Braden's novel “Lies and Illusion,” book 7 in her Magicsmith series, was named a finalist in the 2025 Imadjinn Awards for Best Urban Fantasy.

Blossoms on a Poisoned Sea wins honorable mention

Mariko Tatsumoto’s historical fiction, Blossoms on a Poisoned Sea, received an honorable mention for young adult/high school literature from the Freeman Book Awards, which honors East and Southeast Asian titles for children and young adults. The awards, given in four categories, was set up by Columbia University in collaboration with East Asian Studies program at seven universities.

Carter's "Lawyers, Dogs, and Money" wins awards

Tracy Carter’s "Lawyers, Dogs, and Money" won First Place for Fiction-Detective-Women Sleuths and Second Place for Fiction-Women's-Mystery in The BookFest awards for 2024.

Jurka's Magic on the Mountainside collects accolades

Nancy Jurka’s Magic on the Mountainside received a 2024 Purple Dragonfly Honorable Mention, Holiday Books, was named a 2024 Book of the Year, Kids Holiday-Themed Story Books by Creative Child Magazine, and received a 2024 Reader’s Favorites 5-Star Recommended status.

CAL members win poetry award

CAL members Petra Perkins and Constance E. Boyle, along with co-authors Brooke Granville and Gail Waldstein, won First Runner-Up in the Faulkner-Wisdom 2024 Writing Competition for Poetry Collection. The four authors comprise a long-standing poetry club. The award ceremony will be held in New Orleans, LA.

Buyze a finalist for publisher's award

Kimberly M. Buyze’s book, The Mini Sabbatical: A Field Guide, was a finalist in the "Road to New York Times Best Seller" contest held by the book’s publisher, Pearson Book Publisher. Buyze’s book describes how to prepare for a mini (4 week) sabbatical and provides journaling and reflection pages relevant to sabbaticals. The winner will get the opportunity to have their book advertised on NYC buses.

Lane and Hubbard finalists in Chanticleer Awards

John Be Lane’s post-dystopian romantic thriller, The Future Lies, and Dee Hubbard’s, Network Apprentice were named as finalists in divisions the Chanticleer International Book Awards. The Future Lies is a finalist in the Cygnus Book Awards, and Network Apprentice is a finalist in the Somerset Book Awards. The Cygnus Book Awards recognize works in the genre of Science Fiction, Steampunk, Alternative History, and Speculative Fiction. The Somerset Book Awards are designated for works in Contemporary and Literary Fiction. 

Hamilton's book one of top on West Slope

Penny Hamilton's "Images of America: Grand County" was chosen as a 2024 Top Book on the West Slope of Colorado by Skyhinews.com.

Winograd's book shortlisted for Eric Hoffer award

Kathryn Winograd's The Visible Speaking, an anthology of prose, poetry, and photography, has been short-listed for the Eric Hoffer Award. The Hoffer has become one of the largest international book awards for small, academic, and independent presses. Each year, less than 5% of the Hoffer nominees become grand prize award finalists.

X. Ho Yen's "Puzzling Innerverse" Nabs Literary Titan Nod

The Literary Titan Book Award has recognized X. Ho Yen for "Space Autistic Author’s Puzzling Innerverse" in its children's books category. Literary Titan describes it as "a wildly original blend of illustrated puzzles, space-faring adventure, internal monologue, and heartfelt autobiography."

X. Ho Yen's second novel a finalist

X. Ho Yen's second novel, "Custodians of the Future" has been named a finalist in two 2024 literary contests: American Writing Awards (Science Fiction-Other category) and Global Book Awards (Science Fiction-Crime & Mystery category). The book is a SciFi mystery-romp-chase that takes place on New Year's Eve 2099 in Stockholm; it also includes many pop culture nods, which the author says needn't be recognized to enjoy the story.