Congratulations to our just announced 2025 CAL Award Finalists! Our thanks to our hardworking independent judges who've spent the last several months evaluating all of the entries. The winners will be announced during the 2025 CAL Award Celebration (our 84th year!) to be held July 13th at the Washington Park Boat House at 3 p.m. To register for the celebration, visit the CAL home page and click on the link at the top.
SHORT CATEGORIES
Article
Kathleen Guler—“Early Medieval Art of the British Isles: Celtic or Anglo Saxon?”
Carol Ann Wilson—“House of Mirrors”
Mary Taylor Young—“The Day the Asteroid Changed the World? (And Left Its Mark in a Colorado State Park)”
Essay
Lou Dean—“Unexpected Visitors”
Joachim Glage— “On Mystery: Fragments About Art, Religion, and Philosophy”
Carol Ann Wilson—“Trust”
Single Poem
Dan Guenther—“Collaring the Wolves”
Dan Guenther—“Tracking the Lynx”
Petra Perkins— “Through the Pane”
Short Story
Fleur Bradley Visscher—“The Purgatory of Emily Gray”
Cassi Clark— “A Place to Heal”
Collin Irish— “Subversive”
Book Cover: Juvenile
C.S. Boyle— Always Flying Bobby
Cover Design by Jessica Santiesteban
Sheri Cobb South—The Year Santa Took the Toys Back
Cover Design by Flo Minowa
Anna-Maria Crum & Laura Adams—Skippy Farm Dog of the Year
Cover Design by Anna-Maria Crum
Book Cover: YA/Adult
Kevin Bowersox—Tales of the Incorrigible: A Song of Wood and Meat
Cover Design by Tristan Bowersox
Mark Stevens, Lisa C. Taylor, Chuck Greaves—Four Corners Voices
Cover Design by Jody Chapel
Steve Stratton—A Warrior’s Path
Cover Design by Momir Borocki
Illustration
Sheri Cobb South—The Year Santa Took the Toys Back
Illustrated by Flo Minowa
Jolene Gutierrez—The Ofrenda That We Built
Illustrated by Gabby Zapata
Catherine Ann Russell—Boo Bear’s Light: An ABC Rhyming Picture Book
Illustrated by Jessica Robin Harkey
Children
Sheri Cobb South—The Year Santa Took the Toys Back
J.B. Stockings—Cat & Rabbit
Leslie Mitchell Assini—Little Lou and Just Being You
Early Reader
Claudia Cangilla McAdam—Mother Cabrini: A Heart for the World
Claudia Cangilla McAdam—The Miracle of the August Snow
Anna-Maria Crum & Laura Adams—Skippy Farm Dog of the Year
Nancy Godbout Jurka—Magic on the Mountainside
LONG CATEGORIES
Middle Grade
M.J. Evans—Coal Dust and Dreams
Polly Holyoke—Skyriders
John Lyon & Brad Lyon—Keeper of the Gremkat Key
Young Adult
John F. Andrews—Dogs Don’t Cry
Kerrie Faye—Dead Girl
Kendra Merritt—Unmasked
Fiction: Fantasy Paranormal
Todd Fahnestock—Slayter and the Dragon
Todd Fahnestock—Bane of Giants
Kendra Merritt—The Death Bringer
Fiction: Historical: Pre-20th Century
Sheri Cobb South—Fairest of the Fayre
Ellen Kingman Fisher—The Ring of a Bell
Stefan Scheuermann & Paul Alexander—King of the Gulls
Fiction: Historical: Post 19th Century
John F. Andrews—An American Nurse in Paris
John F. Andrews—Our Desperate Hour
Mariko Tatsumoto—Blossoms on a Poisoned Sea
Fiction: Mainstream/Literary
Jerry Fabyanic—Chacolata
Melissa Payne—The Wild Road Home
Leah Rogin—Burying Norma Jeane
Fiction: Romance
Sheri Cobb South—Fairest of the Fayre
Maria Jane—Perfect Office Pact
Bethany Turner—Cole and Laila are Just Friends
Fiction: SciFi
Collin Irish—Messenger
Dave Jilk—Epoch: A Poetic Psy-Phi Saga
Robert G. Williscroft—KEID: A Lost Civilization
Fiction: Cozy Mystery
Hawkings Austin—Court Human
Tracy Carter—Lawyers, Dogs, and Money
Theresa Crater—Murder, Mystics, and Menopause
Fiction: Amateur Sleuth Mystery
WL Bach—The Suicide Detective
Lenore Mitchell—Wild Ride
Kevin Wolf—Trailridge
Fiction: Law Enforcement Mystery
Daniel Ginsberg—A Well Too Full
Alastair Mayer—Kakuloa: The Downhill Slide
R Weir—Lethal Blues: A Jarvis Mann Hardboiled Detective Mystery
Fiction: Thriller
W.L. Bach—Black Dog Escape
Steve Stratton—A Warrior’s Path
Robert G. Williscroft—Operation Vela Redux
Nonfiction: Memoir
Erin Boydstun Kohler—The Mountains We Climb, Walking Through Life’s Peaks and
Valleys with My Dad and My Father
Todd Fahnestock—Falling to Fly
Victress Hitchcock—A Tree with My Name on It: Finding a Way Home
Nonfiction: General
Wayne A. Ewing— In the Land of Forgetfulness: Meditations on Dementia Care as
Spiritual Formation
Derek Lowstuter— Fiddler on the Roof of Africa: How to Fail Successfully as a Peace
Corps Volunteer
Jody L. Pritzl— The December Dilemma: U.S. Christmas Stamps 1962-1972
Anthology
Sisters in Crime Colorado Chapter—Colorado Mystery Merge
Mark Stevens, Lisa C. Taylor & Chuck Greaves—Four Corners Voices
Mary Taylor Young—At Home in Nature: The History of Colorado’s State Parks
Poetry Collection
Constance E. Boyle—Liberties
Kika Dorsey—Good Ash
Kathryn Winograd—This Visible Speaking: Catching Light Through the Camera’s Eye
Prose Collection
Alice Allis—Return to Sender: A Book of Poetry, Prose, and Otherwise Unsent Letters
Joachim Glage—The Devil’s Library