The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.
Regular readers of this column know I view most literary awards with a jaundiced eye, but I make an exception for the Colorado Book Awards — because I won one once. Perhaps because of this and knowing very little about the mechanics of the award, I had the idea a while back of nominating Bin Ramke for an award this year for his remarkable “Theory of Mind: New and Selected Poems.” My reasons were simple: I think Ramke is the best poet in Colorado and he hasn’t received the recognition he deserves.
On calling the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities, which now handles the awards, however, I found out this wouldn’t be simple. A very pleasant young woman informed me that in addition to filling out an entry form, there was a $50 fee, and I’d have to provide seven copies of Ramke’ s book for the judges.
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No argument there, but it still seems as if something called the Colorado Book Awards should have a nominating process that is somewhat more removed from self-promotion and even approaches objectivity. Not that this is the job of the Center for the Book, nor am I the one to tell them how to run their contest, but there should be an impartial way to recognize and celebrate all those fantastic writers Jones was talking about. One happy result of all this, though, is that Ramke’s book did finally get nominated — by his publisher. I have a feeling someone at the endowment may have made a call.
While there are plenty of deserving authors on this list (including Westword's own Teague Bohlen), the absence of one work of fiction has already stirred up debate: Kali Fajardo-Anstine's Sabrina & Corina was snubbed, and some in the literary community are crying foul.
Fajardo-Anstine was Colorado's biggest breakout literary success of 2019. Her collection of short stories was a finalist for the National Book Award and was recognized by Mayor Michael Hancock's office for artistic excellence. It also ended up on plenty of year-end reading lists.
"I am writing in shock at the very conspicuous absence of the book Sabrina and Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine from this year’s Colorado Book Award finalists," Arvin Ramgoolam, the co-owner of Townie Books in Crested Butte, wrote in a statement. "In a time when readers recognize that stories from marginalized communities are vital and necessary, this omission is more than an absent minded mistake on a list that is deeply lacking in diversity, it is a concerted effort to sideline an author and further marginalize communities in Colorado, and needs to be scrutinized by not just the literary community, but all artistic communities and financial supporters of the Colorado Humanities."
There were familiar faces and newcomers at the dais as the Colorado Center for the Book handed out its annual Colorado Book Awards Tuesday night in the Donald R. Seawell Grand Ballroom at the Denver Performing Arts Complex.
Longtime author Dan Simmons went home with the award for fiction for "The Crook Factory" (HarperCollins, $24), a tale of espionage based on novelist Ernest Hemingway's real-life desire to run a spy ring out of Havana during World War II.
Former Denver Post business writer Stephen Keating was given the award for nonfiction for "Cutthroat: High Stakes and Killer Moves on the Electronic Frontier" (Johnson Books, $32.50), an inside account of the often brutal, high-stakes battle for market share between cable and satellite companies in the telecommunications industry.
Literature doesn't pay the bills anymore, as Friday night's Fourth Annual Colorado Book Awards proved.
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The annual awards are presented by the Colorado Center for the Book and sponsored by the Colorado State Library and Adult Education Office and the Rocky Mountain News.
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The surprise of the evening came when host Greg Moody of KCNC-TV announced that the Colorado Center for the Book had decided to give a special award to a book that had been nominated, but not chosen to win, in the fiction category, Timothy Hillmer's The Hookmen.
The Colorado Book awards, by the Colorado Humanities and Center for the Book, were moderated by Channel 2 anchor Natalie Tysdal, at the Tivoli Turnhalle on the Auraria campus of Metropolitan State College.
Some might say that any man whose name has a "Sir" in front of it might be a bit highbrow for an out-West audience. But Sir Harold Evans, keynote speaker for the Colorado Center for the Book 13th Annual Colorado Book Awards, comes off as anything but pompous.
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The Colorado Book Awards ceremony, held at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, is open to the public. This year, 217 books were judged in 14 categories.
Helen Thorpe's "The Newcomers," about immigrant students at South High School, was recognized at the 2018 Colorado Book Awards last week at the Sie FilmCenter.
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The book won the Creative non-fiction category, beating out "Guidebook to Relative Strangers" by Camille T. Dungy, "No Barriers" by Erik Weihenmayer, and "The Long Haul" by Finn Murphy.
Salida's Kent Nelson won the fiction award and Jon Krakauer took home the nonfiction prize as the 2004 Colorado Book Awards were handed out Thursday night at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum.
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Sponsored by the Colorado Center for the Book, the evening also featured an address by Harold Evans, whose book "They Made America - From the Steam Engine to the Search Engine: Two Centuries of Innovators," has just been released. The book is a companion volume to his "This American Century."
More than 300 guests attended the 15th Annual Colorado Book Awards Gala on Oct. 18 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
They celebrated books judged as the best of 2005 in 10 genres, including fiction, nonfiction, children's books, poetry and pictorial.
The event was emceed by etown radio host Nick Forster. Nick Urata, lead singer and guitarist for the Denver-based band DeVotchKa, performed.
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The Colorado Center for the Book, a program department of Colorado Humanities, sponsors the event to recognize Colorado's finest authors, encourage a love of books and promote literacy.
A novel revolving around a family's dark secrets and a book about people fanatically pursuing their passions are among this year's Colorado Book Awards honorees.
The 14 winners in 10 categories were announced Wednesday night in an event sponsored by the Colorado Humanities and Center for the Book.
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The event, held at the Seawell Grand Ballroom at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, was attended by more than 300 people. The winning authors were selected out of 39 finalists.
Colorado authors in 14 categories from anthology to young adult literature were recognized at the Colorado Book Awards this week.
Among the winners was Carter Wilson’s “Revelation,” which Denver Post regional book reviewer Sandra Dallas calls “a dark and brooding thriller” that delves into the mind of a psychopath who wants to control and manipulate those around him.
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The awards, presented May 21 during a ceremony at the Parker Arts, Culture & Events Center, are given by Colorado Humanities, a nonprofit that is affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Colorado Center for the Book. For a list of previous winners, click here.
The winners of this year's Colorado Book Awards include the poignant story of small-town life on the Colorado plains and the moving tale of a transgender teen.
In other words, diversity was the order of the day for the 14th-annual event, which honored nine titles released in 2004.
The ceremony, which took place at the Donald R. Seawell Grand Ballroom, was sponsored by the Colorado Center for the Book.
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The eclectic titles were feted in an equally wide-ranging program, moderated by Nick Forster of the music and environmentally oriented radio show etown.
Authors, judges, and lovers of all things literary gathered on Saturday, May 18, to celebrate the 28th annual Colorado Book Awards, presented by Colorado Humanities and Center for the Book. The awards, which honor the best in literature from calendar year 2018, was sponsored this year by First Western Trust, Outskirts Press, Shaw Construction and the Colorado Sun. Held at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, the festivities drew a crowd of nearly 200 to celebrate the winners and the finalists in fourteen categories of written wonderfulness.
Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, North America1000 08:55, 1 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Comment Cunard has given us refs but I think only no.1 can be classed as significant coverage, while the rest are about the awards themselves. This [1] is local but is more about the awards. As per most awards difficult to actually find enough independent in depth stuff as it is normally about the winners.Davidstewartharvey (talk) 15:13, 1 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Keep Coverage in reliable sources established.★Trekker (talk) 23:17, 4 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Delete - yes, there's coverage, and yes, the sources are reliable and independent. But almost none of it is significant coverage that actually discusses the awards themselves or their meaning or relevance to the literary community etc. Without more significant coverage, I don't see how the article can be expanded past what it is, without turning it into a mere list of winners. This is a clear example of why the notability guidelines require significant coverage, not just mentions. –Darkwind (talk) 00:53, 10 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Comment: I consider the criticism of Colorado Book Awards in these three sources to be substantial analysis of the awards:
This article is from an author who had been nominated for the Colorado Book Awards and wrote "Unfortunately this year, the Colorado Book Awards' failure to recognize Sabrina & Corina has overshadowed the accomplishments of writers of color who, like me, are finalists."
The other sources I've listed discuss what has happened at the awards ceremonies and provides details about the awards. An example: "More than 300 guests attended the 15th Annual Colorado Book Awards Gala on Oct. 18 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. They celebrated books judged as the best of 2005 in 10 genres, including fiction, nonfiction, children's books, poetry and pictorial. The event was emceed by etown radio host Nick Forster. Nick Urata, lead singer and guitarist for the Denver-based band DeVotchKa, performed. ... The Colorado Center for the Book, a program department of Colorado Humanities, sponsors the event to recognize Colorado's finest authors, encourage a love of books and promote literacy." These sources contribute to notability.
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.