• Anthology – A collection of poems, stories, or essays by one or more authors, with a compiler or editor other than the author.
  • Creative Nonfiction & Memoir – A book of nonfiction that uses literary styles and techniques as well as memory, experience, observation, and opinion to create factually accurate narratives.
  • General Nonfiction – A book of nonfiction, including, but not limited to, science, nature, guidebooks, cookbooks, and educational texts.
  • Genre Fiction – A book of fiction that is tied to the plot and follows conventions of genres such as science fiction/fantasy, mystery, thriller, romance, etc.; if enough entries for a specific genre subcategory are received in a given year, a Colorado Book Award will be given in that specific genre.
  • History – A nonfiction book of history, including biographies of persons born earlier than the 20th century.
  • Novel/Novella – A novel is a work of prose fiction with a word count of 40,000 words or more. A novella is a work of prose fiction with a word count between 17,500 and 40,000 words.
  • Pictorial – A book strongly focused on photographs/illustrations by a Colorado photographer/illustrator; books in this category will be judged primarily on their illustrative content and overall book design.
  • Poetry – A book-length collection of poetry by a single writer; chapter books of at least 30 pages are also eligible.
  • Short Story – short story collection.
  • Emergent Readers – A work of fiction or nonfiction for ages birth to 4. Books for this age are mainly read aloud style with engaging illustrations and text. The story is told with few words and encourages children to formulate shapes, letters, and sounds.
  • Early Readers – A work of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry for readers grades K – 2nd. Books can also include easy chapter books and picture books. Characters in the story are of similar age to the reader.
  • Juvenile Literature – A work of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry for readers grades 3rd – 5th.
  • Middle Grade – A work of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry for readers grades 6th – 8th.
  • Young Adult Literature – A work of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry for young adults grades 9th – 12th.

Books may be submitted in only one category. The final decision on a book’s category placement will be determined by Colorado Humanities.