Bios collected by Janet Fogg
Condensed and consolidated by Pam Nowak
In 1985, the fledging RMRW (later RMFW) awarded its very first Writer of the Year award. The award, then called the “Colorado Romance Writer of the Year”, went to Maggie Osborne. Sharon Mignerey recalls that Kim Phillips, who was president at the time, asked her woodworker husband to help create the award itself because there was no money in the treasury to purchase anything fancy. He cut a breadboard into the shape of a heart. It was painted blue. Kay Bergstrom describes it as “a little bit clunky with a lot or personality.”
This week, in honor of Maggie and all the WOTYs since, we are sharing brief bios for each. Please note bios were pulled from multiple sources and may be outdated. Some bios have been shortened to keep this article manageable. Biographical information for repeat recipients is not repeated.
Maggie Osborne, 1985 Writer of the Year: Maggie Osborne is the author of I Do, I Do, I Do and Silver Lining, as well as more than forty contemporary and historical romance novels written as Maggie Osborne and Margaret St. George. She has won numerous awards from Romantic Times, Affaire de Coeur, BookraK, the Colorado Romance Writers, and Coeur du Bois, among others. Osborne won the RITA for long historical from the Romance Writers of America in 1998. Maggie lives in a resort town in the Colorado mountains with her husband, one mule, two horses, one cat, and one dog, all of whom are a lot of aggravation, but she loves them anyway.
Kay Bergstrom, 1986 Writer of the Year: Kay Bergstrom aka Cassie Miles has published over 80 books of romance and suspense, and has also sold screenplay treatments, radio plays and articles. She’s been on the USA TODAY Bestseller List and Publishers Weekly Bestseller List. She’s been RMFW Writer of the Year twice, and served as President, Vice President, and Treasurer. A recent Harlequin Intrigue is Mountain Bodyguard.
Jasmine Cresswell, 1987 Writer of the Year: Jasmine Cresswell is the award-winning, USA-Today Bestselling author of more than seventy novels, published in seventeen languages and twenty-seven countries. There are more than 17 million copies of her books in print. She spends the winters in her Florida condo, located only a few feet from the north shore of Sarasota Bay. She’s fortunate enough to have a summer home nestled in North Carolina hill country, close to the small town of Cashiers and she enjoys every minute of the cool mountain weather which forms such a contrast to Florida’s heat.
Kathy Clark, 1988 Writer of the Year: Kathy Clark has always been a storyteller. She completed her first novel when she was four years old. Years later, Kathy’s first adult book was published by Dell. Since then, she had a total of twenty-three novels published by Dell, Crown, and Harlequin. With her husband Bob Wernly as a co-writer, they published (both traditionally and epub) an additional fourteen novels. Nine of these fourteen books were self-published in the romantic suspense, young adult and erotic romance genres. The remaining five were published by Random House LLC as the Denver Heroes and Austin Heroes, released in 2015 and throughout 2016.
Jasmine Cresswell, 1989 Writer of the Year: See base bio 1987. Jasmine became an invaluable RMFW mentor. She willingly lent her expertise and lessons-learned and shared publishing connections that helped RMFW have a Harlequin editor in attendance at its first ever conference in 1984, a successful event that not only attracted subsequent long-term members, but also financially.
Barbara Blackman, 1990 Writer of the Year: Barbara Blackman penned 25 romance novels for Harlequin under the pseudonym Jeanne Allan, though on her first, Peter’s Sister, her surname was misspelled on the front cover as “Allen.” Later books included From the Highest Mountain and Moving in with Adam, and several were translated into German. Barbara was a member of RMFW, Pikes Peak Romance Writers, Colorado Authors League, and Romance Writers of America. In 1990 she was recognized as RMFW’s Writer of the Year, and in 1992 received RMFW’s Jasmine Award.
Diane Mott Davidson, 1991 Writer of the Year: New York Times bestselling author Diane Mott Davidson wrote three novels before one was accepted for publication—when she was 41. Hailed as “a cross between Mary Higgins Clark and Betty Crocker” by the Baltimore Sun, Diane is the author of a bestselling culinary mystery series starring caterer and amateur sleuth Goldy Schulz. At the start of the series, Goldy is a recently divorced mother with a young son trying to make a living as a caterer in the fictional town of Aspen Meadow, Colorado. Robin Vidimos noted that Aspen Meadow, CO, closely resembles a real Colorado town, Evergreen, where Mott Davidson resides with her family.
Cheryl McGonigle, 1992 Writer of the Year: Born and raised in Wyoming, Cheryl McGonigle happened upon an article about a local romance writer, Maggie Osborne and caught the bug herself. She wrote for four years, learning the craft, reading romances by the dozens, and then began the story that would become her first published romance. She called it Tangled Woods and Brambles — a reference to the obstacles the Prince had to cut through to save Sleeping Beauty. The hero was stuck in a coma, but the heroine, his doctor, could hear his thoughts. Mercifully, another friend and Harlequin author, Jasmine Cresswell, suggested the title Prince of Dreams, and the book became a sort of cult favorite, a launch title for Harlequin’s Dreamscape imprint for paranormal romances. Within a month, Cheryl, writing as Carly Bishop, sold her second book to Harlequin Intrigue, and she’s been writing romantic suspense ever since.
Jimmie Butler, 1993 Writer of the Year: Jimmie H. Butler, Colonel, USAF, Retired, flew 240 missions as a Nail FAC in O-1s and O-2s in the Vietnam War. His combat decorations include the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Air Medal with sixteen oak leaf clusters. Since retiring from active duty, he has published highly successful technothrillers. His first novel, The Iskra Incident, earned the 1991 Award of Excellence for Aviation Fiction from the Aviation/Space Writers Association. Red Lightning—Black Thunder, a thriller involving space warfare, was crafted from his experience as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force Space Division and as a pilot on worldwide missions in C-141 jet transports. While at the Air War College, he wrote a book-length report, Crickets on a Steel Tiger: The Interdiction of the Ho Chi Minh Trail 1966-1968. It earned the Air Force Historical Foundation’s 1980 Award for the best aerospace report of major historical interest. A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy Class of 1963, he resides in Colorado Springs where he established the Pikes Peak Writers Conference in 1993.
Lee Karr, 1994 Writer of the Year: A Colorado Native who published her first novel in 1980, Leona (Lee) Karr loves to read and write, and her favorite books are romantic suspense. Every book she writes is an exciting discovery as she finds the right combination of romance and intrigue. She has authored over thirty novels, publishing eighteen with the Harlequin Intrigue imprint. Examples include Shadow Mountain, Charmed, and Shadows on the Lake. Honors include RMFW’s Writer of the Year and Colorado’s Romance Writer of the Year awards. When not reading and writing, Lee thoroughly enjoys spoiling her eight beautiful granddaughters.
Christine Jorgensen, 1995 Writer of the Year: C.T. Jorgensen—aka Christine Jorgensen—is a multi-published crime fiction writer. Her first six novels were humorous amateur sleuth mysteries—five in the Stella the Stargazer series including A Love to Die For, You Bet Your Life, Curl Up and Die, and several more, plus one standalone. Missing is Jorgensen’s debut thriller, the first in a series featuring Detective Casey Jansen. For the new series, Jorgensen draws on her professional background as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in the fields of child abuse and neglect, and in pediatric rehabilitation.
Rick Hanson, 1996 Writer of the Year: A former Marine who received a Purple Heart for service in Vietnam, Rick worked for several years as an aerial photographer and certified cartographer for Merrick Company while simultaneously launching his writing career. Remembered for his wicked sense of humor, as evidenced by the titles of his five novels, such as Spare Parts and Splitting Heirs, his books graced several best-seller lists. In 1996 Rick was President of the Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers of America and RMFW’s Writer of the Year. Generous with a smile and his time, he taught writing at Colorado Gold, several Pike’s Peak Writer’s Conferences, for CU’s Extension School, and in the Colorado prison system. After sharing love and laughter with his partner of ten years, author Kay Bergstrom (Cassie Miles), Rick passed away far too young. One of his RMFW legacies is the annual Simile Contest held at Colorado Gold, where “sphincter” is more often than not a required word.
Anne Holmberg, 1997 Writer of the Year: Anne Holmberg, born in 1938 in Colorado, wrote twelve historical romance novels as Anne Avery, including The Bride’s Revenge and Hidden Hearts, and three contemporary romance novels as Kate Holmes. She also penned one novel, Dead Aim, as Anne Woodard. More recent series include mysteries and futuristic romance. She has been a four-time nominee for a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times Book Reviews.
Leslie O’Kane, 1998 Writer of the Year: Leslie O’Kane has written 28 novels in which at least one crime takes place. Many years ago, she was taken hostage in a robbery by an irate customer afterhours at the bar where she was head waitress. Leslie’s first thought was: “This guy is taking missing last call way too seriously.” That made her laugh, which in turn made the robber strike her with his shotgun. The experience taught her that writing about crimes is much more fun than taking part in them. She lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband and their Cocker Spaniel.
Patricia Werner, 1998 Writer of the Year: Patricia Werner grew up in Oklahoma and graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. She is the author of over twenty romance novels, exemplified by The Swirling Mists of Cornwall, Island of Lost Rubies, Treasured, Mountain Dreamer, Secret at Orient Point, and Hidden Gold of Widow’s Mountain, for publishers such as Harlequin and Zebra, including her best seller The Mistress of Blackstone Castle. Patricia also penned several non-fiction books, including Dazzling Knits and The Walls Talk: Historic House Museums of Colorado.
Maggie Osborne, 1999 Writer of the Year: See 1985 bio. Maggie Osborne is the author of over fifty category and historical romance novels, written as Margaret St. George and Maggie Osborne. Maggie is a former national President of Romance Writers of America, and a co-founder of NINC, an organization for multi-published authors. She has been regularly featured in the Doubleday Book Club and is published worldwide as well as in audio and large print editions. Among the many awards Maggie has won are a RITA for Best Long Historical from the Romance Writers of America, and a RITA for Lifetime Achievement. She has received many Career Achievement awards from Romantic Times, including an award for Best Category novel of the year. Maggie and her husband live in Northern Nevada.
Sharon Mignerey, 2000 Writer of the Year: Sharon Mignerey is the author of 11 published novels, and has been a contributor to the Writer Magazine where one of her articles was chosen for the 2005 Writer’s Handbook. She is also a contributor to Many Genres, One Craft sponsored by the Writing Popular Fiction Program at Seton Hill University. Sharon taught college composition for more than five years at Lone Star Community College. She has an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. Her novels have been the recipient of numerous awards including the Golden Heart, the Reader’s Choice Award, and the Keeper Award, and she received RMFW’s Jasmine Award in 1996 in recognition of her dedication to supporting and growing Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers.
Francine Mathews, 2001 Writer of the Year: Francine Mathews, who also writes as Stephanie Barron, was born in Binghamton, New York, the last of six girls. She attended Princeton and Stanford Universities, where she studied history, before going on to work as an intelligence analyst at the CIA. She wrote her first book in 1992 and left the Agency a year later. Since then, she has written 30 novels, including the critically acclaimed Nantucket Mystery series, the Jane Austen Mystery series, and a number of historical fiction and thriller novels. She lives and works in Denver, Colorado.
Christine Goff, 2002 Writer of the Year: Chris Goff is an award-winning author of six novels based on environmental themes and two international thrillers. Her most recent book, Red Sky, was a 2018 Colorado Book Award Finalist. Set in Ukraine and Asia, Agent Raisa Jordan must test the boundaries of diplomacy as she races to prevent the start of a new Cold War. Catherine Coulter had this to say: “Breathtaking suspense, do not miss Red Sky.” Goff’s series debut, Dark Waters, was dubbed “a sure bet for fans of international thrillers” by Booklist. Dark Waters was a Finalist for the 2016 Colorado Book Award, 2016 Colorado Authors’ League, Genre Award, and the 2016 Anthony Award for Best Crime Fiction Audiobook. Goff’s bestselling Birdwatcher’s Mystery series was nominated for two Willa Literary Awards, a Colorado Author’s League Award, and was published in the UK and Japan.
Kay Bergstrom, 2003 Writer of the Year: See 1986 bio. Kay grew up in a small town at the very tip of southern Illinois. A tomboy, she spent most of her time outside and got into big trouble for breaking the trellis while climbing out her second-story bedroom window. When her family moved to L.A., major culture shock ensued. She graduated from North Central college outside Chicago, got married, and returned to Colorado where she worked in personnel at the Denver Post and lived in a mountain cabin without running water. She settled in Denver, raised two amazing daughters, and started writing for Harlequin. After her divorce, she took a break from romance and wrote straight suspense.
Robin Owens, 2004 Writer of the Year: RITA® Award Winning novelist Robin D. Owens credits the telepathic cat with attitude in selling her first futuristic/fantasy romance, HeartMate, published in December 2001. Since then, she has written fifteen books in the series, with Heart Legacy published in November, 2014 (named one of the best paranormal romances of 2015 by Library Journal). Robin self-published her first novella in the series, Lost Heart in April of 2016. Her five book Luna series included average American women summoned into another dimension to save a world. Her Mystic Circle series was a mixture of contemporary urban and romantic fantasy set in Denver. And her newest stories, about an uptight accountant who sees Old West ghosts and helps them move on, began with Ghost Seer in April of 2014 and has continued through five books.
Cindi Myers, 2005 Writer of the Year: Cindi Myers became one of the most popular people in eighth grade when she and her best friend wrote a torrid historical romance and passed the manuscript around among friends. Fame was short-lived, alas; the English teacher confiscated the manuscript and suggested they should spend more time brushing up on grammar and spelling. Since then, Cindi has written more than 100 published novels. Over 1 million copies of her books have been sold around the world, and her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and regularly appear on Publisher’s Weekly’s best seller lists. She is a past Rita finalist and winner of the Colorado Book Award for genre fiction (2013). Cindi has been a member of RMFW since 2001, regularly presents at conference, and is grateful to have found ‘her tribe’ at RMFW.
Carol Berg, 2006 Writer of the Year: Former software engineer Carol Berg never expected to become an award-winning author. She grew up in Fort Worth, Texas reading, but enjoyed majoring in math at Rice University and computer science at the University of Colorado because she didn’t have to write papers. Now her thirteen epic fantasy novels have won national and international awards, including multiple Colorado Book Awards and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature.
C. J. Box, 2007 Writer of the Year: C. J. Box is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 30 novels including the Joe Pickett series. He has won the Edgar Alan Poe Award for Best Novel as well as the Anthony Award, the Maltese Falcon Award, the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, two Barry Awards, and the 2010 Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Award for fiction. He was awarded the 2016 Western Heritage Award for Literature by the National Cowboy Museum as well as the Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel by the Western Writers of America in 2017. Over ten million copies of his books have been sold in the U.S. and abroad and they’ve been translated into 27 languages. Two television series based on his novels are in production (BIG SKY on ABC and JOE PICKETT on Spectrum Originals and Paramount+). He is an Executive Producer for both series.Shadows Reel, the 22nd Joe Pickett novel, was published in March of 2021 and debuted at #2 on the New York Times Bestseller list and #1 on the Wall Street Journal Bestseller list.
Jeanne C. Stein, 2008 Writer of the Year: Jeanne C. Stein is the national bestselling author of the Urban Fantasy series, The Anna Strong Vampire Chronicles and most recently, The Fallen Siren Series written as S. J. Harper. She is active in the writing community, belonging to Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, Sisters in Crime and Horror Writers of America. There are nine books in the Anna Strong series and two books and two novellas in a new series written with Samantha Sommersby under the S. J. Harper pseudonym. She also has more than a dozen short story credits, including the novella, Blood Debt, from the New York Times bestselling anthology, Hexed and The NYT bestselling anthology, Dead But Not Forgotten edited by Charlaine Harris. Her short stories have been published in collections here in the US and the UK. Her latest, an Anna Strong novella entitled Anna & the Vampire Prince, was recently published by Hex Publishers.
Mario Acevedo, 2009 Writer of the Year: Mario Acevedo is the author of the bestselling Felix Gomez detective-vampire series, which includes Rescue From Planet Pleasure from WordFire Press. His debut novel, The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, was chosen by Barnes & Noble as one of the best Paranormal Fantasy Novels of the Decade and was a finalist for a Colorado Book Award. His novel, Good Money Gone, co-authored with Richard Kilborn, won a best novel 2014 International Latino Book Award.
Pamela Nowak, 2010 Writer of the Year: Pamela Nowak has been a member of RMFW since 1994. She has a B.A. in history. Her first historic romance, Chances, was released in 2008 and her second novel, Choices, was published in 2009. The books garnered favorable/starred reviews from Booklist, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Romantic Times, Romance Reviews Today, and The Historical Novels Review. Chances was a Denver best-seller and was named one of the “Top Ten Romance Novels of 2008″ by Booklist, received the 2009 HOLT Medallion for Best First Book, and was a 2009 WILLA Finalist in Historic Fiction. Choices received a 2010 Holt Medallion Award of Merit in Historic Romance. Her third novel, Changes, was released in 2013 and received a Publishers Weekly starred review. Escaping Yesterday was released in 2015.
Robin Owens, 2011 Writer of the Year: see 2004 bio. Robin is profoundly thankful to be recipient of the 2004 Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Writer of the Year award as well as the 2011 Writer of the Year Award, the Colorado Romance Writers Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2010 Best Paranormal and Best of the Best Daphne Du Maurier Award…actually, after winning an award she tends to dance around bored cats.
Carol Berg, 2012 Writer of the Year: see 2006 bio. Former software engineer Carol Berg never expected to become an award-winning author. She’s taught writing in the U.S., Canada, Scotland, and Israel, and received reader mail from the slopes of Denali to beneath the Mediterranean. Her novels of the Collegia Magica have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, using words like compelling and superbly realized. Learn more at Carol’s website: http://www.carolberg.com/.
Linda Joffe Hull, 2013 Writer of the Year: Linda Joffe Hull joined Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers in 2001 with twenty pages and the naive assumption that it wouldn’t be all that hard to complete and publish novel length fiction. Overnight success only took one decade, a few shelved manuscripts, and an infinite amount of support from RMFW. Linda is the author of The Big Bang and Eternally 21, the first title in the Mrs. Frugalicious mystery series.She is currently at work on Black Thursday, the second Mrs. Frugalicious mystery and a second standalone novel.
Shannon Baker, 2014 Writer of the Year: Shannon Baker is author of the Kate Fox Mystery series. Set in rural Nebraska cattle country, according to a starred review in Library Journal, “Baker’s writing evokes the beauty of the Nebraska Sandhills, and her colorful cast of secondary characters adds a depth of charm.” Now a resident of Tucson, Baker spent 20 years in the Nebraska Sandhills, where cattle outnumber people by more than 50:1.
Susan Spann, 2015 Writer of the Year: Susan Spann’s mysteries have made a splash, published in hard cover to unfailingly good reviews. Her third Shinobi mystery, Flask of the Drunken Master, was published in 2015 and now Susan has been named 2015 Writer of the Year. Her mysteries are set in sixteenth-century Japan and feature ninja detective Hiro Hattori and his Jesuit Sidekick, Father Mateo. The first book was Claws of the Cat and the second was titled Blade of the Sumarai. Claws of the Cat was named a Library Journal mystery debut of the month and was a finalist for the Silver Falchion Award for Best First Novel. As a result, Susan was interviewed for an article in Writers Digest by Chuck Sambuchino.
The Independent Writer of the Year Award was created during 2016 with an initial two-year eligibility period.
Lisa Manifold, 2015-2016 Independent Writer of the Year: Lisa Manifold is a USA Today Bestselling Author of fantasy, paranormal, and romance stories. She moved to Colorado as an adult and has no plans of living anywhere else. She is a consummate reader, often running late because of “Just one more page!” Lisa writes the things she does because she really, really wants to live in a world where these kinds of stories happen. This could explain her room of costumes and addition to fan conventions. She lives outside of Denver with her husband, children, and two dogs, and one offended cat. Lisa is the author of the Sisters of the Curse series, Three Wishes, and The Realm Trilogy. You can learn more at www.lisamanifold.com.
Mark Stevens, 2016 Writer of the Year: The son of two librarians, Mark Stevens was raised in Lincoln, Massachusetts, and has worked as a reporter, as a national television news producer and in public relations. He’s the author of The Fireballer (Lake Union, 2023). He is also the author of The Allison Coil Mystery Series, including Antler Dust, Buried by the Road, Trapline, Lake of Fire, and The Melancholy Howl. Buried by the Roan, Trapline, and Lake of Fire were all finalists for the Colorado Book Award. Trapline won. Mark has had short stories published by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Mystery Tribune, and in the Denver Noir (Akashic Books, 2002).
Wendy Terrien, 2017 Independent Writer of the Year: International bestselling author Wendy M. Barnhart (formerly Wendy Terrien) received her first library card at age two, and a few years later started writing her own stories. Her debut novel, The Rampart Guards (February 2016), earned a Kirkus starred review and was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2016. Next in her series are Jason’s book two – The League of Governors (August 2017), and Sadie’s book two – The Clan Calling (August 2017), both award winners. Book three in the series (and the fourth physical book) is The Forge of Bonds (February 2020).
Shannon Baker, 2017 Writer of the Year: See 2014 bio. Shannon Baker is proud to have been chosen Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ 2014 and 2017 Writer of the Year. Her stand-alone psychological thriller, The Desert Behind Me, was the 2019 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award winner. Baker also writes the Nora Abbott mystery series, a fast-paced mix of Hopi Indian mysticism, environmental issues, and murder. The first in the series, Height of Deception, is set in Flagstaff, AZ, where she lived for several years and worked for The Grand Canyon Trust, a hotbed of environmentalists who, usually, don’t resort to murder. It is a 2013 finalist in the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards.
Corinne O’Flynn, 2018 Independent Writer of the Year: Corinne O’Flynn is a USA Today bestselling author of The Expatriates fantasy-adventure series featuring Song of the Sending and Promise of the Scholar, the Witches of Tower Hill paranormal suspense series featuring the award-winning Ghosts of Witches Past, the Aumahnee Prophecy urban fantasy series which she co-writes with RMFW member Lisa Manifold, and the Half Moon Girls murder-mystery series. She is also a publisher with Wicked Ink Books, whose titles include the award-winning anthologies Tick Tock: Seven Tales of Time and Off Beat: Nine Spins on Song. Look for a new anthology from Wicked Ink Books in the Fall 2018, and the final installment of The Expatriates series, Soul of the Sword, this summer.
Gwen Florio, 2018 Writer of the Year: Award-winning journalist Gwen Florio has covered stories ranging from the shooting at Columbine High School to the glitz of the Miss America pageant and the more practical Miss Navajo contest, whose participants slaughter and cook a sheep. She’s reported from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, as well as Lost Springs, Wyoming (population three). She turned to fiction in 2013 with the publication of her first novel, Montana, which won the Pinckley Prize for Debut Crime Fiction and a High Plains Book Award. Under the Shadows (Midnight Ink, March 2018) is the fifth novel in the Lola Wicks series, termed “gutsy” by the New York Times. She turned to literary fiction with Silent Hearts (Atria, July 2018), a novel set in Afghanistan. Previously the city editor of the Missoulian newspaper in Missoula, Montana, Gwen lives with her partner, Scott, and an exuberant, manuscript-chewing bird dog named Nell.
Stephanie Reisner, 2019 Independent Writer of the Year: Stephanie Reisner makes her living as a full-time writer/publisher and is published both traditionally and independently, but with focus on her successful indie career. With four pen names, she has over 18 published novels in various genres to her credit. She is the author of the independently published, bestselling Gilded Lily series, which started with Training Amy—a book that has sold over 50,000 copies. She is also multi-published in both shorter fiction and nonfiction (with over 30 nonfiction books to her credit). Most of her work is independently published at this time, excluding one novel and a handful of short stories. In 2018 she independently published two novels, one nonfiction book, and one novella. Her independent novel Thirteen Covens: Bloodlines Part One was a 2018 CIPA EVVY Award winner and has spurred some interest from an independent film company. In spring 2019 she released Illuminated Darkness, the fifth and final book in her acclaimed OTS (urban fantasy/mystery) series. She also runs Darkerwood Publishing Group, a micro press that publishes six additional authors under two successful imprints, DB Publishing (nonfiction) and Midnight Fantasy Press (erotic romance fiction).
Margaret Mizushima, 2019 Writer of the Year: Margaret Mizushima is the author of the Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries. Her books have been shortlisted for the RT Reviewers’ Choice, Colorado Book, Silver Falchion, Foreword Indies, and Benjamin Franklin awards, and Kings River Life listed her fourth episode, Burning Ridge, as a Best Book of 2018. Margaret is a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and Sisters in Crime, and she serves on the board for the Mystery Writers of America Rocky Mountain Chapter. She lives on a small farm in Colorado with her husband and a pack of dogs. She can be found on Facebook (Facebook/AuthorMargaretMizushima), Twitter (@margmizu), Instagram (margmizu), and her website (https://margaretmizushima.com/).
Bernadette Marie, 2020 Independent Writer of the Year: Bestselling author, Bernadette Marie, is known for building families readers want to be part of. Her series The Keller Family has graced bestseller charts since its release in 2011. Since then, she has published over forty of her own books and in excess of 160 from other authors as the owner of 5 Prince Publishing. A four-time finalist and the 2020 Independent Writer of the Year, Bernadette enjoys sharing her knowledge of writing and publishing with those who aspire to be part of the literary community.
Kerry Schafer, 2020 Writer of the Year: Kerry Schafer (who also writes as Kerry Anne King) is a Washington Post and Amazon charts bestselling author who writes compelling and transformational stories about family and personal growth with elements of mystery, humor and an undercurrent of romance. Kerry Anne has been chosen as the 2020 Writer of the Year by the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Her most recent novel, Everything You Are, is a finalist in the Nancy Pearl Awards hosted by the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. In addition to writing, she is enthusiastic about encouraging and supporting other writers and is the host of Tell Me Your Secrets, a videocast/podcast featuring lively, informal interviews with authors and other people involved in bringing books into the world.
Andre Gonzalez, 2021 Independent Writer of the Year: Andre Gonzalez is the international bestselling author of the Wealth of Time Series. He writes time-travel, thriller, and horror books after spending many years reading and studying the works of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Keeping readers up late and their hearts pumping a bit faster than normal is his ultimate goal. Andre is currently serving as the PAA Liaison for Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. When he’s not writing, you can find Andre buried underneath a long to-do list and/or his three very hyper children. He and his wife are raising their family in their hometown of Denver, CO. andregonzalez.net
Sue Hinkin, 2021 Writer of the Year: Originally from Chicago, Sue Hinkin is a former television news photographer, NBC-TV Art Department manager, as well as a college teacher and administrator. A Cinematography graduate of the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, she now lives in Littleton, Colorado where she is a new grandmother of twin girls. Hinkin writes the Beatrice Middleton & Lucy Vega thriller series. Her fourth installment, The Mermaid Broker, was published April 1st 2021 to strong reviews. Suehinkin.com
In 2022, the IWOTY and WOTY were merged into one award.
Amy Rivers, 2022 Writer of the Year: Amy Rivers is an award-winning novelist and writer of short stories and personal essays, as well as the Director of Northern Colorado Writers. She was recently named 2021 Indie Author of the Year by the Indie Author Project. She’s been published in We Got This: Solo Mom Stories of Grit, Heart, and Humor, Flash! A Celebration of Short Fiction, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Nurses, and Splice Today, as well as Novelty Bride Magazine and ESME.com. Her novel All The Broken People was recently selected as the Colorado Author Project winner in the adult fiction category. In April 2021, Complicit, the first book in the A Legacy of Silence series was published. It recently won 2nd place in the 2021 CIPA EVVY Awards. The second book in the series, Stumble & Fall, was published in September 2022. You can learn more at https://www.amyrivers.com/.