Celebrate Colorado’s outstanding authors by submitting an eligible book or volunteering as a judge for the 2026 Colorado Book Awards. Books published between November 1, 2024 and December 31, 2025 are eligible for submission. Volunteer selectors and judges from across the state read submissions to determine finalists and winners.

Submissions are open through March 22, 2026.
Volunteer interest forms are due March 1, 2026.

Now in its 17th year, Colorado Humanities’ Black History Live tour is an annual recognition, held each February, of the significant contributions African Americans have made and continue to make to art, culture, economic development, education, human rights, medicine, public services, politics, and sports. The 2026 statewide tour will feature the living-history portrayals of Mary Fields by nationally acclaimed scholar/actor Becky Stone and York by scholar/actor Marvin Jefferson.

The portrayals will be performed in a Chautauqua format, which is a first-person dramatization of a historical figure. The speaker’s monologue typically lasts 40 minutes, followed by 20 minutes of Q&A, first in character and then out of character as the scholar/performer.

We’ve built a strong plan for what comes next—and with your continued support, we can bring this vision to life and secure the future of the humanities in Colorado. Help us write this next chapter together by becoming a humanities champion and protecting access to books, histories, cultural traditions, freedom of thought, literacy, and artistic expression—things we can never take for granted. These are the stories and ideas that define us, and they are worth defending.

Together, we can #ChampionCH.