Attitudes at Altitude February

Hello, Welcome to the First edition of Attitudes at Altitude 2025, the voice of the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame. The NOMINATIONS are open for the fourth Induction to the Hall and are already coming in. Do you have an author connected to Colorado somehow? You have until the end of March to submit yours. The Induction will be held on Saturday, September 6, 2025. Add the date to your calendar. It’s a fun evening—dress up time—plan a table for your book-loving friends.

The AuthorU.org community will participate in four Barnes & Noble Book Fairs raising amounts of money for future Aspiring Author scholarships. Two are slated for March: BN Colorado Blvd. will be on March 15th and the just-opened Superior store on the 16th. Two in April: Denver Village West-Lakewood will host on April 5th and Southlands on the 6th. The goal—to refill the chest for the next Aspiring Authors Scholarships that will be given in 2026.

Nominations are open for the 2025 Hall Induction through March 31, 2025.

Who’s on your list to nominate? Forms are on the Hall’s website.

This month, 2021 Inductees: Living legend children’s author Avi and Legacy Inductee Hannah Marie Wormington are featured.

I'm looking forward to spending an hour with Inductee Mary Kelly on Februry 12 - she will be the featured Hall author on Author Talk. In gratitude for you and your support of the Hall.

The Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame honors the authors of extraordinary, published works who meet the Hall’s criteria. Members of the public nominate exceptional authors that have impacted them.

Nominations are now open.

And the first round to open the door, candidates must meet one of the five criteria:
• Born in Colorado.
• Lived in Colorado.
• Was in some type of residence (could be a week) writing retreat.
• Writes about Colorado.
• Uses elements of Colorado in their writing.

A diverse group of Colorado residents—including literary professionals have been recruited to serve as the Selection Committee. It reviews all nomination submissions received by March 31, 2025, in-depth, performs additional research if necessary, meets as a group, and selects nominees for induction into the class of 2025 Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame.

Information and submission guidelines are on the Hall’s website, www.ColoradoAuthorsHallofFame.org.

"Avi" Edward Wortis

Schools throughout Colorado welcome the creative mind and the dynamic child stories of Avi Wortis (Edward Irving Wortis). Avi is the author of more than eighty books for children and young adults, including the 2003 Newbery medal winner Crispin: The Cross of Lead. He has won two Newbery Honors and many other awards for his fiction. He lives with his family in Denver, Colorado.

Avi struggled in school due to his dysgraphia. He has amassed a significant body of work over the last 50 years. His books have captivated children’s imaginations, creating hungry readers who still hunger for his books as adults. He has given context to historical times, created magical places, and inspired kindness and hope through the stories he tells.

Awards and Citations include the Newbery Honor for: True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and Nothing But the Truth. He received the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards for True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Poppy, and Nothing But the Truth. The Scott O’Dell Historical Fiction Award was received for The Fighting Ground; the Christopher Award for Encounter at Easton; the Anne Zarrow Award and Boston Public Library for Literary Light; the ALA Notable Books recognition for The Barn, Crispin at the Edge of the World, The Fighting Ground, Nothing But the Truth, Poppy, Silent Movie, Who Was That Masked Man Anyway?; and the 2012 Denver Academy Reach for the Stars Award Honoree.

His partnership with Denver Academy has helped him to research how best to entertain children with his stories. Giving them a glimpse into the writing process and a chance to voice their opinions on a storyline is a magical opportunity.

FEATURED BOOKS: Lost in the Empire City, Secret Sisters and Ragweed and Poppy.

Hannah Marie Wormington

September 5, 1914 – May 31, 1994

H. Marie Wormington is considered one of the nation's top anthropologists, a field dominated by men in the 21st Century but even more so during her lifetime (1914-1994). She was the first female archaeologist to be elected president of the Society for American Archaeology and was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in 1970. In 1983, the Society of American Archaeology awarded her the Distinguished Service Award. She was a consummate researcher and author of ancient people of the United States, especially those who once resided in what is now Colorado.

Although she worked for decades in a museum setting and at on-site excavations, it was her writing of her on-site research and excavations that brought relatively unknown research and methodology to the public. Readers found her research findings to be compelling and riveting. Her books Ancient Man in North America and Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest are classics.

In 1936, she worked for the Colorado Museum of Natural History (presently the Denver Museum of Nature and Science). Between 1935 and 1963, she actively participated in and/or led significant site excavations in France, Colorado, Utah, Mexico, Iowa, Canada, and Alaska. After working at the museum until 1968, she became a popular visiting professor and lecturer at several universities.

Her books and writings include Differentiation of Yuma Points, A Comparison of Folsom and Yuma Flaking Techniques, Ancient Man in North America, The Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest, A Reappraisal of the Fremont Culture, Archaeological Investigations of the Uncompahgre Plateau, A Survey of Early American Prehistory, An Introduction to the Archaeology of Alberta, Canada, Pleistocene Studies in Southern Nevada, and Archaeology of the Late and Post-Pliocene from a New World Perspective.

FEATURED BOOKS: The Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest, Ancient Man in North America and The Story of Pueblo Pottery.

Meet and Learn from
Commander / Dr. Mary Kelly

Mary Kelly (US Navy (retired), shares her experiences in leadership globally. It has led to 20 books, including the award-winning bestselling Master Your World, 15 Ways to Grow Your Business in any Economy, Money Smart; 360 Degrees of Leadership, Stop the Barking, and In Case of Emergency Break Glass.

Join bestselling Colorado Authors Hall of Fame Inductee Mary Kelly as she takes center stage and reveals her journey to becoming an author and trendsetter for business, self-help, and leadership books ... oh the places she has been ... and will go.

Register ahead now: https://bit.ly/WEDAuthorHappyHour

On February 12, this is your Zoom link:
https://bit.ly/AuthorTalkHappyHour
for LIVE on ZOOM ... pass code is Hall

Who Is Mary Kelly?

Mary is the author of 20 leadership and productivity books.
Winner of the Gold Nonfiction Book Award and IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award for Who Comes Next?
She has trained more than 40,000 military and civilian personnel.
She spent 25 years of active duty in the Navy.
She was a military professor at the Naval Academy and a civilian professor at the Air Force Academy.
She was inducted into the Colorado Authors Hall of fame in 2023.

It's a great author stop and awe time with the Inductees of the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame. All sessions will be recorded and registrants will receive the replay ... and they are FREE.

Listen in. Join in the conversation. Have fun. Ask Mary your questions.

Dr. Doug Gilbert is a highly experienced international entrepreneur, academic, and business professional. His current focus includes serving as the CEO of Lone Tree Academics LLC, an academic services provider serving higher education, and a recent startup of EduPartner.Solutions, a Data Analytics as a Service (DAaaS) venture assisting higher education institutions with student success strategies. He also serves as a doctoral faculty for Walden University (USA), a visiting professor at Vilnius University (Lithuania), and a doctoral faculty for UBIS University (Switzerland).

He holds a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, a Juris Doctorate from the University of Iowa, and an M.B.A. from the Unversité de Genève (IMD) in Switzerland.

Doug’s past experiences include serving in senior management roles at several academic institutions, delivering strategy and transformation consulting to biotech companies in a Big 4 consultancy, leading international transformation projects for Novartis—a Swiss multinational, and co-founding Colorado’s newest city—the City of Castle Pines.

Attitudes at Altitude’s promises to our readers…

We celebrate the outstanding authors inducted into the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame since 2019. They are the first in the United States with a connection to Colorado to have been honored as published authors, highlighting the impact and breadth of their work.

The next full Induction will be on September 6, 2025. Put the dates on your calendar. The venue will be the DoubleTree Hilton Denver Tech Center in Greenwood Village.

• Each month, past Inductees are featured with their backgrounds and latest books.

• Past Inductees will offer their sage advice on "how they do it"–whatever "it" is.

• You will be the first to hear about planned Hall Events. Meet a favorite author ... or a new one that has delivered mega hours of reading enjoyment ... one that has made an impact on society or their field.

Support the Hall

The Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame celebrates the accomplishments of living and deceased authors who have been connected to Colorado—their words, wisdom, accomplishments, and the life-changing impact their works create. The result: their legacy lives on.

The Hall is an all-volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that honors and celebrates authors connected with Colorado by birth, residence, temporary residency for writing encouragement and support, writing about elements within Colorado, or placing storylines in or about Colorado.

Authors’ words have immense power and impact on changing others’ lives. They solve problems, bring awareness to a topic, and provide hours of pleasurable reading. It’s the power of their words.

Your financial assistance through donations and participation at events supports the bi-annual Induction Gala in odd-numbered years, the Aspiring Author Scholarships, and the general operation to bring these events to the public.

Please support the Hall for this year going forward.