I missed my previous turn to post and for this I apologize. Last month I was in Oceanside, CA, to attend the ceremony for the International Latino Book Awards. Not knowing what my travel schedule was going to be, I had written my blog ahead of time and all I had to do was logon, give it a last-minute read, and hit publish. Problem was, I couldn't logon. When my account needs verification, I usually get a code sent either to my phone or another email account. This time, Google verification sent the code to my tablet, which I seldom use and I'd left back in Colorado. I tried all sorts of work-arounds, to no avail as the verification kept defaulting to the tablet.
If you ever find yourself stranded, there are far worse places than Oceanside.
I was here because the anthology, Ramas y Raíces, I edited for CALMA--Colorado Alliance of Latino Mentors and Authors--had been selected as a finalist in the 2025 International Latino Book Awards. Curiously, though there were over ninety categories (children's, YA, memoir, novels, best cover, poetry collection, etc.,), there was none for anthology, and so we opted for The Dolores Huerta Best Cultural and Community Themed Book - Spanish.
The awards are truly international in scope with authors and publishers from all over the US, plus Puerto Rico, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Cuba (via Canada), Brazil, and Portugal. The ceremony venue was Miracosta College.
With so many awardees, only those who won Gold were given the opportunity to express their thanks at the podium, and even then, were cautioned to keep their words short. No more than 20 seconds. I did have a speech ready, but as circumstances turned out, we got Bronze. However, if you have a chance to hold one of these medals, it is an impressive hunk of quality metal--I don't think the Olympics gives anything this fancy--so no regrets at coming in third. Besides, having judged many literary contests, choosing the best from a field of great competitors is purely subjective.
Considering this was a gathering of Latinos, no surprise that we chowed down on tacos.
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