Aspiring and Achieving Authors

Congratulations to the 2026 Aspiring Author Scholarship Award Winners!

Mallory Decker is a former Navy helicopter pilot turned researcher and teacher. During her 11 years on active duty, she deployed on an aircraft carrier and completed staff tours in the U.S. House of Representatives and NATO. She began writing as a way to process her military experiences and record family stories for her two young children. Mallory is currently completing a family memoir about her Japanese grandmother, who survived the American bombing campaign on Japan during WWII and moved to the United States as a war bride in the 1950s. Mallory lives with her husband and kids near Boulder. 

Molly Heines grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of southeastern Ohio, where local folklore and ghost stories nurtured her love of fantasy and psychological horror. She built a career in chemistry, later launching a bath and body company, before a vivid dream unexpectedly redirected her creative life. That dream compelled her to write the story that became her first fantasy novel and the expansive world she continues to explore. She currently lives in Colorado Springs with her husband, three children, and two very large black cats. 

Emma Needell

Writer & Filmmaker

Emma Needell grew up on a cattle ranch in rural Colorado, where the internet barely worked and the outside world only existed in books and movies. That isolation lit the spark of her creativity and still powers her today. After a screenwriting career in Los Angeles (including THE WATER MAN, produced by Oprah Winfrey and premiered at TIFF), she's come back to Colorado to raise her son and write her first novel, a horror story inspired by Colorado’s mining history. Fun fact: she has a black belt in ninjitsu. 

Tiffany Nieslanik is a writer in Denver, CO. She spends most of her days herding cats, children, and words on the page (not necessarily in that order). (continue paragraph)Her debut novel, Home Planet, follows astronaut Bryn, who discovers she’s pregnant three days before launching on a solo mission to find humanity’s last hope. This journey that will test everything she thought she knew about identity, motherhood, and what’s worth fighting for.

Tiffany is a proponent of power naps, a voracious reader, and thinks you are full of magic.

You can find her at https://theladyhawk.com

Bio: Samantha Mori

Sam Rosewilde is a writer of fantasy fiction who aspires to create whimsical worlds built on community and dreams, where diversity and love are celebrated. She resides in the foothills of Colorado with her two bosses (dogs Appa and Momo) and her beloved partner (human Jack). When not struggling to type her next novel as fast as she can think, she can be found sewing by moonlight and asking too many questions by daylight. Since she was a child, she has dreamed of trying every cheese in the world.

Follow her musings at www.samrosewilde.com

Erin Rae Jones is a writer and former NPR Network podcast producer and editor. Her podcast work was honored by the Webby and Ambie Awards, has won several Murrows, and has been recognized by the Indigenous Journalists Association and PMJA. Her work has been called “vivid, engaging” by The New Yorker, commended by The Atlantic, and recommended by The New York Times. Her prose has been published in The Normal School and supported by the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts and the Wyoming Arts Fellowship. She has an MFA from the University of Wyoming and a BA from The University of Texas at Austin and lives in Denver, Colorado, where she is at work on a novel.

Stacey Naughton is a communications professional and fiction writer based in Arvada, Colorado. She recently earned a certificate in creative writing from Cornell University. Her work has appeared in 101 Words and Wilderness House Literary Review. When she's not writing, Stacey can be found hiking, biking, swimming, and making the most of Colorado's sunshine with her husband and two children.

Jim Roome began writing after being diagnosed with MS. The disease transformed how he lives: he went from relying on physical strength to using observation and adaptive strategies. When he retired from education, he began writing to describe the world he sees and offer encouragement. He writes to inspire readers, preserve stories through Voices We Miss (voiceswemiss.com), and share reflections. His column, Words of Encouragement, appears in the Arvada Press and several small Colorado weeklies. He’s been married to Beth for 37 years. They have two daughters and a granddaughter. He treasures family, learning, history, and the Denver Broncos.

Lucas Cunningham is a writer and filmmaker from Bellingham, WA.

He received an MFA in Screenwriting from DePaul University, where he ran Division 1 track and cross-country. He holds a BA in Environmental Physics, and his work explores the relationships between people and the natural world they inhabit.

His screenplays have won the ISA Fast Track award for Action/Adventure and been Second-Round selections at Austin and Sundance Film Festival. His short story “Beartop” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and his short film “The Man in the Fiber Optic Cable” won the Audience Choice Award at the West Sound Film Festival.

Currently, he lives in Boulder, Colorado with far too many grad students. He works at a fancy hotel and tutors high schoolers in physics and writing. When he’s not doing that, he’s running, fishing, or walking around somewhere pretty. He's a big fan of trees.

Susan Nakure Loriho is a Colorado-based entrepreneur, proud mother, and aspiring author. Born in Sudan, her journey led through Kenya's Kakuma Refugee Camp and a nun-led orphanage, which enabled her to attend boarding school before relocating to the United States in 2006. Today, Susan independently raises her amazing son, runs her culinary business, Susan’s Samosas LLC, and maintains a passionate running routine. She is currently writing her debut memoir, The One Step Journey, sharing her story of deep faith and resilience to inspire others to overcome adversity and confidently pursue their dreams.

The Forever Caterpillar is a poetic and philosophical fable about overcoming the urge to abandon yourself. It invites readers to reconsider what it means to transform.

The story began in 2008 while I was studying philosophy at the University of Colorado. What started as notes scribbled during class grew into years of journal entries, self-reflection, and life experience. The caterpillar has always been there. Over time I was able to capture the story, doing my best to listen to what she has to say.

I began working with Judith Briles in 2024 but paused the project to focus on becoming a new mom. Now that my daughter is two, I reconnected with Judith, learned about the Aspiring Authors scholarship and submitted a revised version of the book.

Fun Fact:

As a Colorado native, the most Colorado “things” about me are: the 1995–96 Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup Finals are a core childhood memory, and any time I leave the state, I have to bring Santiago’s green chile with me.

Growing up on the plains of Colorado, I lived in an area filled with stories. I realized I was a writer in 1964 in high school, when my respected English teacher took me aside and told me I was the best writer in the class. But she still gave me a “B” due to my grammar needing work. Life then led me to a career as a social worker immersed in the stories of the lives of the people in rural Colorado, in Kansas City, and in Fort Worth. Combined with a lifelong love of science fiction, I find myself in the newly defined Protopian science fiction style, telling the tales of unlikely events in the lives of less-than-heroic people, leading to unexpected consequences. Growing up in a blue-collar world, I learned that the quality of work is as important as quantity, and success is never achieved alone. I want to pass those values on to my readers.

Zachary Walker is a Colorado-based clinical mental health counselor, husband, and father. A lifelong lover of stories, he decided to write one of his own on a late December night after reading a great novel and naively thinking, how hard can it be? His professional background sparked a passion for characters, relationships, and exploring how people respond and evolve in the face of joy, grief, fear, and connection. In rare moments of motivated free time, Zachary owns five guitars and plays none well, watches an unhealthy amount of ice hockey, and spends time with his family. 

Farrah Yeganeh is my name.

A.Z. Sultana is my pen name.

A.Z. Sultana is an Iranian-American writer, mountain-hippie feminist, and writing podcast contributor. She writes spec-fic, horror, and urban fantasy that blends Middle Eastern history and lore with her southern upbringing. By exploring themes of feminism, queer experiences, and modern revolution, she aims to contribute to the discourse of social change.

Sultana lives in the Rocky Mountains with her family. When she’s not writing or reading, you can find her gardening, making art, or drying herbs for tinctures and teas in her witch kitch.