It was finally time! Everyone donned their best cat dresses, ears, and bling to meet in the banquet room for the final event of the conference, the dinner and awards ceremony.

There was excitement in the air as we looked out on the St Louis Arch for the last time. People snapped lots of pictures of all the glam, and talked of everything under the sun, but once dinner (and the lovely CWA cake) was out of the way, the anticipation grew. Many were up for awards and hopeful to go home with prestigious Muse Medallions, including myself. Both Cat Café and Cat Poems had made it to this final round, and though the competition was steep. My friends Patty Fry and Debbie De Louise, plus several more had cat mysteries in the running. I was crossing my fingers for the prize.

The event was emcee’d Arden Moore and Pet Safety Cat Casey, which made every minute fun and full of surprises.

I won’t go through the winners of the 42 regular and 18 special categories. You can read about them here, or stream the whole show here  and here.

But about me! I didn’t win a Muse, but I was shocked out of my fur when my name was called for a special award sponsored by World’s Best Cat Litter. It’s called the World’s Best Cat Litter-Ary Award, judged by Cindy Rigoni, DVM. The award is for an “outstanding novel, short story, poem, or radio/television dramatic script which portrays cats and cat ownership in a positive way.” I doubted a full length book would rate, but I sent in Cat Café anyway. And it won! Thank you, Dr. Rigoni and World’s Best!

Another high point for me was the winner of the Shojai Mentor Award,  my nominee Ramona Marek. I got to read my nomination letter and accept the award for her since she was not there. I’m so happy my hard-working, compassionate, intelligent, cat-savvy friend won the recognition she deserves

Next year’s conference will be in New Jersey, in conjunction with the National CFA Cat Show. That’s a long way from home for me, but I’m hoping to make it anyway. Until then, have fun, do good, pet cats. I’ll leave you with some of the unique members of the CWA.

*You too can be a member of the Cat Writers’ Association! If you write, blog, paint, photograph, broadcast, or any other creative outlet featuring cats, you may be eligible.

“CWA IS A WRITERS’ ORGANIZATION FOUNDED TO ENCOURAGE PROFESSIONALISM AMONG CAT WRITERS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, ARTISTS & BROADCASTERS.”

Janiss Garza, Sparkle Cat

Jessica Spawn, Instagram Cat Mom

Paula Gregg,, Sweet Purrfections

Fran Pennock Shaw

Debbie De Louise, the Cobble Cove Mystery Series

~Summer~