Spur Award Winners

2020 2021 2022
2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000
1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990
1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980
1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970
1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962 1961 1960
1959 1958 1957 1956  1955  1954  1953      

2023

Best Western Contemporary Novel

Winner: 
Beasts of the Earth
James Wade  Blackstone Publishing
Finalist:

Blind Eye

Martha Burns

Atmosphere Press
Finalist:
River Woman, River Demon
Jennifer Givhan
Blackstone Publishing

Best Western Historical Novel

Winner: 
Properties of Thirst
Marianne Wiggins
Simon & Schuster

Finalist:
Pony Boys

Richard Prosch

Five Star Publishing
Finalist:
Justice for All: The Search for Big Poker Tom
Wayne E. Purcell
Self-Published

Best Western Mass Market Paperback Novel

Winner: 
Dead Man’s Trail: A Carson Stone Western
Nate Morgan Pinnacle/Kensington
Finalist:
The Unlikely Lawman

Steve Kelton
Forge
       

Best Western Romance Novel

Winner: 
Proving Her Claim: On the Dakota Frontier
CK Van Dam
Pasque Publishing
Finalist:
Yet I Will Love Him

Carla Kelly
Camel Press
Finalist: Hearts and Mountains Lynn Eldridge Wolfpack Publishing
       

Best Western Traditional Novel

Winner: 
The Secret in the Wall: A Silver Rush Mystery
Ann Parker Poisoned Pen Press
Finalist:
All My Sins Remembered

Peter Brandvold
Wolfpack Publishing
Finalist: A Man Called Justice John Deacon Self-Published
Finalist
The Wonder Stone: And Other Stories About an Early African Settlement in Central Texas: March 1845-November 1864
Butch Denny
Bent Sun Productions

Best Western Biography

Winner: 
Before Billy the Kid: The Boy Behind the Legendary Outlaw
Melody Groves TwoDot
Finalist:
Country Never Trod: William Lewis Manly’s 1849 Voyage down Utah’s Green River
Michael D. Kane
TwoDot
Finalist:
King Fisher: The Short Life and Elusive Legend of a Texas Desperado
Chuck Parsons and Thomas C. Bicknell
University of North Texas Press
Finalist
Raphael Pumpelly’s Arizona: The Frontier Adventures of a Young Mining Engineer
C. Gilbert Storms
Wheatmark

Best Western Historical Nonfiction

Winner: 
Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America
Megan Kate Nelson
Scribner
Finalist:
The Earth is All That Lasts: Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and the Last Stand of the Great Sioux Nation
Mark Lee Gardner
Mariner
Finalist:
The Widowed Ones: Beyond the Battle of the Little Bighorn
Chris Enss and Howard Kazanjian with Chris Kortlander
TwoDot

Best Western Contemporary Nonfiction

Winner: 
A Place of Thin Veil: Life and Death in Gallup, New
Mexico
Bob Rosebrough
Rio Nuevo Publishers
Finalist:
Wilted Wings: A Hunter’s Fight for Eagles
Mike McTee
Riverfeet Press
Finalist:      

Best Western Short Nonfiction

Winner: 
Texas Jack Takes an Encore
Matthew Ross Kerns
Wild West
Finalist:
Apostles of Disorder: Montana Merchants, Vigilantes, and the Interconnectivity of Extralegal Violence
Patrick H. Hoehne

Montana The Magazine of Western History
Finalist:
A Sacred Refuge: The Comanche Medicine Mounds Are a Rare Vestige of the Mighty Tribe That Once Controlled Texas

W.K. Stratton
Texas Highways

Best Western Short Fiction

Winner:  No Quarter Kathleen O’Neal Gear Rebel Hearts Anthology, Wolfpack Publishing
Finalist:
Lizzie Noel

Charlotte Hinger
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
Finalist:
The Cobbler of Spanish Fort
Johnny D. Boggs Five Star Publishing

Best Children’s Picture Book 

Winner: 
The Rowdy Randy Wild West Show: The Legend Behind the Legend
Casey Day Rislov and illustrator Zachary Pullen
Mountain Stars Press
Finalist:
A Place for Harvest: The Story of Kenny Higashi

Lauren R. Harris and illustrator Felicia Hoshino
South Dakota Historical Society Press
Finalist:
Buzz the Not-So-Brave
Dani Nichols and illustrator Kristin McNess Moran
Punchline Publishers

Best Western Juvenile Fiction

Winner: 
Wish Upon a Crawdad
Curtis W. Condon
Heart of Oak Books for Young Readers
Finalist:
Where Duty Calls: Rebels Along the Rio Grande, Book 1

Jennifer Bohnhoff
Kinkajou Press
Finalist: Tenmile Sandra Dallas
Sleeping Bear Press

Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction

Winner: 
American Ace: Joe Foss, Fighter Pilot
Hector Curriel
South Dakota Historical Society Press

Finalist:
Chili Time, Y’All! How Texas Found Its State Cuisine

Jennifer Coleman
Pelican Publishing Company

Best Western Poem

Winner:  New Mexico Bootheel: A Triptych Larry D. Thomas San Pedro River Review
Finalist: XP Pony Rider
Quackgrass Sally
Pony Express Gazette
Finalist:
The Last Request
Frederick McDonald Harbour Publishing
Finalist
No Roof but Sky: Roberts Mountains, Nevada
Susan Cummins Miller
Finishing Line Press

Best Western Song

Winner: Way of the Cowboy Randy Huston Outside Circle Records
Finalist: Prairie Passages
Patty Clayton
Cimarron Wind Music
Finalist: Cowboy Picture
John Fusco
Rocket 88 Records

Best Western Drama Script

Winner: Dead for a Dollar Walter Hill CHAOS a Film Company/Polaris Pictures
Finalist:
Under the Banner of Heaven: (Episode Five) One Mighty and Strong

Brandon Boyce
Aggregate Films/FX/Imagine
Finalist:
Desperate Riders
Lee Martin
Feifer Worldwide/Milestone Studios

Best Western Documentary Script

Winner:
The Battle of Red Buttes
Candy Moulton and Bob Noll
Boston Productions Inc./National Historic Trails Interpretive Center

Finalist: The Unlucky 13
Rob Word
A Word on Westerns/YouTube
Finalist:
Wagon Master: Hansen’s Hand Crafted History
Travis Boley
Knowledge Tree Films/Oregon-California Trails Association

Best First Novel

Winner:
Proving Her Claim: On the Dakota Frontier
CK Van Dam
Pasque Publishing

Best First Nonfiction Book

Winner:
American Hero, Kansas Heritage: Frederick Funston’s Early Years, 1865-1890
Clyde W. Toland
Flint Hills Publishing

 

2022

Best Western Historical Novel

Winner:  Ridgeline Michael Punke Henry Holt & Company
Finalist: The Last Comanche Warrior
James D. Crownover
Five Star Publishing
Finalist: The Healing of Natalie Curtis Jane Kirkpatrick Revell/Baker Publishing

Best Western Contemporary Novel

Winner:  Dark Sky: A Joe Pickett Novel C.J. Box G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Finalist: A Particular Madness
Sheldon Russell
Cennan Books of Cynren Press
Finalist: Dissolution: The Wyoming Chronicles: Book One W. Michael Gear Wolfpack Publishing

Best Western Mass Market Paperback Novel

Winner:  This Side of Hell: A Widowmaker Jones Western Brett Cogburn Pinnacle/Kensington
Finalist: The Too-Late Trail
Matthew P. Mayo
Berkley
Finalist: Lost Mountain Pass Larry D. Sweazy Pinnacle/Kensington Publishing

Best Western Romance Novel

Winner:  Imperfect Promise Susanna Lane Five Star Publishing
Finalist: The Transformation of Chastity James
Kathleen Morris
Five Star Publishing
Finalist: Madame’s Daughter C.K. Crigger Wolfpack Publishing
Finalist Land of Heroes Dorothy Wiley Independently Published

Best Western Traditional Novel

Winner:  The Loving Wrath of Eldon Quint Chase Pletts Inkshares
Finalist: Deputized
T.L. Davis
Five Star Publishing
Finalist: The Comanche Kid James Robert Daniels Cutting Edge Books

Best Western Biography

Winner:  The Forgotten Botanist: Sara Plummer Lemmon’s Life of Science and Art

Wynne Brown

Bison Books
Finalist: Cockeyed Happy: Ernest Hemingway’s Wyoming Summers with Pauline

Darla Worden

Chicago Review Press

Finalist:

Jim Bridger: Trailblazer of the American West

Jerry Enzler University of Oklahoma Press

Best Western Historical Nonfiction

Winner:  Cheyenne Summer: The Battle of Beecher Island: A History Terry Mort Pegasus Books
Finalist: War on the Border: Villa, Pershing, The Texas Rangers, and an American Invasion
Jeff Guinn
Simon & Schuster
Finalist: Iron Women: The Ladies Who Helped Build the Railroad Chris Enss TwoDot

Best Western Contemporary Nonfiction

Winner:  Defending the Arctic Refuge: A Photographer, an Indigenous Nation, and a Fight for Environmental Justice Finis Dunaway The University of North Carolina Press
Finalist: Making Circles: The Memoir of a Cowboy Journalist Barney Nelson University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: Brothers on Three: A True Story of Family, Resistance, and Hope on a Reservation in Montana Abe Streep Celadon Books

Best Western Short Nonfiction

Winner:  The Right Man to Do a Wrong Thing: Charlie Thex, the Bear Creek Sheep Raid, and the Primacy of Fear Shane Dunning Montana The Magazine of Western History
Finalist: C.E. Lively: The Man Who Started a War
R.G. Yoho
Goldenseal
Finalist: Ella Mad Plume Yellow Wolf: Photographs by a Native American Woman in the Early 1940s Rosalyn LaPier Montana The Magazine of Western History

Best Western Short Fiction

Winner:  Skin David Heska Wanbli Weiden Crooked Lane Books
Finalist: The Ferry and the Road
Lawrence Coates
Story Magazine, Spring 2021
Finalist: Coming Clean Leslie Budewitz Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine

Best Children’s Picture Book 

Winner:  Charlie Russell and the Gnomes of Bull Head Lodge Emily Crawford Wilson & illustrator Jeanne Bowman South Dakota Historical Society Press
Finalist: Come ’n Git It! Cookie and His Cowboy Chuck Wagon
Jennifer Coleman & illustrator Julie Dupré Buckner
Pelican Publishing
Finalist: Montana’s Memory Day: A Nature-Themed Foster/Adoption Story Sue Lawrence & illustrator Erika Wilson Mascot Books

Best Western Juvenile Fiction

Winner:  Cow Boyhood: The Adventures of Wilder Good, #7 S.J. Dahlstrom Paul Dry Books
Finalist: Maddie McDowell and the Rodeo Robbery
LuAnn M. Rod Chicken Scratch Books
Finalist: Bats, Bandits & Buggies: A Ruby and Maude Adventure Nancy Oswald Burro Books

Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction

Winner:  Montana History for Kids in 50 Objects: With 50 Fun Activities! Steph Lehmann Farcountry Press
Finalist: No Awards Given
   

Best Western Poem

Winner:  Cimarron Herd Karla K. Morton Texas Review Press
Finalist: Awinita (Cherokee – b. 1878)
Linda Neal Reising
Kelsay Books
Finalist: She Thought About Montana Betty Lynne McCarthy Sunlit Silver Bit Publishing

Best Western Song

Winner: You Oughta See Wyoming Micki Fuhrman MyMyMy Music
Finalist: What a Moon
Micki Fuhrman
MyMyMy Music
Finalist: Yellow Horse
Doug Figgs
Slash DC Music

Best Drama Script

Winner:  Last Shoot Out Lee Martin Feifer Worldwide
Finalist: No Awards Given
   

Best First Novel

Winner: The Loving Wrath of Eldon Quint Chase Pletts Inkshares

Best First Nonfiction Book

Winner: Public Waters: Lessons from Wyoming for the American West Anne MacKinnon University of New Mexico Press

2021

Best Western Historical Novel

Winner:  All Things Left Wild James Wade Blackstone Publishing
Finalist: Follow the Angels Follow the Doves
Sidney Thompson University of Nebraska Press
Finalist: Stardust Trail J. R. Sanders Historian Publishing

Best Western Contemporary Novel

Winner:  Winter Counts David Heska Wanbli Weiden Ecco, HarperCollins
Finalist: King of Taos
Max Evans University of New Mexico Press
Finalist: The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez Rudy Ruiz Blackstone Publishing

Best Western Mass Market Paperback Novel

Winner:  A Thousand Texas Longhorns Johnny D. Boggs Pinnacle/Kensington
Finalist: Gunpowder Express
Brett Cogburn Pinnacle/Kensington
Finalist: Beyond the Goodnight Trail Roy V. Gaston KDP

Best Western Romance Novel

Winner:  Midnight’s Whisperer Tom Lowe Kingsbridge Entertainment
Finalist: The Valley of Deision
Major Mitchell Shalako Press
Finalist: Forever Hidden Tracie Peterson & Kimberley Woodhouse Bethany House

Best Western Traditional Novel

Winner:  Like Rum Drunk Angels Tyler Enfield Goose Lane
Finalist: All Gods Children
Aaron Gwyn Europa Editions
Finalist: The Fortunes and Vicissitudes of Stern Whitman Derek Burnett Five Star Publishing

Best Western Biography

Winner:  Tecumseh and the Prophet Peter Cozzens Alfred A. Knopf
Finalist: An Honest Enemy
Paul Magid University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: Race and the Wild West Laura J. Arata University of Oklahoma Press

Best Western Historical Nonfiction

Winner:  The Last Sovereigns Robert M. Utley University of Nebraska Press
Finalist: Beneath the Backbone of the World
Ryan Hall University of North Carolina Press
Finalist: South to Freedom Alice L. Baumgartner Basic Books

Best Western Contemporary Nonfiction

Winner:   Billionaire Wilderness Hustin Farrell Princeton University Press
Finalist: Cheatgrass dreams Theodore Waddell Sweetgrass Books
Finalist: My Flint Hills Jim Hoy University Press of Kansas
Finalist: Half Broke Ginger Gaffney W. W. Norton and Company

Best Western Short Nonfiction

Winner:  Daniel Boone’s Life in the Far West: An Inquiry into his Alleged Yellowstone Hunt Ted Franklin Belue Muzzleloader Magazine
Finalist: Who Killed Crazy Horse
Paul L. Hedren Nebraska History Magazine
Finalist: Shakespeare in the Frontier and Territorial Montana Gretchen Minton Montana The Magazine of Western History

Best Western Short Fiction

Winner:  Belthanger Kevin Wolf Western Fictioneers
Finalist: Father Goose
Jodi Thomas Kensington
Finalist: Statues Allen Morris Jones Montana Quarterly

Best Western Storyteller/Illustrated Children’s Book

Winner:  Run Cow Run Cami Carlson & Greg White KDP
Finalist: Bandit the Cow Dog
Phil Mills Jr & Victor Mojica Mascot Books, Inc.
Finalist: Bolo the Brave Jim Jones & Kamee Young KDP

Best Western Juvenile Fiction

Winner:  Dilly Matthew P. Mayo Five Star Publishing
Finalist: Silverbelly
S. J. Dahlstrom Paul Dry Books
Finalist: City of Gold Will Hobbs HarperCollins

Best Western Poem

Winner:  Baptism Patricia Frolander High Plains Press
Finalist: 25 Bears
Marc Beaudin Riverfleet Press
Finalist: Saddling Betty Lynne McCarthy Page Printing

Best Western Song

Winner:  Don’t Say Goodbye to the Cowboy Way Randy Huston & Jim Jones Dr. Vet Music/East Mountain Music
Finalist: El Caballo del Fuego
Doug Figgs, Floyd Beard & Miriam Funke East Mountain Music
       

Best Western Documentary Script

Winner:  Charlie Russell’s Old West Gus Chambers & Paul Zalis Montana PBS
Finalist: Today’s Wild West Episode 307
Mark Bedor KVCR PBS San Bernardino
       

Best First Novel

Winner: Winter Counts David Heska Wanbli Weiden Ecco, HarperCollins

Best First Nonfiction Book

Winner: Race and the Wild West Laura J. Arata University of Oklahoma Press

2020

Best Western Historical Novel

Winner:  A Forgotten Evil Sheldon Russell Cennan Books/Cynren Press
Finalist: The Glovemaker: A Novel
Ann Weisgarber Skyhorse Publishing
Finalist: Cut Nose Ron Schwab Uplands Press/Leafcutter Publishing Group

Best Western Contemporary Novel

Winner:  On Swift Horses: A Novel Shannon Pufahl Riverhead Books
Finalist: This Side of Night J. Todd Scott G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Finalist: Sweep out the Ashes: A Novel Mary Clearman Blew Bison Books/University of Nebraska Press
Best Western Mass Market Paperback Novel
Winner:  Hawke’s Target Reavis Z. Wortham Pinnacle/Kensington
Finalist: The Cost of Dying Peter Brandvold Pinnacle/Kensington
Finalist: Dark Territory Terrence McCauley Pinnacle/Kensington

Best Western Romance Novel

Winner: The Yeggman’s Apprentice C. K. Crigger Wolfpack Publishing
Finalist: This New Day: A Novel Harlan Hague Graycatbird Books
Finalist: The Telegraph Proposal Gina Welborn and Becca Whitham Zebra/Kensington Publishing

Best Western Traditional Novel

Winner:  Cherokee America Margaret Verble Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Finalist: Friends Call Me Bat Paul Colt Five Star Publishing
Finalist: All Man’s Land D. László Conhaim Broken Arrow Press
Best Western Biography
Winner:  Nighthawk Rising: A Biography of Accused Cattle Rustler Queen Ann Bassett of Brown’s Park Diana Allen Kouris High Plains Press
Finalist: Washington Territory’s Grand Lady: The Story of Matilda (Glover) Koontz Jackson Julie McDonald Zander Chapters of Life Memory Books
Finalist: Political Hell-Raiser: The Life and Times of Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana Marc C. Johnson University of Oklahoma Press

Best Western Contemporary Nonfiction

Winner:  Country Music: An Illustrated History Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns Alfred A. Knopf
Finalist: The Pale-Faced Lie: A True Story David Crow Sandra Jonas Publishing
Finalist: Saving Grand Canyon: Dams, Deals, and a Noble Myth Byron E. Pearson University of Nevada Press

Best Western Historical Nonfiction

Winner:  Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power Pekka Hämäläinen Yale University Press
Finalist: The Mormon Handcart Migration: “Tounge nor pen can never tell the sorrow” Candy Moulton University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: Terror on the Santa Fe Trail: Kit Carson and the Jicarilla Apache Doug Hocking TwoDot

Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction

Winner: Spotted Tail David Heska Wanbli Weiden Reycraft Books

Best Western Juvenile Fiction

Winner:  Someplace to Call Home Sandra Dallas Sleeping Bear Press
Finalist: Finding Home Corinne Brown Loose Cayuse Productions
Finalist: The Fang of Bonfire Crossing: Legends of Lost Causes, Book 2 Brad McLelland and Louis Sylvester Henry Holt Books for Young Readers/Macmillan Children’s Books

Best Western Storyteller

Winner:  Let ’Er Buck: George Fletcher, the People’s Champion Author Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and Illustrator Gordon C. James Carolrhoda Books/Lerner Publishing Group
Finalist: Rowdy Randy Author Casey Day Rislov and Illustrator Zachary Pullen Casey Rislov Books
Finalist: J is for Jackalope Teal Blake Teal Blake Studios

Best Western Short Fiction

Winner:  “The Medicine Robe” Michael Zimmer Five Star Publishing
Finalist: “Legend” Johnny D. Boggs Five Star Publishing
Finalist: “Return to Laurel” John D. Nesbitt Five Star Publishing

Best Western Short Nonfiction

Winner:  “‘Worry, USA’: Dude Ranch Advertising Looks East, 1915-1945” Flannery Burke Montana The Magazine of Western History
Finalist: “‘If you had fought bravely I would have sung for you’: The Changing Roles of Cheyenne Women during Nineteenth Century Plains Warfare” David Beyreis Montana The Magazine of Western History
Finalist: “China’s Lost Women in the Far West” Lynne Yuan Wild West Magazine

Best Western Poem

Winner:  “Three Kinds of Pleasure” Mark Sanders WSC Press
Finalist: “In Dog Dreams” Karla K. Morton New Ohio Review
Finalist: “Towards a Letter of Application for Work at Lightning Creek Cattle Company, Wayne County, Nebraska” Red Shuttleworth Moses Lake Steel Supply

Best Western Documentary Script

Winner: Country Music: Episode Two: Hard Times Dayton Duncan WETA-TV/PBS
Finalist: Cowboys: A Documentary Portrait John Langmore and Bud Force 1922 Films

Best Western Drama Script

Winner: The Highwaymen John Fusco Netflix
Finalist: The Kid Andrew Lanham Mimran Schur Pictures
Finalist: Eight Monologues from Americana West Red Shuttleworth

Best Western Song

No Award       
Best First Novel
Winner:  On Swift Horses: A Novel Shannon Pufahl Riverhead Books
Best First Nonfiction Book
Winner: The Pale-Faced Lie: A True Story David Crow Sandra Jonas Publishing

2019

Best Western Historical Novel

Winner:  River of Porcupines  G.K. Aalborg Five Star Publishing
Finalist: This Scorched Earth: A Novel of the Civil War William Gear Forge
Finalist: Line Of Glory: A Novel of the Alamo Thomas D. Clagett Five Star Publishing
Finalist: The Long Shadow Beth Kanell Five Star Publishing

Best Western Contemporary Novel

Winner:  The Flicker of Old Dreams Susan Henderson HarperCollins
Finalist: Deep Fire Rise Jon Gosch Latah Books
Finalist: Broken Field: A Novel Jeff Hull Arcade-Skyhorse Publishing
Best Western Mass Market Paperback Novel
Winner:  Hawke’s War Reavis Z. Wortham Pinnacle/Kensington
Finalist: No Justice In Hell Charles G. West Pinnacle/Kensington
Finalist: Where the Bullets Fly Terrence McCauley Pinnacle/Kensington

Best Western Romance Novel

Winner: The Woman Who Built a Bridge C. K. Crigger Wolfpack Publishing
Finalist: Out of the Ashes Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse Bethany House
Finalist: Courting Carrie in Wonderland Gina Welborn and Becca Whitham Zebra/Kensington Publishing

Best Western Traditional Novel

Winner:  The Return of Kid Cooper Brad Smith Arcade-Skyhorse Publishing
Finalist: The River by Starlight Ellen Notbohm She Writes Press
Finalist: Born to the Badge Mark Warren Five Star Publishing
Best Western Biography
Winner:  White Hat: The Military Career of Captain William Philo Clark Mark J. Nelson University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: Polly Pry: The Woman Who Wrote the West Julia Bricklin TwoDot
Finalist: The Cowboy President: The American West and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt Michael F. Blake TwoDot

Best Western Contemporary Nonfiction

Winner:  The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border Francisco Cantú Riverhead Books
Finalist: The Last Cowboys: A Pioneer Family in the New West John Branch W.W. Norton & Co.
Finalist: Folly Cove: A Smuggler’s Tale of the Pot Rebellion Kermit Schweidel Cinco Puntos Press
Finalist: Acid West: Essays Joshua Wheeler MCD x FSG Originals

Best Western Historical Nonfiction

Winner:  Native but Foreign: Indigenous Immigrants and Refugees in the North American Borderlands Brenden W. Rensink Texas A&M University Press
Finalist: Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle Over the Greatest Riches in the American West Gregory Crouch Scribner
Finalist: West Like Lightning: The Brief, Legendary Ride of the Pony Express Jim DeFelice William Morrow

Best Western Juvenile Fiction

Winner: Taos Lightning Johnny D. Boggs Center Point Large Print
Finalist: Rawhide Robinson Rides a Dromedary Rod Miller Five Star Publishing
Finalist: Hardscrabble Sandra Dallas Sleeping Bear Press

Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction

Winner:  Buffalo Heartbeats Across the Plains: The Last Great Hunts and Saving the Buffalo Francie M. Berg Dakota Buttes Visitors Council
Finalist: Lust For Glory: An Epic Story of Early Texas and the Sacrifice that Defined a Nation Stephen L. Hardin State House Press

Best Western Storyteller

Winner:  Montana for Kids: The Story of Our State Allen Morris Jones Bangtail Press
Finalist: Fergus and the Night Before Christmas Jean Abernathy Trafalgar Square Books

Best Western Short Fiction

Winner:  “Buck’s Last Ride” Therese Greenwood Coffin Hop Press
Finalist: “Wren’s Perch” Vonn McKee Five Star Publishing
Finalist: “Byrd’s Luck” Jeffrey J. Mariotte Western Fictioneers

Best Western Short Nonfiction

Winner:  “Art, Agency, and Conservation: A Fresh Look at Albert Bierstadt’s Vision of the West” Peter H. Hassrick Montana the Magazine of Western History
Finalis: “Railroad Man” Clay Reynolds New Madrid: Journal of Contemporary Literature
Finalist: “The Piikuni and the U.S. Army’s Piegan Expedition: Competing Narratives of the 1870 Massacre on the Marias River” Rodger C. Henderson Montana: The Magazine of Western History

Best Western Poem

Winner:  “Prairie Center” John D. Nesbitt R.R. Productions
Finalist: “Americana West, 1911: Sidney, Montana” Red Shuttleworth Blue Horse Press

Best Western Song

Winner: “The Outside Circle” Mike Blakely and Damon Rogers Quien Sabe Music
Finalist: “And the River Ran Red” Brenn Hill and Rod Miller Defenders Recording Co.
Finalist: “The Ballad of Josiah Wilbarger” Mike Blakely Quien Sabe Music

Best Western Drama Script

Winner:   The Rider Chloe Zhao Sony Pictures
Best First Novel
Winner:  The River by Starlight Ellen Notbohm She Writes Press
Best First Nonfiction Book
Winner: The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border Francisco Cantú Riverhead Books

2018
Best Western Historical Novel

Winner: The Coming David Osborne Bloomsbury USA
Finalist: Moon Hunt: People of Cahokia W. Michael and Kathleen O’Neal Gear Forge
Finalist: Copper Sky Milana Marsenich Open Books

Best Western Contemporary Novel

Winner: Double Wide Leo W. Banks Brash Books
Finalist: Murder on the Red River Marcie R. Rendon Cinco Puntos Press
Finalist: The Stone Place Randy Lee Eickhoff Cane Hollow Press
Best Western Mass Market Paperback Novel
Winner: Hell Hath No Fury: A John Hawk Western Charles G. West Pinnacle/Kensington
Finalist: Valley of Bones: A Byrnes Family Ranch Western Dusty Richards Pinnacle/Kensington
Finalist: Buzzard Bait: A Widowmaker Jones Western Brett Cogburn Pinnacle/Kensington

Best Western Romance Novel

Winner: The Promise Bride Gina Welborn and Becca Whitham Zebra Books
Finalist: Courting Carrie in Wonderland Carla Kelly Sweetwater Books/Cedar Fort Publishing
Finalist: Willene: Jewel Of The West Sally Harper Bates Self Published

Traditional Novel

Winner: Silver City: A Novel of the American West Jeff Guinn G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Finalist: Slate Creek: Journey to the White Clouds Wallace J. Swenson Five Star Publishing
Finalist: Huck Out West: A Novel Robert Coover W. W. Norton

Best Western Biography

Winner: Frank Little and the IWW: The Blood That Stained an American Family Jane Little Botkin University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: Tom Jeffords, Friend of Cochise Doug Hocking TwoDot
Finalist: Tejano Tiger: José de los Santos Benavides and the Texas-Mexico Borderlands, 1823-1891 Jerry Thompson TCU Press

Best Western Contemporary Nonfiction

Winner: A Land Apart: The Southwest and the Nation in the Twentieth Century Flannery Burke University of Arizona Press
Finalist: Behind the Carbon Curtain: The Energy Industry, Political Censorship, and Free Speech Jeffrey A. Lockwood University of New Mexico Press
Finalist: Lakota Performers in Europe: Their Culture and the Artifacts They Left Behind Steve Friesen with Francois Chladiuk University of Oklahoma Press

Best Western Historical Nonfiction

Winner: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI David Grann Doubleday
Finalist: Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West Christopher Knowlton An Eamon Dolan Book/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Finalist: Provisions of the Fur Trade: The Encyclopedia of Trade Goods, Vol. 6 James A. Hanson Museum of the Fur Trade

Best Western Juvenile Fiction

Winner: Stranded: A Story of Frontier Survival Matthew P. Mayo Five Star Publishing
Finalist: Viva, Rose! Susan Krawitz Holiday House
Finalist: Katrine: High Valley Home Joseph Dorris iUniverse

Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction

Winner: Glorious Fourth of July and Other Stories from the Plains Mary Gibson Sprague South Dakota Historical Society Press
Finalist: The True Story of Jim the Wonder Dog Marty Rhodes Figley The RoadRunner Press
Finalist: Lotta Crabtree: Gold Rush Fairy Star Lois V. Harris Pelican Publishing Co.
Finalist: Bold Women in Montana History Beth Judy Mountain Press Publishing Co.

Best Western Storyteller

Winner: Fergus and the Greener Grass Jean Abernethy Trafalgar Square Books
Finalist: Lexie the Word Wrangler author Rebecca Van Slyke and illustrator Jessie Hartland Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin Young Readers
Finalist: Abraham author Frank Keating and illustrator Mike Wimmer A Paula Wiseman Book/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Best Western Short Fiction

Winner: “Lost and Found: A Short Story” Rod Miller Saddlebag Dispatches
Finalist: “Point Blank, Texas” Larry D. Sweazy Wildside Press
Finalist: “The San Angela Stump Match of 1876” Johnny D. Boggs Permian Basin Bookies

Best Western Short Nonfiction

Winner: “States of Decay: A Journey Through America’s Nuclear Heartland” Ben Mauk Harper’s Magazine
Finalis: “The Great Western” Paul Andrew Hutton True West
Finalist: “All-American Indian Days and the Miss Indian America Pageant” Gregory Nickerson Montana: The Magazine of Western History

Best Western Poem

Winner: “She Saddles Her Own Horse” Marleen Bussma Self-Published
Finalist: “Lookin’ Back” Jim Logan Oklahoma Today
Finalist: “The Knowing” Rod Miller Saddlebag Dispatches

Best Western Song

Winner: “The Pitchfork Grays” Jean Prescott and Darrell Arnold Line Camp Music
Finalist: “Alchesay” Doug Figgs Slash D C Music
Finalist: “The Ridge” Jean Prescott Line Camp Music

Best Western Drama Script

Winner:  Wind River Taylor Sheridan Acacia Filmed Entertainment/Film 44/Savvy Media/Media Holding
Finalist: Godless (Episode 1)  Scott Frank  Netflix

Best Western Documentary Script

Winner: Down the Fence MJ Isakson and Eric Frith Down the Fence Films

Best First Western Novel

Winner: Double Wide Leo W. Banks Brash Books

Best First Nonfiction Book

Winner: Frank Little and the IWW:  The Blood That Stained an American Family Jane Little Botkin University of Oklahoma Press
2017
Best Western Nonfiction Historical

 

Winner: The Apache Wars: The Hunt for Geronimo, The Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in American History by Paul Andrew Hutton (Crown)

Finalists: American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains by Dan Flores (University Press of Kansas); The Earth is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West by Peter Cozzens (Alfred A. Knopf)

Best Western Biography

Winner: Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary by Joe Jackson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Finalists: Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde by John Boessenecker (Thomas Dunne Books); Nobody Rich or Famous: A Family Memoir by Richard Shelton (University of Arizona Press)

Best Western Contemporary Nonfiction

Winner: New Deal Cowboy: Gene Autry and Public Diplomacy by Michael Duchemin (University of Oklahoma Press)

Finalists: The Fire Line: The Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and One of the Deadliest Days in American Firefighting by Fernanda Santos (Flatiron Books); Stories From Afield: Adventures with Wild Things in Wild Places by Bruce L. Smith  (University of Nebraska Press)

Best Western Traditional Novel

Winner: The Mustanger and the Lady by Dusty Richards (Galway Press)

Finalists: The Contractor by James C. Work (Five Star Publishing); News of the World by Paulette Jiles (William Morrow)

Best Western Contemporary Novel

Winner: Off the Grid: A Joe Pickett Novel by C.J. Box (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Finalists: Jasper Spring by James T. Hughes (Dog Ear Publishing); Hidden Star by Corinne Joy Brown (FriesenPress)

Best Original Mass-Market Paperback Novel

Winner: Return to Red River by Johnny D. Boggs (Pinnacle)

Finalists: Widowmaker Jones by Brett Cogburn (Pinnacle); Frontier: Powder River by S.K. Salzer (Pinnacle)

Best Western Historical Novel

No awards given

Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction

Winner: The Wolves of Currumpaw by William Grill (Flying Eye Books)

Finalists: Entertaining Women: Actresses, Dancers, and Singers in the Old West by Chris Enss (TwoDot); Sissy Bear at the Fort by Holly Arnold Kinney (Fur Trade Press)

Best Western Juvenile Fiction

Winner: Trouble Returns: A Ruby & Maude Adventure by Nancy Oswald (Filter Press)

Finalists: The Green Colt: The Adventures of Wilder Good by S.J. Dahlstrom  (Paul Dry Books); Saddle Up! by Donna Alice Patton and Emily Chase Smith (Chase Smith Press/Redwood Digital Publishing)

Storyteller (Illustrated Children’s Book)

Winner: Seasons of the Bear: A Yosemite Story by author Ginger Wadsworth and illustrator Daniel San Souci (Yosemite Conservancy)

Finalists: Voices of the Western Frontier by author Sherry Garland and illustrator Julie Dupré Buckner (Pelican); Big Buckaroo Goes to the Special Olympics by author Rachelle “Rocky” Gibbons and illustrator Jason Hutton (Tate Publishing)

Best Western Short Nonfiction

Winner: “‘Master of Ceremonies’: The World of Peter Biggs in Civil War-Era Los Angeles” by Kendra Field and Daniel Lynch (Western Historical Quarterly)

Finalists: “Cowboys & Millionaires: How Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders Bonded as Brothers Before Leaving to Fight in the Spanish-American War” by Mark Lee Gardner (True West Magazine); “Touching History: A Grandson’s Memories of Felix Marion Jones and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows” by Will Bagley (Utah Historical Quarterly)

Best Western Short Fiction

Winner: “Odell’s Bones” by Troy D. Smith (Cane Hollow Press)

Finalists: “Comanche Camp at Dawn” by Johnny D. Boggs (Giacobbe Fritz Fine Art/Nocona Burgess); “Umpire Colt”     by Johnny D. Boggs (High Hill Press)

Best Western Poem

Winner: “Ain’t A Hermit” by Floyd Beard (self-published, produced by Butch Hause)

Finalists: “Ballad of a Basque Sheepherder: Shaniko, Oregon” by  Matt Schumacher (Redbat Books); “Diamonds” by Ann Sochat (TwoDot)

Best Western Song

Winner: “Halfway Down The Devil’s Road” by Jim Jones and Allan Chapman (East Mountain Music)

Finalists: “Tularosa Rose” by Doug Figgs and Les Buffham (Slash DC Music); “The Cattleman” by Jeff Posey (Buckskin Friend Music)

Best Western Drama Script

Winner: Hell Or High Water by Taylor Sheridan (Film 44/OddLot Entertainment/Sidney Kimmel Entertainment/CBS Films)

Finalist: Desierto by Jonas Cuaron and Mateo Garcia (Esperanto Kino/ Itaca Films/CG Cinéma/STX Entertainment)

Best Western Documentary Script

Winner: The Drift: An American Cattle Drive by Geoff O’Gara (The Content Lab)

Best First Nonfiction Book

Winner: The Fire Line: The Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and One of the Deadliest Days in American Firefighting by Fernanda Santos (Flatiron Books)

Best First Novel

Winner: Jasper Spring by James T. Hughes (Dog Ear Publishing)

2016

Best Western Historical Novel

Winner: Paradise Sky Joe R. Lansdale Mulholland Books
Finalist: The Memory Weaver: A Novel Jane Kirkpatrick Revell
Finalist: Custer Gerald Duff TCU Press

Best Western Contemporary Novel

Winner: Crazy Mountain Kiss: A Sean Stranahan Mystery Keith McCafferty Viking
Finalist: The Canyon: A Novel Stanley Crawford University of New Mexico Press
Finalist: The Darkness Rolling Win Blevins and Meredith Blevin Forge

Best Western Traditional Novel

Winner: The Last Midwife Sandra Dallas St. Martin’s Press
Finalist: The Long High Noon Loren D. Estleman Forge
Finalist: Buell: Journey to the White Clouds Wallace J. Swenson Five Star Publishing

Best Mass-Market Paperback Novel

Winner: Lords of an Empty Land Randy Denmon Pinnacle
Finalist: Frontier S.K. Salzer Pinnacle
Finalist: Frontier: Thunder at Dawn S.K. Salzer Pinnacle

Best Western Biography

Winner: Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America T.J. Stiles Alfred A. Knopf
Finalist: The Gray Fox: George Crook and the Indian Wars Paul Magid University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: Juan Bautista De Anza: The King’s Governor in New Mexico Carlos R. Herrera University of Oklahoma Press

Best Western Historical Nonfiction

Winner: William Wells and the Struggle for the Old Northwest William Heath University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey Rinker Buck Simon & Schuster
Finalist: Ladies of the Canyons: A League of Extraordinary Women and Their Adventures in the American Southwest Lesley Poling-Kempes University of Arizona Press

Best Western Contemporary Nonfiction

Winner: The Size of the Risk: Histories of Multiple Use in the Great Basin Leisl Carr Childers University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: Unbranded Ben Masters Texas A&M University Press
Finalist: Unruly Waters: A Social and Environmental History of the Brazos River Kenna Lang Archer University of New Mexico Press

Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction

Winner: This Strange Wilderness: The Life and Art of John James Audubon Nancy Plain University of Nebraska Press
Finalist: Wild at Heart: Mustangs and the Young People Fighting to Save Them Terri Farley Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Finalist: Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of His People S.D. Nelson Abrams Books for Young Readers

Best Western Juvenile Fiction

Winner: Walk on Earth A Stranger Rae Carson Greenwillow Books
Finalist: Chili Queen: Mi Historia Marian L. Martinello TCU Press
Finalist: Rawhide Robinson Rides the Tabby Trail: The True Tale of a Wild West CATastrophe Rod Miller Five Star Publishing

Best Western Storyteller (llustrated Children’s Book)

Winner: Buckaroo Bobbie Sue JoJo Thoreau (author) Kristina Zack Young (illustrator) Little Hands Press
Finalist: Ol’ Jimmy Dollar Slim Randles (author) Jerry Montoya (illustrator) Rio Grande Books
Finalist: The Hero Twins: A Navajo-English Story of the Monster Slayers Jim Kristofic (author) Nolan Karras James (illustrator) New Mexico Press

Best Western Short Nonfiction

Winner: “Cowboys and Capitalists: The XIT Ranch in Texas and Montana, 1885-1912” Michael M. Miller Montana, The Magazine of Western History
Finalist: “Where the Pronghorns Play” Dan Flores Wild West magazine
Finalist: “Wage Work in the Sacred Circle: The Ghost Dance as Modern Religion” Louis S. Warren Western Historical Quarterly

Best Western Short Fiction Story

Winner: “The Scalper” Richard Prosch Western Trail Blazer
Finalist: “Tinsel Town” Deborah Morgan Crossroad Press Publishing
Finalist: “Tough” Miles Wilson The Georgia Review

Best Western Song

Winner: “The Hand” Trinity Seely and Waddie Mitchell Bucket Bail Press
Finalist: “Dad’s Song” Caitlyn Taussig Self Published
Finalist: “Parker Eyes of Blue” Almeda Bradshaw Bendiksen Productions

Best Western Poem

Winner: “All-American Biography” Paige Buffington Narrative magazine
Finalist: “A Trailside Boulder Story” Joel Nelson C.J. Hadley and Range magazine
Finalist: “Woe to the Land Shadowing” Red Shuttleworth Blue Horse Press

Best Western Drama Script

Winner: “Slow West” John Maclean See Saw Films/Film 4/New Zealand Film Commission; A24
Finalist: “The Revenant” Mark L. Smith and Alejandro G. Innaritu Anonymous Content/Appian Way/Regency Pictures/Rat Pac Entertainment; 20th Century-Fox
Finalist: “Bone Tomahawk” S. Craig Zahler Caliber Media; RLJ Entertainment

Best Western Documentary Script

Winner: “Power’s War” Dodge Billingsley and Cameron Trejo Amistad Entertainment LLC
Finalist: “ Murder on the Southern Pacific” Kami Horton Oregon Public Broadcasting
Finalist: “ Unbranded” Ben Masters Fin & Fur Films/Implement Productions/Cedar Creek Productions; Gravitas Ventures

Best First Novel

Winner: American Copper Shann Ray Unbridled Books

Best First Nonfiction Book

Winner: William Wells and the Struggle for the Old Northwest
William Heath University of Oklahoma Press

2015

Best Western Contemporary Novel

Winner: Bad Country CB McKenzie Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books
Finalist: Any Other Name Craig Johnson Viking/Penguin Random House
Finalist: The Red Bird All-Indian Traveling Band Frances Washburn University of Arizona Press

Best Western Historical Novel

Winner: Wild Ran the Rivers James D. Crownover Five Star Publishing
Finalist: A Light in the Wilderness Jane Kirkpatrick Revell
Finalist: Backlands Michael McGarrity Dutton/Penguin Random House

Best Western Traditional Novel

Winner: The Big Drift Patrick Dearen TCU Press
Finalist: The Poacher’s Daughter Michael Zimmer Five Star Publishing
Finalist: Dance with the Devil JD March Five Star Publishing

Best Western Juvenile Fiction

Winner: Rawhide Robinson Rides The Range: True Adventures of Bravery And Daring in the Wild West Rod Miller Five Star Publishing
Finalist: Poison Spring Johnny D. Boggs Five Star Publishing
Finalist: Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky Sandra Dallas Sleeping Bear Press

Best First Novel

Winner: Wild Ran the Rivers James D. Crownover Five Star Publishing
Best Western Historical Nonfiction
Winner: American Carnage: Wounded Knee, 1890 Jerome A. Greene University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: Chasing the Santa Fe Ring: Power and Privilege in Territorial New Mexico David L. Caffey University of New Mexico Press
Finalist: South Pass: Gateway to a Continent Will Bagley University of Oklahoma Press

Best Western Contemporary Nonfiction

Winner: Red Light to Starboard: Recalling the Exxon Valdez Disaster Angela Day Washington State University Press
Finalist: Wilderburbs: Communities on Nature’s Edge Lincoln Bramwell University of Washington Press
Finalist: Wild Idea: Buffalo and Family in a Difficult Land Dan O’Brien University of Nebraska Press

Best Western Biography

Winner: Song of Dewey Beard: Last Survivor of the Little Bighorn
Philip Burnham Bison Book/University Nebraska Press
Finalist: Tom Horn in Life and Legend Larry D. Ball University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: The Life and Legends of Calamity Jane Richard W. Etulain University of Oklahoma Press

Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction

Winner: Edward Wynkoop: Soldier and IndianAgent Nancy Oswald Filter Press
Finalist: Battle of Little Bighorn John Hamilton Abdo Publishing Co.
Finalist: How the West Was Drawn: Women’s Art Linda L. Osmundson Pelican Publishing Company

Best First Nonfiction Book

Winner: Reshaw: The Life & Times of John Baptiste Richard
Jefferson Glass
High Plains Press

Best Western Storyteller (llustrated Children’s Book)

Winner: Tasunka: A Lakota Horse Legend Donald F. Montileaux South Dakota State Historical Society Press
Finalist: Alice From Dallas Marilyn Sadler (author) Ard Hoyt (illustrator) Abrams Books for Young Readers
Finalist: Tumbleweed Baby Anna Myers (author) Charles Vess (illustrator) Abrams Books for Young Readers

Best Western Short Fiction Story

Winner: “Fingers” Andrew Geyer Steven F. Austin University Press
Finalist: “A Promise Broken, A Promise Kept” Vicky Rose La Frontera Publishing
Finalist: “The Songbird of Seville” Vonn McKee Western Trail Blazer

Best Western Short Nonfiction

Winner: “Calamity Jane: A Life and Legends” Richard W. Etulain Montana, The Magazine of Western History
Finalist: “Finding the American West in Twenty-First Century Italy” Renee M. Laegreid Western Historical Quarterly
Finalist: “The American West in the Age of Vulnerability” Donald Worster Western Historical Quarterly

Best Western Poem

Winner: “A Little Longer Than the Moment” Alan Birkelbach Cowboy Poetry Press
Finalist: “Homecoming” Ken Hada This Land Press
Finalist: “Song of the Stampede” Rod Miller Pen-L Publishing

Best Western Song

Winner: “Charlie and Evangeline” Doug Figgs and Todd Carter Figgs/Carter
Finalist: “Cold Blue Eyes” Mikki Daniel Dave Alexander / MD Productions
Finalist: “Lonesome Cowboy” Martin Conway Conway

Best Western Drama Script

Winner: The Homesman Tommy Lee Jones, Kieran Fitzgerald, Wesley A. Oliver Ithaca Films

Best Western Documentary Script

Winner: State of Jefferson Kami Horton Oregon Public Broadcasting

 

2014

Best Western Contemporary Novel

Winner: Light of the World: A Dave Robicheaux Novel James Lee Burke Simon & Schuster
Finalist: Kind of Kin Rilla Askew Ecco/HarperCollins
Finalist: The Old Man’s Love Story Rudolfo Anaya University of Oklahoma Press

Best Western Historical Novel

Winner: Silent We Stood Henry Chappell Texas Tech University Press
Finalist: The Promise Ann Weisgarber Mantle/Pan Macmillan
Finalist: Greasy Grass: A Story of the Little Big Horn Johnny D. Boggs Five Star Publishing

Best Western Traditional Novel

Winner: Crossing Purgatory Gary Schanbacher Pegasus
Finalist: Destiny Made Them Brothers Andrew J. Fenady Pinnacle/Kensington
Finalist: The Hardest Ride Gordon L. Rottman Taliesin Publishing

Best First Novel

Winner: Spider Woman’s Daughter Anne Hillerman HarperCollins
Finalist: Crossing Purgatory Gary Schanbacher Pegasus
Finalist: La Grulla John R. Wright Dryland Publishing

Best Western Nonfiction Historical

Winner: Shot all to Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid, and the Wild West’s Greatest Escape Mark Lee Gardner William Morrow/HarperCollins
Finalist: Shooting Arrows and Slinging Mud: Custer, The Press and the Little Bighorn James E. Mueller University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: The Heart of Everything that Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend Bob Drury and Tom Clavin Simon & Schuster

Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary

Winner: Vacationland: Tourism and Environment in the Colorado High Country William Philpott University of Washington Press
Finalist: Trees in Paradise: A California History Jared Farmer W. W. Norton
Finalist: Bright Light City: Las Vegas in Popular Culture Larry D. Gragg University Press of Kansas

Best Western Nonfiction Biography

Winner: Jack London: An American Life Earle Labor Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Finalist: Cowboy Stuntman: From Olympic Gold to the Silver Screen Dean Smith with Mike Cox Texas Tech University Press
Finalist: In the Shadow of Billy the Kid: Susan McSween and the Lincoln County War Kathleen P. Chamberlain University of New Mexico Press

Best Western Juvenile Fiction

Winner: Papa’s Gold Ellen Gray Massey Pen-L
Finalist: How I Became a Ghost Tim Tingle The RoadRunner Press
Finalist: Summer of the Star Johnny D. Boggs Five Star Publishing

Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction

Winner: Eagle of Delight: Portrait of the Plains Indian Girl in the White House Jean A. Lukesh Field Mouse Productions
Finalist: Magnificent Sam: The Amazing Adventures of Sam Houston Laurie Cockerell Kinderfable
Finalist: Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: Donner Dinner Party Nathan Hale Amulet

Storyteller

Winner: Yosemite’s Songster: One Coyote’s Story Ginger Wadsworth and Daniel San Souci Yosemite Conservancy
Finalist: May Finds Her Way Betty Selakovich Casey The Roadrunner Press
Finalist: Standing in for Lincoln Green David Mackintosh Abrams Books for Young Readers

Best Western Short Fiction

Winner: “Cabin Fever” Brett Cogburn High Hill Press
Finalist: “Chouteau’s Crossing” McKendree Long High Hill Press
Finalist: “Gethsemane” Clay Reynolds Lamar University Press

Best Western Short Nonfiction

Winner: “The Other James Brother” Mark Lee Gardner Wild West
Finalist: “Donner Party Cannibalism: Did They or Didn’t They?” Kristin Johnson Wild West
Finalist: “Celebrating ‘Progress?’: Art, Ambivalence, and Vanessa Helder’s Grand Coulee Suite” Victoria Grieve Western Historical Quarterly

Best Western Poem

Winner: “Chamise” Amy Glynn Greacen Orion
Finalist: “Coyanosa” Larry D. Thomas Southwestern American Literature
Finalist: “Skulls” Dixon Hearne Laughing Cactus Press

Best Western Song

Winner: “Still There” Waddie Mitchell and Juni Fisher Red Geetar Music
Finalist: “Race with the Wind” Jim Jones and Bruce Huntington East Mountain Music
Finalist: “Old Poly Rope” Trinity Seely Bucket Bail Press

Best Western Documentary Script

Winner: Indian Relay M. Smoker Dye Works Film

2013

Best Western Short Novel

Winner: Tucker’s Reckoning Matthew Mayo New American Library
Finalist: Lonesome Animals Bruce Holbert Counterpoint Press
Finalist: City of Rocks Michael Zimmer Five Star Publishing

Best Western Long Novel

Winner: With Blood in Their Eyes Thomas Cobb University of Arizona Press
Finalist: The Orchardist Amandan Coplin HarperCollins
Finalist: Country of the Bad Wolfes James Carlos Blake Cinco Puntos Press

Best Original Mass Market Paperback

Winner: The Coyote Tracker Larry Sweazy Berkley
Finalist: Redemption: Hunters James Reasoner Berkley
Finalist: The Secret of Lodestar Tim Champlin Berkley

Best First Novel

Winner: Panhandle Brett Cogburn Pinnacle
Finalist: Wide Open Larry Bjornson Penguin Group/AWOC
Finalist: The Orchardist Amanda Coplin HarperCollins

Best Western Nonfiction Biography

Winner: Geronimo Robert M. Utley Yale University Press
Finalist: Ho! For the Black Hills: Captain Jack Crawford Reports the Black Hills Gold Rush and Great Sioux War Paul L. Hedren South Dakota State Historical Society Press
Finalist: “That Fiend in Hell”: Soapy Smith in Legend Catherine Holder Spude University of Oklahoma Press

Best Western Nonfiction Historical

Winner: With Golden Visions Bright Before Them: Trails to the Mining West, 1849-1852 Will Bagley University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: Terrible Justice: Sioux Chiefs and U.S. Soldiers on the Upper Missouri, 1954-1868 Doreen Chaky The Arthur H. Clark Company
Finalist: Deliverance from the Little Big Horn: Doctor Henry Porter and Custer’s Seventh Cavalry Joan Nabseth Stevenson University of Oklahoma Press

Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary

Winner: Desert Reckoning: A Town Sheriff, A Mojave Hermit and the Biggest Manhunt in Modern California History Deanne Stillman Nation Books
Finalist: Colorado Powder Keg: Ski Resorts and the Environmental Movement Michael W. Childers University Press of Kansas
Finalist: Desert America: Boom and Bust in the New Old West Ruben Martinez Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company

Best Western Short Fiction Story

Winner: “The Hog Whisperer” John Mort Flint Hills Review
Finalist “The Saint of Pox Island” Susan K. Salzer Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
Finalist: “The Day Delgado Rode In” Lori Van Pelt Outlaws and Lawmen/La Frontera Publishing

Best Western Short Nonfiction

Winner: “Marathoner Louis Tewanima and the Continuity of Hopi Running, 1908-1912” Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert Western Historical Quarterly
Finalist: “Libbie Custer: ‘A Wounded Thing Must Hide'” Paul Andrew Hutton Wild West
Finalist “‘Wearing the Hempen Neck-Tie’: Lynching in Nebraska 1858-1919” James E. Potter Nebraska History

Best Western Juvenile Fiction

Winner: Wide Open Larry Bjornson Penguin Group
Finalist: Blooming Prairie Candace Simar North Star Press of St. Cloud
Finalist: And There I’ll Be A Soldier Johnny D. Boggs Five Star Publishing/Gale

Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction

Winner: Light on the Prairie: Solomon D. Butcher, Photographer of Nebraska’s Pioneer Days Nancy Plain University of Nebraska Press
Finalist: The Great Bicycle Experiment: The Army’s Historic Black Bicycle Corps, 1896-97 Kay Moore Mountain Press Publishing Company
Finalist: Strike!: Mother Jones & the Colorado Coal Field War Lois Ruby Filter Press

Storyteller Award

Winner: Pecos Bill Invents the Ten-Gallon Hat Kevin Strauss, illustrated by David Harrington Pelican Publishing
Finalist: The Adventures of Buffalo Joe and The Blackbird With the Broken Wing Jamie Anne Blake Homestead Publishing
Finalist: Big Buckaroo and Moose, The Cow Dog Rachelle “Rocky” Gibbons, illustrated by Jason Hutton Tate Publishing

Best Western Drama Script (Fiction)

Winner: Django Unchained Quentin Tarantino The Weinstein Company
Finalist: Hatfields & McCoys Bill Kerby, Ted Mann, Ronald Parker Thinkfactory Media/History Channel
Finalist: Justified Graham Yost, Elmore Leonard, Dave Andron, Fred Golan, Benjamin Cavell, Taylor Elmore, Jon Worley, Nichelle D. Tramble, Ryan Farley, Ingrid Escajeda, V.J. Boyd FX Network

Best Western Documentary Script (Nonfiction)

Winner: The Dust Bowl Dayton Duncan Florentine Films
Finalist: No Winner    
       

Best Western Poem

Winner: “Johnny Ringo” Red Shuttleworth Riverhouse
Finalist: “Night Singer, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico” Steve Fieffenbacher Wordcraft of Oregon
Finalist: “Nat Maringo” Robert Brown Brave New Genre Inc.

Best Western Audiobook

Winner: Ring of Fire Cotton Smith Books In Motion
Finalist: Trouble in Texas Tom Nichols Books in Motion
       

Best Western Song

Winner: “Texas Is Burnin'” Jim Jones Jim Jones Music
Winner: “Any Name Will Do” Mary Kaye Knaphus Enterprises
Finalist: “The Last Real Cowboy in Old Santa Fe” Jerry Faires Silversmith Records

2012

Best Western Short Novel

Winner: Legacy of a Lawman Johnny D. Boggs Five Star Publishing
Finalist: Lime Creek Joe Henry Random House
Finalist: Killed by Indians 1871 Alan C. Huffines Texas Wesleyan University Press

Best Western Long Novel

Winner: Remember Ben Clayton Stephen Harrigan Alfred A. Knopf
Finalist: Rode Thomas Fox Averill University of New Mexico Press
Finalist: Feast Day of Fools James Lee Burke Simon & Schuster

Best Original Mass Market Paperback

Winner: West Texas Kill Johnny D. Boggs Pinnacle Books/Kensington
Finalist: The Long Hunt Cameron Judd Signet/Penguin
Finalist: Between Hell and Texas Dusty Richards Pinnacle Books/Kensington

Best First Novel

Winner: Double Crossing Meg Mims  Astraea Press
Finalist: “Unbridled” Tammy Hinton Roots & Branches/AWOC
Finalist: “Whispers of the Greybull” Stephen B. Smart High Mule Publishing

Best Western Nonfiction Biography

Winner: George Crook Paul Magid University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: Ned Wynkoop and the Lonely Road from Sand Creek Louis Kraft University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: Will Rogers: A Political Life Richard D. White Texas Tech University Press

Best Western Nonfiction Historical

Winner: The Mormon Rebellion David L. Bigler and Will Bagley University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: After Custer Paul L. Hedren Univ. of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: Railroaded Richard White W. W. Norton & Company

Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary

Winner: The Bitteroot and MR. Brandborg Frederick H. Swanson University of Utah Press
Finalist: Navajos Wear Nikes Jim Kristofic University of New Mexico Press
Finalist: Line in the Sand Rachel St. John Princeton University Press

Best Western Short Fiction Story

Winner: “The Death of Delgado” Rod Miller Western Fictioneers
Winner: The Deacon’s Horse” Clay Reynolds Ink Brush Press
Finalist: “The Great Divide” Shann Ray Graywolf Press

Best Western Short Nonfiction

Winner: “The Alamo, Well Remembered” Paul Andrew Hutton Wild West Magazine
Finalist: “That No Thorn Will Pierce Our Friendship” John R. Wunder Western Historical Quarterly
Finalist “The Wild West’s Premier Mythmaker” Mark Dworkin Wild West Magazine

Best Western Juvenile Fiction

Winner: Birdie Candace Simar North Star Press of St. Cloud
Finalist: South by Southwest Johnny D. Boggs Five Star Publishing/Gale
Finalist: Rescue in Poverty Gulch Nancy Oswald Filter Press

Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction

Winner: Migrant Mother Don Nardo Compass Point Books/Capstone
Finalist: Wolves in Blue Jean A. Lukesh Field Mouse Productions
Finalist: How the West Was Drawn Linda L. Osmundson Pelican Publishing

Storyteller Award

Winner: Tornado Slim and the Magic Cowboy Hat Bryan Langdo Marshall Cavendish
Finalist: The Day Dirk Yeller Came to Town Mary Casanova Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Finalist: Henrietta King Mary Dodson Wade Bright Sky Press

Best Western Drama Script (Fiction)

Winner: Rango John Logan Nickelodeon Movies
Winner: Meek’s Cutoff Jonathan Raymond  
Finalist: Blackthorn Miguel Barros Rogue Pictures

Best Western Documentary Script (Nonfiction)

Winner: Buck Cindy Meehl, Director, Julie Goldman, Producer Cedar Creek Productions
Finalist: No Winner    
       

 Best Western Poem

Winner: “Tabula Rasa” Rod Miller Port Yonder Press
Finalist: “What Harvest Poems on the Siege & Battle of the Alamo” Floyd Collins Somondoco Press
Finalist: “The Red, Candle-lit Darkness Larry D. Thomas El Grito del Lobo Press

Best Western Audiobook

Winner: No Winner
Finalist: No Winner    
       

Best Western Song

Winner: “Morning Star Moon” Jon Chandler Western Dog Publishing
Finalist: “Raven on the Wind” Wylie Gustafson Two Medicine Music
Finalist: “The Cowboy” Bob Thomas Easy Bob Music

2011

Best Western Short Novel

Winner: Snowbound Richard S. Wheeler Tom Doherty Associates
Finalist: Wild Penance Sandi Ault Penguin/Berkley
Finalist: Roy and Lillie Loren D. Estleman Tom Doherty Associate

Best Western Long Novel

Winner: Last Train from Cuernavaca Lucia St. Clair Robson Tom Doherty Associates
Finalist: Gold Under Ice Carol Buchanan Missouri Breaks Press
Finalist: Going Through Ghosts Mary Sojourner University of Nevada Press

Best Original Mass Market Paperback

Winner: Damnation Road Max McCoy Kensington
Finalist: Wulf’s Tracks Dusty Richards Penguin/Berkley
Finalist: The Lawman: Avenging Angel Lyle Brandt (Mike Newton) Penguin/Berkley

Best First Novel

Winner: Galveston Nick Pizolatto  Simon & Schuster
Finalist: A Congregation of Jackals S. Craig Zahler  Dorchester Publishing
Finalist: ‘Nada Daniel Boyd  Casperian Books

Best Western Nonfiction Biography

Winner: Wolf: The Lives of Jack London James Haley Basic Books
Finalist: Wild Horse Annie and the Last of the Mustangs David Cruise & Allison Griffiths Simon & Schuster
Finalist: Bandido: The Life and Times of Tiburcio Vasquez John Boessenecker Univ. of Oklahoma Press

Best Western Nonfiction Historical

Winner: The Killing of Crazy Horse Thomas Powers Alfred A. Knopf
Finalist: Beyond Bear’s Paw Jerome A. Greene Univ. of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: So Rugged and Mountainous Will Bagley Univ. of Oklahoma Press

Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary

Winner: The Frontier of Leisure: Southern California and the Shaping of Modern America Lawrence Culver Oxford University Press
Finalist: Goodbye Wives and Daughters Susan Kushner Resnick University of Nebraska Press
Finalist: Arizona’s Little Hollywood: Sedona and Northern Arizona’s Forgotten Film History, 1923-1973 Joe McNeill Northedge and Sons

Best Western Short Fiction Story

Winner: Bonnie and Clyde in the Backyard K.L. Cook Glimmer Train
Finalist: Scorpion Ranch T. C. Boyle Orion Magazine
Finalist: Gunfighter’s Lament Ellen Recknor Kensington

Best Western Short Nonfiction

Winner: The N Bar N Ranch: A Legend of the Open-Range Cattle Industry, 1885-99 Lee Niedringhaus Montana: The Magazine of Western History
Finalist: Horse Trading in the Early West Dan Flores Wild West Magazine / Weider History Group
Finalist Your Nations Shall Be Exterminated Don Cutler MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History

Best Western Juvenile Fiction

Winner: Moon Over Manifest Clare Vanderpool Random House Children’s Books (Delacorte)
Finalist: Last Summer of the Death Warriors Francisco X. Stork Scholastic, Inc.
Finalist: Crosswire Dotti Enderle Boyds Mills Press (Calkins Creek)

Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction

Winner: Buffalo Bill Cody Ronald A. Reis Chelsea House
Finalist: Tecumseh: Shooting Star of the Shawnee Dwight Jon Zimmerman Sterling Publishing
Finalist: Black Elk’s Vision: A Lakota Story S.D. Nelson Abrams Books

Storyteller Award

Winner: A Night on the Range Aaron Frisch, author—Chris Sheban, illustrator Creative Editions
Finalist: Charlie Russell, Tale-Telling Artist Lois V. Harris, author—Charles Russell, illustrator Pelican Publishing Company
Finalist: Arbor Day Square Kathryn O. Galbraith, author—Cyd Moore, illustrator Peachtree Publishers

Best Western Drama

Winner: Temple Grandin Christopher Monger & William Merritt Johnson  HBO Films
Winner: True Grit Joel & Ethan Coen  Paramount Pictures
Finalist: Justified Graham Yost  Sony Pictures Television & FX Productions

Best Western Documentary

Winner: American Experience: Wyatt Earp Rob Rapley PBS
Finalist: No Winner    
       

Best Western Poem

Winner: Roadside Attractions Red Shuttleworth The Basement
Finalist: Holy Warriors Conger Beasley, Jr. Dodo Bird Publishing
Finalist: No More Corridos John Duncklee Rope and Wire

Best Western Audiobook

Winner: Secret of Two Hawks Kirby Jonas Books in Motion
Finalist: Jackson Hole Journey Linda Jacobs Books in Motion
Finalist: Song of Freedom Tim Simmons Books in Motion

Best Western Song

Winner: Heart of a Bucking Horse Tom Russell & Paul Zarzyski End of the Trail Music, Fontera Music (ASCAP), Bucking Horse Moon (ASCAP)
Finalist: Show Me Mister Susan D. Matley CimSlim Music
Finalist: King Jim Jones & Joyce Jones East Mountain Music

2010

Best Western Short Novel

Winner: Far Bright Star Robert Olmstead Algonquin
Finalist: Wild Sorrow Sandi Ault Berkley Prime Crime
Finalist: Spoon Robert Greer Fulcrum

Best Western Long Novel

Winner: Echoes of Glory Robert Flynn TCU Press
Finalist: One-Eyed Jacks Bob Cherry Cicada Wing
Finalist: Tenderfoot Mary E. Trimble Treble Heart

Best Original Mass Market Paperback

Winner: Stranger in Thunder Basin John D. Nesbitt Dorchester Publishing
Finalist: Hanging Judge Lyle Brandt Penguin/Berkley
Finalist: A Cold Place in Hell William Blinn Pinnacle/Kensington

Best First Novel

Winner:   No Winner  
Finalist:   No Winner  

Best Western Nonfiction Biography

Winner: Peg Leg David C. Humphrey Texas State Historical Association
Finalist: As Big as the West: The Pioneer Life of Granville Stuart Clyde Miller & Carol O’Connor Oxford University Press
Finalist: Mormon Convert/Mormon Defector: A Scottish Immigrant in the American West Polly Aird Arthur H. Clark

Best Western Nonfiction Historical

Winner: Fort Laramie Douglas C. McChristian Arthur H. Clark
Finalist: Dodge City: The Early Years, 1872-1886 William B. Schillingberg Arthur H. Clark
Finalist: Crossing the Plains with Custer Paul Horsted,Ernest Grafe & Jon Nelson Golden Valley Press

Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary

Winner: The Secret War in El Paso: Mexican Revolutionary Intrigue, 1906-1920 Charles H. Harris, III & Louis R. Sadler University of New Mexico Press
Finalist: Borderline Americans: Racial Division and the Labor War in the Arizona Borderlands Katherine Benton-Cohen Harvard University Press
Finalist: The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America Timothy Egan Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Best Western Short Fiction Story

Winner: “At the End of the Orchard” John D. Nesbitt Hardboiled Magazine
Finalist: Half a Pig Matthew P. Mayo Express Westerns
Finalist: “As Is” J. J. Clark High Desert Journal

Best Western Short Nonfiction

Winner: “Teddy’s Ride to Recovery” Roger Di Silvestro Wild West Magazine/Weider
Finalist: “Rejoicing in the Beauties of Nature: The Image of the Western Landscape During the Fur Trade” Kerry Oman Great Plains Quarterly
Finalist “These Men Play Real Polo: An Elite Sport in the Cowboy State, 1890-1930” Michael A. Amundson Montana: The Magazine of Western History

Best Western Juvenile Fiction

Winner: Hard Winter Johnny D. Boggs Gale/Five Star
Finalist: The Devil’s Paintbox Victoria McKernan Alfred A. Knopf
Finalist: Journey to Goliad Melodie Cuate Texas Tech Press

Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction

Winner: With One Sky Above Us Nancy Plain Mondo Publishing
Finalist: Arizona: Nations and Arts Annica Benning Walnut Canyon Press
Finalist: Before Columbus Charles C. Mann Atheneum/Simon & Schuster

Storyteller Award

Winner: Finding Susie Sandra Day O’Connor & Tom Pohrt Random House Children’s Books
Finalist: Kick the Cowboy Joe Gribnau & Adrian Tans Pelican
Finalist: Bad News for Outlaws Vaunda Nelson & R. Gregory Christie Lerner Publishing

Best Western Drama

Winner:   No Winner  
Finalist:   No Winner  

Best Western Documentary

Winner: In Pursuit of a Dream Candy Moulton Boston Productions, Inc.
Finalist: We Shall Remain: Tecumseh’s Vision Ric Burns WGBH
Finalist: Born to Ride Lyman Hafen Southern Utah University

Best Western Poem

Winner: “Bob Dylan Bronc Song” Paul Zarzyski Two Medicine
Finalist: “Where the Yellow Brick Road Turns West” David Memmott Wordcraft of Oregon
Finalist: “Glass Mountains” Larry D. Thomas Southwestern American Literature

Best Western Audiobook

Winner: River Thunder Gary McCarthy Books in Motion
Finalist: Mundy’s Law Monty McCord Books in Motion
Finalist: Where a Good Wind Blows Phil Mills, Jr. Books in Motion

Best Western Song

Winner: “Hang-n-Rattle” Wylie Gustafson & Paul Zarzyski Two Medicine Music/Bucking Horse Moon Music
Finalist: “Steamboat” Steve Moulton Butch Hause/The Ranger Station
Finalist: “Pete French” Daron Little Self-produced

2009

Best Western Short Novel

Winner: Another Man’s Moccasins Craig Johnson Viking / Penguin
Finalist: Dreams Beneath Your Feet Win Blevins Forge Books / Tom Doherty
Finalist: Killstraight Johnny Boggs Five Star

Best Western Long Novel

Winner: Shavetail Thomas Cobb Scribner
Finalist: Wolves At Our Door J.P.S. Brown University of New Mexico Press
Finalist: The Long Knives are Crying Joseph M. Marshall III Fulcrum Publishing

Best Original Mass Market Paperback

Winner: Trouble at the Redstone John D. Nesbitt Dorchester Publishing
Finalist: The Trespassers Andrew J. Fenady Dorchester Publishing
Finalist: I, Quantrill Max McCoy Signet / NAL

Best First Novel

Winner: God’s Thunderbolt: The Vigilantes of Montana Carol A. Buchanan Book Surge, LLC
Finalist: Undiscovered Country Lin Enger Little, Brown & Company
Finalist: The Buffalo Rock Bob Faulkner Stand Up America, USA

Best Western Nonfiction Biography

Winner: Frontiersman: Daniel Boone and the Making of America Meredith Mason Brown Louisiana State University Press
Finalist: A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir Donald Worster Oxford University Press
Finalist: Horses That Buck: The Story of Champion Bronc Rider Bill Smith Margot Kahn University of Oklahoma Press

Best Western Nonfiction Historical

Winner: Hunting The American West: The Pursuit of Big Game for Life, Profit, and Sport, 1800-1900 Richard C. Rattenbury Boone and Crockett Club
Finalist: Frontier Medicine: From the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941 David Dary Alfred A. Knopf
Finalist: A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn -The Last Great Battle of the American West James Donovan Little, Brown & Company

 Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary

Winner: Full-Court Quest: The Girls from Fort Shaw Indian School—Basketball Champions of the World Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn Since 1876 Jerome A. Greene University of Oklahoma Press
Finalist: What Men Call Treasure: The Search for Gold at Victorio Peak David Schweidel and Robert Boswell Cinco Puntos Press

Best Western Short Fiction Story

Winner: “Cornflower Blue” Susan K. Salzer Untamed Ink, Lindenwood University
Finalist: “Mickey Free: The Graphic Novel” Bob Boze Bell and Paul Andrew Hutton True West Magazine
Finalist: “Morning War” Cotton Smith The Way of the West, Dorchester

Best Western Short Nonfiction

Winner: “Owen Wister’s Paladin of the Plains: The Virginian as a Cultural Hero” David A. Smith South Dakota History, South Dakota State Historical Society
Finalist: “More Real than the Indians Themselves: The Early Years of the Indian Lore Movement in the United States” Clyde Ellis Montana The Magazine of Western History
Finalist “Bringing Home All the Pretty Horses: The Horse Trade & the Early American West, 1775-1825” Dan Flores Montana The Magazine of Western History

Best Western Juvenile Fiction

Winner: I am Apache Tanya Landman Candlewick Press
Finalist: The Gold Rush Kid  Mary Waldorf Clarion Books
Finalist: Her Enemies, Blue and Gray Ellen Gray Massey Goldminds Publishing

Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction

Winner: The Trial of Standing Bear Frank Keating, Mike Wimmer (artist) Oklahoma Heritage Association
Finalist: A Boy Named Beckoning: The True Story of Dr. Carlos Montezuma, Native American Hero Gina Capaldi Lerner Publishing
Finalist: The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West Sid Fleischman Harper Collins Children’s Books

Storyteller Award

Winner: The Wheat Doll Alison L. Randall and Bill Farnsworth (artist) Peachtree Publishers
Finalist: Daniel Boone’s Great Escape Michael P. Spradlin, Ard Hoyt (artist) Walker & Company
Finalist: Ten-Gallon Bart and the Wild West Show Susan Stevens Crummel, Dorothy Donohue (artist) Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books

Best Western Drama

Winner:   No Winner  
Finalist:   No Winner  

Best Western Documentary

Winner: Kit Carson Michelle Ferrari American Experience, WGBH
Finalist: Buffalo Bill Rob Rapley American Experience, WGBH
Finalist: A Ballad of the West Bobby Bridger Bridger Productions, White Coyote Music

Best Western Poem

Winner: “The Only Good Indian” Linda Hussa The Black Rock Press
Finalist: “Sometimes, in the Lucias” Janice Gilbertson BK Publications
Finalist: “Steers in Summer, Lowing” Larry D. Thomas Rattle

Best Western Audiobook

Winner: Vendetta Canyon Stan Lynde Books in Motion
Finalist: Grasshoppers in Summer Paul Schmelzer Writing as Paul Colt Books in Motion
Finalist: Letter of the Law C.K. Crigger Books in Motion

Best Western Song

Winner: “Linwood” Jon Chandler Western Dog Publishing BMI
Finalist: “Soy Cayuse Cimarron” Mike Blakely Swing Rider Records
Finalist: “Apache Kid” Royal Wade Kimes Blue Whistler Music

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

  • Western Novel: Masterson by Richard S. Wheeler (Forge Books)
  • Novel of the West: Prophet Annie by Ellen Recknor (Avon Books)
  • Paperback Original: Mine Work by Jim Davidson (Utah State University Press)
  • Nonfiction-Contemporary: The Real Wild West by Michael Wallis (St. Martin’s Press)
  • Nonfiction-Biography: Knight Without Armor: Carlos Eduardo Castaneda, 1896-1958 by Felix D. Almaraz, Jr. (Texas A&M University Press)
  • Juvenile Fiction: Wrango by Brian Burks (Harcourt Brace & Co.)
  • Juvenile Nonfiction: The Wild Colorado by Richard Maurer (Crown Publishers)
  • Short Fiction: “Opening Day” by David Marion Wilkinson (ReadWest Online Magazine)
  • Short Nonfiction: “Golden Dreams” by Elliott West (Montana Historical Society)
  • Drama Script: “Purgatory” Screenplay by Gordon Dawson (Turner Network Television)
  • Documentary Script: “Annie Oakly: Crackshot in Petticoats” Screenplay by Arthur Drooker
  • Storyteller: The Prairie Train by Antoine O’Flatharta, illustrated by Eric Rohmann (Crown Publishers)
  • Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: Mine Work by Jim Davidson (Utah State University Press)

1999

1998

1997

For promotional purposes, the WWA Executive Board in 1997 voted to re-designate the Spur Awards to reflect the year the award is presented rather than the year the work was published.

1996

  • Western Novel: Blood of Texas by Preston Lewis writing as Will Camp (HarperCollins)
  • Novel of the West: Sierra by Richard S. Wheeler (Forge Books)
  • Paperback Original: Potter’s Fields by Frank Roderus (Bantam)
  • Nonfiction-Historical: Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose (Simon & Schuster)
  • Nonfiction-Contemporary: New Westers:The West in Contemporary AmericanCulture by Michael L. Johnson (U Press of Kansas)
  • Nonfiction-Biography: John Wesley Hardin:Dark Angel of Texas by Leon C. Metz (Mangan Books)
  • Juvenile Fiction: Far North by Will Hobbs (William Morrow & Co.)
  • Juvenile Nonfiction: The Life and Death Crazy Horse by Russell Freedman (Holiday House)
  • Short Fiction: “The Alchemist” by Loren D. Estleman (Durkin Hayes Publishing, Ltd.)
  • Short Nonfiction: “Letters from the Field: John Sylvanus Loud and the Pine Ridge Campaign of 1880-9 1” by Fred Erisman and Patricia L. Erisman (South Dakota History)
  • Storyteller: The Worry Stone, story by Marianna Dengler, illustrations by Sibyl Graber Gerig (Northland Publishing)
  • Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: Death of aHealing Woman by Allana Martin (St. Martin’s)

1995

1994

  • Western Novel: St. Agnes’ Stand by Tom Eidson (Berkley)
  • Novel of the West: The Far Canyon by Elmer Kelton (Bantam)
  • Paperback Original: Survival by Robert Vaughan writing as K.C. McKenna (Berkley)
  • Nonfiction-Historical: Precious Dust by Paula Mitchell Marks (William Morrow)
  • Nonfiction-Contemporary: Raven’s Exile: ASeason on the Green River by Ellen Meloy (Henry Holt)
  • Nonfiction-Biography: Hero of BeecherIsland: Life & Military Career of George A.Forsyth by David Dixon (U of Nebraska Press)
  • Juvenile: A Trail of Tears by David Fremon (Silver Burdett Press)
  • Short Fiction: “Charity” by Sandra Whiting (Louis L’Amour Western Magazine)
  • Short Nonfiction: “Incredible Elfego Baca” by Howard Bryan (Clear Light)
  • Drama Script: Wyatt Earp by Dan Gordon and Lawrence Kasdan (TIG Productions/Kasdan Pictures)
  • Documentary Script: One Hundred Years of Hollywood Westerns by Jack Haley Jr., Phil Savenik and Aubrey Solomon (Jack Haley Jr. Productions)
  • Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: St. AgnesStand by Tom Eidson (Berkley)

1993

  • Western Novel: Friends by Charles Hackenberry (M. Evans)
  • Novel of the West: Empire of Bones by Jeff Long (William Morrow & Co.)
  • Paperback Original: The Gila River by Gary McCarthy (Bantam)
  • Nonfiction-Historical: The Lance and theShield by Robert M. Utley (Henry Holt & Co.)
  • Nonfiction-Contemporary: Rivers in theDesert by Margaret Leslie Davis (HarperCollins)
  • Juvenile Fiction: Leaving Eldorado by Joann Mazzio (Houghton Mifflin Co.)
  • Juvenile Nonfiction: Cowboys, Indians and Gunfighters by Albert Martin (Atheneum Books for Children)
  • Short Fiction: “Lou” by Jane Candia Coleman (Louis L’Amour Western Magazine)
  • Short Nonfiction: “Nellie Cashman” by Suzann Ledbetter (Texas Western Press)
  • Cover Art: Packing Iron, William Manns, artist, (Zon International Pub. Co.)
  • Motion Picture Script: Sommersby by Nicholas Meyer and Sarah Kernochan, an Aron Milchan Production (Warner Brothers)
  • Television Script: Return to LonesomeDove, teleplay by John Wilder, dePasse Entertainment and R.H.I. Entertainment (CBS)
  • Television Documentary: The Hunt for Pancho Villa by Paul Espinosa, Galan Productions (PBS, The American Experience)
  • Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: People of theWhistling Waters by Mardi Oakley Medawar (Affiliated Writers of America)

1992

  • Western Novel: Nickajack by Robert J. Conley (Doubleday)
  • Novel of the West: Slaughter by Elmer Kelton (Doubleday)
  • Paperback Original: The Golden Chance by T. V. Olsen (Fawcett Gold Medal)
  • Nonfiction: Let Me Be Free by David Lavender (HarperCollins)
  • Juvenile Fiction: The Haymeadow by Gary Paulsen (Delacorte)
  • Juvenile Nonfiction: Children of the Dust Bowlby Jerry Stanley (Crown Publishers)
  • Short Fiction: “The Face” by Ed Gorman, The Best Western Stories of Ed Gorman (Swallow Press, Ohio State Univ.)
  • Short Nonfiction: “Bluster’s Last Stand” by Preston Lewis (True West)
  • Cover Art: `Autumn in the West,” photograph by John MacMurry (Persimmon Hill)
  • Movie Script: Unforgiven by David Webb Peoples
  • Television Script: Keep the Change by John Miglis
  • Documentary Script: (tie) Buffalo Bill and His Wild West by Robert Kirk and Last Stand at Little Bighorn by Paul Stekler and James Welch
  • Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: John Stone and the Choctaw Kid by Wayne Davis (M. Evans)

1991

  • Western Novel: Journal of the Gun Yearsby Richard Matheson (M. Evans)
  • Novel of the West: The Medicine Horn by Jory Sherman (Tor Books)
  • Paperback Original: Rage in Chupadera by Norman Zollinger (Bantam Books)
  • Nonfiction: Custer’s Last Campaign by John S. Gray (U of Nebraska Press)
  • Juvenile Fiction: Rescue Josh McGuire by Ben Mikaelsen (Walt Disney Co., Inc.)
  • Short Fiction: “Cimarrron, The Killer” by Benjamin Capps (Tales of the Southwest, Doubleday)
  • Short Nonfiction: “Marching with the Army of the West” by James A. Crutchfield (Blackpowder Annual)
  • Cover Art: Cowboy Spurs and Their Makers by Jane Pattie (Texas A&M U Press)
  • Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: The SixthRider by Max McCoy (Doubleday)

1990

  • Western Novel: Sanctuary by Gary Svee
  • Novel of the West: Home Mountain by Jeanne Williams (St. Martin’s)
  • Paperback Original: The Changing Wind by Don Coldsmith (Bantam)
  • Nonfiction: Helen Hunt Jackson by Valerie S. Mathes
  • Juvenile Fiction: Honey Girlby Madge Harrah
  • Juvenile Nonfiction: Woodsong by Gary Paulsen
  • Short Fiction: “Just As I Am” by Joyce Gibson Roach
  • Short Nonfiction: “The Ginger Jar” by Shelly Ritthaler
  • Cover Art: Dreams in Dry Places by Roger Bruhn
  • Motion Picture: Dances With Wolves screenplay by Michael Blake
  • Television: “Dust in the Wind” (“Guns of Paradise” series)
  • Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: Caesar of Santa Feby Tim MacCurdy (Amador Publishers)

1989

  • Western Novel: Fool’s Coach by Richard Wheeler (M. Evans)
  • Novel of the West: Panther in the Sky by James Alexander Thom (Ballantine)
  • Paperback Original: Among the Eagles by C. Clifton Wisler (Fawcett)
  • Nonfiction: The Great Plains by Ian Frazier (Farrar Straus Giroux)
  • Juvenile: My Daniel by Pam Conrad (Harper & Row)
  • Short Fiction: “The Indian Summer of Nancy Redwing” by Harry W Paige (Doubleday)
  • Short Nonfiction: “Helen Hunt Jackson and the Ponca Controversy” by Valerie S. Mathes.
  • Cover Art: “Berchick” by Tennessee Dixon (Volcano Press)
  • Television: “A Letter to Polly” by Paul Savage (Davy Crockett series)
  • Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: South Texas by Ann Gabriel (Ballantine)

1988

1987

  • Western Novel: Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman (Harper & Row)
  • Historical Novel: Wanderer Springs by Robert Flynn (TCU Press)
  • Nonfiction: Jessie Benton Fremont by Pamela Herr (Franklin Watts)
  • Juvenile: The Orphan Train by Joan Lowery Nixon (Bantam)
  • Short Fiction: “The Orange County Cowboys” by Max Evans (South Dakota Review)
  • Short Nonfiction: `A High-Toned Woman” by Joyce Gibson Roach (Texas Folklore Society)
  • Cover Art: C.M. Russell’s West by Sam Abell (Thomasson-Grant)
  • Screenplay: Independence by Gordon Dawson
  • Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: Jenny’s Mountain by Elaine Long (St. Martin’s)

 

1986

  • Western Novel: The Blind Corral by Ralph Robert Beer (Viking)
  • Historical Novel: Roman by Douglas C. Jones (Doubleday)
  • Nonfiction: Paper Medicine Man: John Cregory Bourke and His American West by Joseph C. Porter (U of Oklahoma Press)
  • Juvenile: Make Way for Sam Houston by Jean Fritz (G.E. Putnam’s)
  • Short Fiction: “The Bandit” by Loren D. Estleman (Doubleday)
  • Short Nonfiction: “Let `Er Buck!” by Robin Cody (The Oregonian)
  • Cover Art: “Canyon Country” by DeWitt Jones (Graphics Art Center)
  • Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: Come Spring by Charlotte Hinger (Simon & Schuster)

1985

  • Western Novel: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (Simon & Schuster)
  • Historical Novel: The Snowblind Moon by John Byrne Cook (Simon & Schuster)
  • Nonfiction: Phil Sheridan and His Army by Paul Andrew Hutton (U of Nebraska)
  • Juvenile: Prairie Songs by Pam Conrad (Harper)
  • Short Fiction: “The Way It Was Told to Me” by Bill Brett (WS Enterprises)
  • Short Nonfiction: “The National Game Out West” by Nellie Snyder Yost (Frontier Times)
  • Cover Art: Iva Dunnit and the Big Wind by Steven Kellogg (Dial Books)
  • Screenplay: Pale Rider by Michael Butler, Dennis Shyrack
  • Medicine Pipe: The Snowblind Moon by John Byrne Cook (Simon & Schuster)

1984

  • Historical Novel: Gone the Dreams and Dancing by Douglas C. Jones (Holt, Rinehart & Winston)
  • Nonfiction: Hashknife Cowboy: Recollections of Mack Hughes by Stella Hughes (U of Arizona Press)
  • Juvenile: Trapped in Slickrock Canyon by Gloria Skurzynski (Lothrop Lee & Shepard/William Morrow)
  • Short Subject (Fiction): “Sale of One Small Ranch” by Paul St. Pierre (Beaufort Books)
  • Short Subject (Nonfiction): “Arbuckle’s: The Coffee That Won the West” by Francis L. Fugate (The American West)
  • Cover Art: “Winter Songsinger” by Chuck DeHaan (Frontier Times)
  • Special Spur Award (for editorship of The Roundup, 1980-85): Dale L. Walker
  • Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: Winterkill by Craig Leslie (Houghton Mifflin)

1983

  • Novel: Leaving Kansas by Frank Roderus (Doubleday)
  • Historical Novel: Sam Bass by Bryan Woolley (Corona)
  • Nonfiction: Quarterdeck and Saddlehorn by Carl Briggs and Clyde Trudell (Arthur H. Clarke)
  • Juvenile: Thunder on the Tennessee by Gary Clifton Wisler (Lodestar)
  • Short Subject (Fiction): “The Ten Sleep Mail” by William F. Bragg, Jr. (Pruett Publishing Co.)

1982

  • Novel: Match Race by Fred Grove (Doubleday)
  • Historical Novel: Ride the Wind by Lucia St. Clair Robson (Ballantine)
  • Nonfiction: Albuquerque: A Narrative History by Marc Simmons (U of New Mexico Press)
  • Juvenile: Before the Lark by Irene Bennett Brown (Atheneum)
  • Short Subject (Fiction): “Horseman” by Oakley Hall (Antioch Review)
  • Short Subject (Nonfiction): “The Anasazi” by Thomas Y. Canby (National Geo- graphic Magazine)
  • Cover Art: Helga Teiwes, “Apache Indian Baskets” (U of Arizona Press)
  • TV Script: “Knights of the White Camelia” by Don Balluck (“Father Murphy” series)
  • Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: Carry the Wind by Terry C . Johnston (Caroline House)

1981

  • Novel: (tie) Eye of the Hawk by Elmer Kelton (Doubleday), and Horizon by Lee Head (Putnam’s)
  • Historical Novel: Aces and Eights by Loren D. Estleman (Doubleday)
  • Nonfiction: Cowboy Culture by David Dary (Knopf)
  • Juvenile: The Last Run by Mark Jonathan Harris (Lothrop, Lee Shepard)
  • Cover Art: `A Touch of Winter” by Wayne Baize (Quarter Horse Journal)
  • TV Script: “Establish Thou the Work of Our Hands” by Paul Cooper (“Father Murphy” series)
  • Short Subject (Fiction): “Kathleen Flaherty’s Long Winter” by Carla Kelly (Far West Magazine)
  • Short Subject (Nonfiction): “Buffalo Bill and the Enduring West” by Alice J. Hall (National Geographic Magazine)
  • Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (Best First Novel): Ride Down the Wind by Wayne Barton (Doubleday)

1980

  • Novel: The Valiant Women by Jeanne Williams (Pocket Books)
  • Nonfiction: The Peace Chief of the Cheyennes by Stan Hoig (U of Oklahoma)
  • Juvenile: Getting There: Frontier Travel Without Power by Suzanne Hilton (Westminster Press)
  • Short Subject: “One Man’s Code” by Wayne Barton (Far West)
  • TV Script: “May We Make Them Proud” by Michael Landon (“Little House on the Prairie” series)

1979

  • Novel: The Holdouts by William Decker (Little Brown)
  • Nonfiction: The Apache: Eagles of the Southwest by Don Worcester (U of Oklahoma)
  • Short Subject: “Jason Glendauer’s Watch” by James Bellah (Far West)
  • TV Script: “The Innocent” by Ray Goldrup (“How the West Was Won” series)
  • Special Award: Bill Bragg
  • Short Subject (Nonfiction): “Super Bull” by Max Evans (The Seven Horseman Magazine)
  • Cover Art: Dee Lambert-Shafer, “Cougar Woman” (Sunstone Press)
  • Movie Script: “The Grey Fox” by John Hunter
  • Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: Thirsty by Andrew Dequasie (Walker & Co.)

1978

  • Novel: Riders to Cibola by Norman Zollinger (Museum of New Mexico Press)
  • Nonfiction: Pueblo, Hardscrabble, Greenhorn by Janet Lecompte (U of Oklahoma)
  • Juvenile: The No-Return Trail by Sonia Levitin (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich)
  • Short Subject: `A Season for Heroes” by Carla Kelly (Far West)
  • TV Script: “How the West Was Won” by Calvin Clements, John Mantley and Earl W. Wallace
  • Movie Script: “Comes a Horseman” by Dennis Lynton Clark

1977

  • Novel: The Great Horse Race by Fred Grove (Doubleday)
  • Historical Novel: Swimming Man Burning by Terrence Kilpatrick (Doubleday)
  • Nonfiction: The Cowgirls by Joyce Gibson Roach (Cordovan)
  • Juvenile: A Shepherd Watches, A Shepherd Sings by Louis Irigaray and Theodore Taylor (Doubleday)
  • Short Subject: “Where the Cowboys Hunkered Down” by John L. Sinclair (New Mexico Magazine)
  • TV Script: “Cully Madigan” by William Kelley (“How the West Was Won” series)
  • Special Award: August Lenniger

1976

  • Novel: (tie) The Spirit Horses by Lou Cameron (Ballantine) and The Court Martial of George Armstrong Custer by Douglas C. Jones (Scribner’s)
  • Historical Novel: The Kincaids by Matt Braun (Putnam’s)
  • Nonfiction: The Vanishing Whiteman by Stan Steiner (Harper & Row)
  • Juvenile:  All Aboard by Philip Ault (Dodd Mead)
  • Short Subject: “Jonathan Gilliam & The White Man’s Burden” by C. L. Sonnichsen (Persimmon Hill)
  • TV Script: (tie) “The Macahans” by James T. Byrnes (MGM Television) and “Hatchets Drive” by Katharyn M. Powers and Michael Michaelian (Columbia Pictures Television)

1975

  • Novel: The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout (Doubleday)
  • Nonfiction: Lamy of Santa Fe by Paul Horgan (Farrar Straus & Giroux)
  • Juvenile Fiction: Dust of the Earth by Vera and Bill Cleaver (Lippincott)
  • Juvenile Nonfiction: Ride `Em Cowgirl by Lynn Haney (Putnam’s)
  • Short Subject: “Apaches in the History of the Southwest” by Donald Worcester (New Mexico Historical Review)
  • TV Script: “The Busters” by James T. Byrnes (“Gunsmoke” series)

1974

  • Novel: A Hanging In Sweetwater by Stephen Overholser (Doubleday)
  • Nonfiction: Colonel Green and the Copper Skyrocket by C. L. Sonnichsen (U of Arizona)
  • Juvenile: Susy’s Scoundrel by Harold Keith (Crowell)
  • Short Subject: (tie) “The Other Nevadan” by Robert Laxalt (National Geographic Magazine) and “Buried Money” by Eve Ball (True West Magazine)
  • TV Script: “Thirty a Month and Found” by James T. Byrnes (“Gunsmoke” series)

1973

  • Novel: The Time It Never Rained by Elmer Kelton (Doubleday)
  • Nonfiction: Burnt Out Fires by Richard Dillon (Prentice-Hall)
  • Juvenile Fiction: Freedom Trail by Jeanne Williams (Putnam’s)
  • Juvenile Nonfiction: Red Power on the Rio Grande by Franklin Folsom (Follett)
  • Short Subject: “The Comancheros” by John Harrell (New Mexico Magazine)
  • TV Script: “The Deadly Innocent” by Calvin Clements (“Gunsmoke” series)

1972

  • Novel: A Killing in Kiowa by Lewis B. Patten (New American Library)
  • Historical Novel: Chiricahua by Will Henry (Lippincott)
  • Nonfiction: The Time of the Buffalo by Tom McHugh (Knopf)
  • Juvenile Fiction: Only Earth & Sky Last Forever by Nathaniel Benchley (Harper & Row)
  • Juvenile Nonfiction: The Tiguas by Stan Steiner (Crowell-Collier)
  • Short Subject: “Call of the Cow Country” by Harry F. Webb (Westerner Magazine)
  • TV Script: “Bohannon” by William Kelley (“Gunsmoke” series)

1971

  • Novel: The Day the Cowboys Quit by Elmer Kelton (Doubleday)
  • Nonfiction: Western Life and Adventures by Elliott Barker (Calvin Horn)
  • Juvenile Fiction: The Black Mustanger by Richard Wormser (Morrow)
  • Juvenile Nonfiction: Lords of the Earth by Jules Loh (Crowell-Collier)
  • Short Subject: “Shootout in Burke Canyon” by Earl Clark (American Heritage)
  • TV Script: “Lynotte” by Ron Bishop (“Gun Smoke” series)
  • Movie Script: Doc by Pete Hamill

1970

  • Novel: The Last Days of Wolf Garnett by Clifton Adams (Doubleday)
  • Nonfiction: The Buffalo by Francis Haines (Crowell)
  • Juvenile Fiction: Cayuse Courage by Evelyn Lampman (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich)
  • Juvenile Nonfiction: (tie) Retreat to the Bear Paw by Marion T. Place (Four Winds Press) and Search for the Seven Cities by John Upton Terrell (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich)
  • Short Subject: “In the Silence” by Peggy Simson Curry (Boys Life)
  • TV Script: “Chato” by Paul Edwards (“Gunsmoke” series)

1969

  • Novel: Tragg’s Choice by Clifton Adams (Doubleday)
  • Historical Novel: The White Many Road by Benjamin Capps (Harper & Row)
  • Nonfiction: Boss Cowman by Nellie Snyder Yost (U of Nebraska Press)
  • Juvenile Fiction: The Meeker Massacre by Wayne Overholser and Lewis Patten (Cowles)
  • Juvenile Nonfiction: Con quistadores and Pueblos by Olga Hall-Quest (Dutton)
  • First Western Novel: Big With Vengeance by Cecil Snyder (Ballantine)
  • Short Subject: “Westward to Blood and Glory” by Cliff Farrell (Doubleday)
  • TV Script: “Zee”by Andy Lewis (“Lancer” series)

1968

  • Novel: Down the Long Hills by Louis L’Amour (Bantam)
  • Historical Novel: The Red Sabbath by Lewis Patten (Doubleday)
  • Nonfiction: Gold Rushes and Mining Camps of the Early American West by Vardis Fisher and Opal Laurel Holmes (Caxton)
  • Juvenile Fiction: Middl’un by Elizabeth Burleson (Follett)
  • Juvenile Nonfiction: Rifles and Warbonnets by Marion T. Place (Ives Washburn)
  • Short Material: “When the Caballos Came” by Fred Grove (Boys Life)

1967

  • Novel: The Valdez Horses by Lee Hoffman (Doubleday)
  • Historical Novel: The Wolf is My Brother by Chad Oliver (New American Library)
  • Nonfiction: America’s Western Frontiers by John Hawgood (Knopf)
  • Juvenile Fiction: (tie) Half Breed by Evelyn Lampman (Doubleday) and The Dunderhead War by Betty Baker (Harper & Row)
  • Juvenile Nonfiction: To the Pacific With Lewis and Clark by Ralph Andrist (American Heritage Junior Books)
  • Short Material: “The Guns of William Longley” by Donald Hamilton (Gold Medal Books WWA Anthology)

1966

  • Novel: My Brother John by Herbert R. Purdum (Doubleday)
  • Historical Novel: Hellfire Jackson by Garland Roark and Charles Thomas (Doubleday)
  • Nonfiction: America’s Frontier Heritage by Ray Billington (Holt Rinehart & Winston)
  • Juvenile Fiction: The Burning Class by Annabel and Edgar Johnson (Harper & Row)
  • Juvenile Nonfiction: Valley of the Smallest by Aileen Fisher (Crowell)
  • Short Material: “Empty Saddles at Christmas” by S. Omar Barker (Western Horseman)

1965

  • Novel: Sam Chance by Benjamin Capps (Duell Sloan & Pearce)
  • Historical Novel: (tie) Gold in California by Todhunter Ballard (Doubleday) and Mountain Man by Vardis Fisher (Morrow)
  • Nonfiction: The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest by Alvin M.Josephy (Yale University Press)
  • Juvenile: The Stubborn One by Rutherford Montgomery (Duell Sloan & Pearce)
  • Short Material: “Tallest Indian in Toltepec” by Will Henry (Berkley)

1964

  • Novel: The Trail to Ogallala by Benjamin Capps (Duell Sloan & Pearce)
  • Historical Novel: Indian Fighter by F. F. Halloran (Ballantine)
  • Nonfiction: Field Notes of Capt. William Clark by E. S. Osgood (Yale University Press)
  • Juvenile: Ride a Northbound Horse by Richard Wormser (Morrow)
  • Short Story: “Log Studio of C. M. Russell” by Lola Shelton (American Scene Magazine)

1963

  • Novel: Follow the Free Wind by Leigh Brackett (Doubleday)
  • Historical Novel: Gates of the Mountains by Will Henry (Random House)
  • Nonfiction: The Bonanza West by William S. Greever (U of Oklahoma Press)
  • Juvenile: (tie) The Story Catcher by Mari Sandoz (West Minster Press) and By the Great Spoon by Sid (A. E.) Fleischman (Little, Brown)
  • Short Story: “Comanche Woman” by Fred Grove (Avon WWA Anthology)

1962

  • Novel: Comanche Captives by Fred Grove (Ballantine)
  • Historical Novel: Moon Trap by Don Berry (Viking)
  • Nonfiction: Great Surveys of the American West by R.A. Bartlett (U of Oklahoma Press)
  • Juvenile: The Western Horse by Natlee Kenoyer (Meredith Press)
  • Short Story: “Isley’s Stranger” by Will Henry (Doubleday WWA Anthology)

1961

  • Novel: The Honyocker by Giles Lutz (Doubleday)
  •  Historical Novel: The Winter War by William Wister I-lames (Little, Brown)
  • Nonfiction: Lives and Legends of Buffalo Bill by Don Russell (U of Oklahoma Press)
  • Short Story: `A Town Named Hate” by John Prebble (Saturday Evening Post)

1960

  • Novel: The Nameless Breed by Will C. Brown (Macmillan)
  • Historical Novel: From Where the Sun Now Stands by Will Henry (Random House)
  • Nonfiction: South Pass 1868, ed. by Lola M. Homsher (U of Nebraska Press)
  • Juvenile: The Horse Talker by Jeanne Williams (Prentice-Hall)
  • Short Story: “The Shaming of Broken Horn” by Bill Gulick (Saturday Evening Post)

1959

  • Novel: Long Run by Nelson Nye (Macmillan)
  • Historical Novel: The Buffalo Soldiers by John Prebble (Harcourt Brace)
  • Nonfiction: Day of San Jacinto by Frank Tolbert (McGraw-Hill)
  • Juvenile Fiction: Their Shining Hour by Ramona Maher Weeks (John Day)
  • Juvenile Nonfiction: Hold Back the Hunter by Dale White (Viking)
  • Short Story: “Grandfather Out of the Past” by Noel Loomis (Frontiers West)

1958

  • Novel: Short Cut to Red River by Noel Loomis (Macmillan)
  • Historical Novel: The Fancher Train by Amelia Bean (Doubleday)
  • Nonfiction: Cripple Creek Days by Mabel Barbee Lee (Doubleday)
  • Juvenile: Steamboat Up the Missouri by Dale White (Viking)
  • Short Story: “Thief in Camp” by Bill Gulick (Saturday Evening Post)

1957

  • Novel: Buffalo Wagons by Elmer Kelton (Ballantine)
  • Historical Novel: Silver Mountain by Dan Cushman (Appleton-Century-Crofrs)
  • Nonfiction: This is the West, ed. by Robert West Howard (New American Library)
  • Juvenile: Wolf Brother by Jim Kjelgaard (Holiday House)
  • Short Story: “The Brushoff’ by Peggy Simson Curry (Saturday Evening Post)

1956

  • Novel:High Gun by Leslie Ernenwein (Gold Medal Books)
  • Historical Novel: Generations of Men by John Clinton Hunt (Little, Brown)
  • Nonfiction: Men to Match My Mountains by Irving Stone (Doubleday)
  • Juvenile: Trapping the Silver Beaver by Charles Niehuis (Dodd Mead)
  • Short Story: “Lost Sister” by Dorothy M. Johnson (Collier’s)

1955

  • Novel: Somewhere They Die by L.P. Holmes (Little, Brown)
  • Nonfiction: Shoot-Up Country by Paul F . Sharp (U of Minnesota Press)
  • Short Story: “Bad Company” by S. Omar Barker (Saturday Evening Post)

1954

  • Novel: The Violent Land by Wayne D. Overholser (Macmillan)
  • Historical Novel: Journey by the River by John Prescott (Random House)
  • Juvenile: Young Hero of the Range by Stephen Payne (Lantern Press)
  • Nonfiction: Bent’s Fort by David Lavender (Doubleday)
  • Short Story: “Blood on the Sun” by Thomas Thompson (American Magazine)
  • Reviewer: Nelson Nye (Hoofs & Horns)

1953

  • Novel: Lawman by Lee Leighton (Ballantine Books)
  • Historical novel: The Wheel and the Hearth by Lucia Moore (Ballantine Books)
  • Juvenile: Sagebrush Sorrel by Frank C. Robertson (Thomas Nelson)
  • Short Story: “Gun Job” by Thomas Thompson (Collier’s)
  • Reviewer: Hoffman Birney (New York Times)