Spur Award Winners
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 |
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 |
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 |
Winner: | On Swift Horses: A Novel | Shannon Pufahl | Riverhead Books |
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 |
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 |
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 |
Winner: | The River by Starlight | Ellen Notbohm | She Writes Press |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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
- Best Western Short Novel: Tallgrass By Sandra Dallas, St. Martin’s Press
- Best Western Long Novel: The God of Animals By Aryn Kyle, Scribner
- Best Original Mass Market Paperback: Hellfire Canyon By Max McCoy, Kensington/Pinnacle Books
- Best First Novel: The Night Birds By Thomas Maltman, Soho Press
- Best Western Nonfiction Biography: Gall: Lakota War ChiefBy Robert W. Larson, Univ. of Oklahoma Press
- Best Western Nonfiction Historical: Creating Minnesota By Annette Atkins, MN Historical Society Press
- Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary: Lone Star Lawmen: The Second Century of the Texas RangersBy Robert M. Utley, Oxford University Press
- Best Western Short Fiction Story: “Crucifixion River” (Crucifixion River) By Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini, Five Star
- Best Western Short Nonfiction: “Selling the ‘Noble Savage’ Myth: George Catlin and the Iowa Indians in Europe, 1843-1845” By Joseph B. Herring, Kansas History (Winter 2007)
- Best Western Juvenile Fiction: Doubtful Cañon By Johnny D. Boggs, Five Star
- Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: Sagebrush and Paintbrush: The Story of Charlie Russell, The Cowboy Artist By Nancy Plain, Mondo Publishing
- Storyteller Award: No Award Given
- Best Western Drama: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford By Andrew Dominik, Warner Bros. Pictures
- Best Western Documentary: Maynard Dixon: Art and Spirit By Jayne McKay & Daniel Dixon, Cloud World LLC
- Best Western Poem: “El Corrido de Antonio Beltran” from Open Range: Poetry of the Reimagined West By John Duncklee, Ghost Road Press
- Best Western Audiobook: No Award Given
- Best Western Song: “The Last Wild White Buffalo” By Mike Blakely, Quien Sabe Music/Swing Rider Records
2007
- Best Western Long Novel: The Night Journal by Elizabeth Crook, Viking/Penguin Publishing
- Best Western Short Novel: The Shape Shifter by Tony Hillerman, Harper Collins Publishers
- Best Original Paperback Novel: The Horse Creek Incident by Dusty Richards, Jove Books
- Best First Novel: Broken Trail by Alan Geoffrion, Fulcrum Publishing
- Best Western Nonfiction – Historical: Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West by Hampton Sides, Doubleday
- Best Western Nonfiction – Contemporary: Copper Chorus: Mining, Politics and the Montana Press, 1889-1959 by Dennis L. Swibold, Montana Historical Society Press
- Best Western Nonfiction – Biography: Crazy Horse: A Lakota Life by Kingsley M. Bray, University of Oklahoma Press
- Best Western Short Fiction: “Comanche Moon” by Dusty Richards, Amazon Shorts/Amazon.com
- Best Western Short Nonfiction: “Forced into the Rockies: The Rise of the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous Era” by Kerry Oman, Annals of Wyoming
- Best Western Juvenile Fiction: Geronimo by Joseph Bruchac, Scholastic Press
- Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: Bleeding Kansas and the Violent Clash Over Slavery in the Heartland by Jeff C.Young, Enslow Publishers
- Best Western Drama Script (Fiction): Broken Trail by Alan Geoffrion, AMC
- Best Western Documentary Script (Nonfiction): Gold Rush by Michelle Ferrari, American Experience WGBH/PBS
- Storyteller: Tatanka and the Lakota People by Donald F. Montileaux, South Dakota State Historical Society Press
- Poetry: Across the High Divide by Laurie Wagner Buyer, Ghost Road Press
- Audiobook: Healing Shine by Michael Johnson, Season of Harvest
2006
- Novel of the West: High Country: A Novelby Willard Wyman, University of Oklahoma Press
- Best First Novel: High Country: A Novelby Willard Wyman, University of Oklahoma Press
- Western Novel: Tie for Spur Winner: Camp Ford: A Western Storyby Johnny D. Boggs, Five Star Publishing and The Undertaker’s Wife by Loren D. Estleman, Forge Books
- Short Nonfiction: “The Contradictory Legacies of Buffalo Bill Cody’s First Scalp for Custer” by Paul L. Hedren, Montana The Magazine of Western History
- Original Paperback Novel: Dakotaby Matt Braun, St Martin’s Press
- Short Fiction: “Pecker’s Revenge” (in Pecker’s Revenge and Other Stories from the Frontier’s Edge)by Lori Van Pelt, University of New Mexico Press
- Documentary Script: “Mountain Massacre” written by Paul Hutton, Bill Kurtis and Jamie Schenk Kurtis Productions, The History Channel
- Drama Script: Tie for Spur Winner: “Into The West: Hell on Wheels” (Episode IV) written by Kirk Ellis, DreamWorks Television for TNT and “Miracle at Sage Creek” written by Thadd Turner, Talmarc Productions
- Contemporary Nonfiction: Ringside Seat to a Revolution: An Underground Cultural History of El Paso and Juarez, 1893-1923by David Dorado Romo, Cinco Puntos Press
- Historical Nonfiction: Buffalo Bill’s America: William Cody and The Wild West Showby Louis S. Warren, Alfred A. Knopf
- Biography: Chief Joseph: Guardian of the Peopleby Candy Moulton, Forge Books
- Storyteller: Klondike Goldby Alice Provensen, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
- Juvenile Nonfiction: The First Americans: The Story of Where They Came From and Who They Became by Anthony Aveni, Scholastic Nonfiction
- Juvenile Fiction:Black Storm Comin’ by Diane Lee Wilson, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
- Poetry: Voice of the Borderlands by Drum Hadley, Rio Nuevo Publishers
2005
- Best Western Novel: Buy the Chief a Cadillac by Rick Steber, Bonanza Publishing
- Best Novel Of The West: People of the Ravenby Kathleen O’Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear, Forge Books
- Best Original Mass Market Paperback Novel: Vengeance Valleyby Richard S. Wheeler, Pinnacle Books (Kensington)
- Best First Novel: Field of Honorby D. L. Birchfield, University of Oklahoma Press
- Best Western Nonfiction – Biography: Black Kettle: The Cheyenne Chief Who Sought Peace but Found Warby Thom Hatch, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- Best Western Nonfiction – Historical: Beasts of the Fieldby Richard Steven Street, Stanford University Press
- Best Western Nonfiction – Contemporary: The Texas Rangers and the Mexican Revolutionby Charles H. Harris III and Louis R. Sadler, University of New Mexico Press
- Best Western Short Fiction: “The Promotion” (from the anthology Texas Rangers) by Larry D. Sweazy, Berkley Publishing
- Best Western Short Nonfiction: “Blood For Oil” (from the collectionJust the Facts) by Jim Doherty, Deadly Serious Press
- Best Western Juvenile Fiction: Fire In The Hole!By Mary Cronk Farrell, Clarion Books (Houghton Mifflin)
- Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction:Rattlesnake Mesa…Stories From A Native American ChildhoodbyEdnah New Rider Weber, Lee & Low Books
- Best Western Drama Script: Hidalgoby John Fusco, Touchstone Pictures/Disney
- Best Western Documentary Script: Wild West Tech: Deadwood Tech by Laura Verklan, The History Channel
- Poetry: A Thousand Miles of Starsby Walt McDonald, Texas Tech University Press
- Storyteller: Apples to Oregonby Deborah Hopkinson, Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter, Simon and Schuster Children’s Books
2004
- Best Western Novel: I Should Be Extremely Happy In Your Company By Brian Hall (Viking)
- Novel of the West: So Wild A Dream by Win Blevins (Forge)
- Best First Novel: The Sergeant’s Lady By Miles Hood Swarthout (Forge).
- Best Drama Script: And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself by the Mark Gordon Company and City Entertainment for HBO.
- Storyteller Award (illustrated children’s book): The Star People: A Lakota Story written and illustrated by S.D. Nelson (Abrams).
- Original Paperback Novel: Plain Language by Barbara Wright (Touchstone).
- Nonfiction Biography: On A Silver Desert: The Life of Ernest Haycox by Ernest Haycox Jr. (University of Oklahoma Press).
- Nonfiction Contemporary: River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West by Rebecca Solnit (Viking).
- Nonfiction Historical: One Vast Winter Count: the Native American West before Lewis and Clark by Colin G. Calloway (University of Nebraska Press).
- Short Fiction: “Second Coming” by Andrew Geyer in Whispers in Dust and Bone (Texas Tech University Press).
- Short Nonfiction: “Reconstructing Race” by Elliott West (Western Historical Quarterly, Spring 2003).
- Juvenile Fiction: In The Eye of the Storm: The Adventures of Young Buffalo Bill by E. Cody Kimmel (Harper Collins).
- Juvenile Nonfiction: Words West: Voices of Young Pioneers by Ginger Wadsworth (Clarion Books).
- Documentary: Carson and Cody: The Hunter Heroes by Paul Andrew Hutton (Gary L. Foreman/Native Sun Productions, the History Channel).
- Poetry: Wolf Tracks on the Welcome Mat by Paul Zarzyski (Oreana Books).
2003
- Best Western Novel: The Chili Queen by Sandra Dallas (St. Martin’s Press)
- Best Original Paperback Novel: Oblivion’s Altar: A Novel of Courage by David Marion Wilkinson (New American Library)
- Best Novel of the West: Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling (Blue Hen)
- Nonfiction Historical: Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows By Will Bagley (University of Oklahoma Press)
- Nonfiction Contemporary: Diné: A History of the Navajos By Peter Iverson (University of New Mexico Press)
- Nonfiction Biography: Sam Houston By James L. Haley (University of Oklahoma Press)
- Best Western Documentary Script: Daniel Levitt’s Custer’s Last Stand (Pinball Productions for Unsolved History, the Discovery Channel)
- Best Western Short Fiction: Jimbo Brewer’s “The Old Man,” in Hot Biscuits: Eighteen Stories by Women and Men of the Ranching West (University of New Mexico Press).
- Best Western Short Nonfiction: Kerry R. Oman’s “Winter in the Rockies: Winter Quarters of the Mountain Men,” in Montana: The Magazine of Western History.
- Best Western Juvenile Fiction: The Big Burn by Jeanette Ingold (Harcourt Inc.).
- Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: Raising La Belle by Mark G. Mitchell (Eakin Press).
2002
- Best Western Novel: The Way of the Coyote by Elmer Kelton, Forge Books
- Best Novel of the West: The Miracle Life of Edgar Mintby Brady Udall, W.W. Norton & Company
- Original Western Paperback: Drum’s Ring by Richard S. Wheeler, NAL
- Medicine Pipe Bearer: (best first novel) Corps of Discovery by Jeffrey W. Tenney, iUniverse
- Nonfiction: Historical: Andrew Jackson and His Indian Wars by Robert Remini, Viking Books
- Nonfiction: Contemporary: Bone Wars by Tom Rea, University of Pittsburgh Press
- Nonfiction: Biography: American Character by Mark Thompson, Arcade Publishing
- Juvenile Fiction: Rockbuster by Gloria Skurzynski, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
- Juvenile Nonfiction: In The Days of the Vaqueros by Russell Freedman, Clarion Books
- Short Fiction: “A Piano at Dead Man’s Crossing” from American West by Johnny D. Boggs, Forge Books
- Short Nonfiction: “Killer of Pain’s Transcontinental Journey” by Dale L. Walker, Wild West Primedia History Group
- Best Western Documentary Script: Boone and Crockett: The Hunter Heroes by Paul Andrew Hutton with Dan Gagliasso (Gary L. Foreman, Native Sun Productions)
- Story Teller Award: (for best illustrated children’s literature) The Legend of Strap Buckner by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge and Andrew Glass, Holiday House
- Poetry: Blood Sister, I Am To These Fields by Linda Hussa, Black Rock Press
2001
- Western Novel: Summer of Pearls by Mike Blakely (Forge Books)
- Best Novel of the West: The Gates of the Alamo by Stephen Harrigan (Alfred A. Knopf)
- Best Original Paperback: Bound for the Promise Land by Troy D. Smith
- Medicine Pipe Bearer winner for Best First Novel: The Chivalry of Crime by Desmond Barry
- Best Western Nonfiction – Contemporary: What You See in Clear Water by Geoffrey O’Gara
- Best Western Nonfiction – Biography: A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell.
- Best Western Nonfiction – Historical: Pacific Destiny by Dale Walker
- Best Western Short Fiction: “All or Nothing” from Tales of the American Westby Gary Svee
- Best Western Short Nonfiction: “Death Song” by H. W. Paige
- Best Western Juvenile Fiction: The Midnight Train Home by Erika Tamar
- Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: Stories of Young Pioneers in Their Own Words by Violet T. Kimball
- The Storyteller Award: Cindy Ellen: A Wild Western Cinderella by Susan Lowell and Jane Manning
- Poetry: Western Settings by Red Shuttleworth
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
- Western Novel: Journey of the Dead by Loren D. Estleman (Forge Books)
- Novel of the West: The All-True Travels and Adventures of Liddie Newton by Jane Smiley (Alfred A. Knopf)
- Paperback Original: Dark Trail by Hiram King (Leisure Books)
- Nonfiction-Contemporary: Devil’s Bargains: Tourism on the Twentieth-Century American West by Hal K. Rothman (University Press of Kansas)
- Nonfiction-Biography: Duke: The Life and Image of John Wayne by Ronald L. Davis (University of Oklahoma Press)
- Juvenile Fiction: Petey by Ben Mikaelson (Hyperion Books for Children)
- Juvenile Nonfiction: Cowboy With a Camera: Erwin E. Smith, Cowboy Photographer by Don Worcester (Amon Carter Museum)
- Short Fiction: “Secrets of the Lost Cannon” by Allen P. Bristow (Acorn)
- Short Nonfiction: “A South Dakota Rendezvous” by Carlton L. Bonilla (South Dakota History)
- Drama Script: The Hi-Lo CountryScreenplay by Walon Green (Grammercy Pictures)
- Documentary Script: Frontier: Legends of the Old Northwest Screenplay by Gary L. Foreman (Arts & Entertainment/History Channel)
- Storyteller: Slim & Miss Prim by Robert Kinerk; Illustrator Jim Harris (Rising Moon)
- Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: The Spanish Peaks by Jon Chandler (Rodgers & Nelson Publishing)
1998
- Western Novel: The Kiowa Verdict by Cynthia Haseloff (Five Star)
- Novel of the West: Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry (Simon & Schuster)
- Paperback Original: Leaving Missouri by Ellen Recknor (Berkley)
- Nonfiction-Historical: El Llano Estacado: Exploration and Imagination on the High Plains of Texas and New Mexico, 1536-1860, by John Miller Morris, Texas State Historical Society
- Nonfiction-Contemporary: Big Trouble by J. Anthony Lukas (Simon & Schuster)
- Nonfiction-Biography: Death’s Deceiverby Lynn Bridgers (U of New Mexico Press)
- Juvenile Fiction: Danger Along the Ohio by Patricia Willis (Clarion Books)
- Juvenile Nonfiction: Rattlesnake Dance by Jennifer Owings Dewey (Boyds Mills Press)
- Short Fiction: “Sue Ellen Learns to Dance” by Judy Alter (Browder Springs Publishing)
- Short Nonfiction: “Ranchers form Radical Center to Protect Wide-Open Spaces” by Jake Page (Smithsonian Magazine)
- Drama Script: Buffalo Soldiers by Frank Military and Susan Rinehart (TNT)
- Documentary Script: (tie) “George Armstrong Custer” by Arthur Drooker (Drooker Productions) and “Lewis & Clark” by Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan (Florentine Films)
- Storyteller: Bootmaker and the Elves, story by Susan Lowell, illustrated by Tom Curry (Orchard Books)
- Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: Keepers of theEarth by LaVerne Harrell Clark (Cinco Puntos Press)
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
- Western Novel: The Dark Island by Robert J. Conley (Bantam)
- Novel of the West: Stone Song: A Novel ofthe Life of Crazy Horse by Win Blevins (Forge Books)
- Paperback Original: Thunder in the Valley by Jim R. Woolard (Berkley)
- Nonfiction-Historical: Seeking Pleasure inthe Old West by David Dary (Alfred Knopf)
- Nonfiction-Contemporary: We Are A PeopleIn This World by Conger Beasley Jr., (U of Arkansas Press)
- Nonfiction-Biography: General M. G. Vallejoand the Advent of the Americans: ABiography by Alan Rosenus (U of New Mexico Press)
- Juvenile Fiction: Indio by Sherry Garland (Harcourt Brace)
- Juvenile Nonfiction: Camels for Uncle Sam by Diane Yancey (Hendrick-Long)
- Short Fiction: “Are You Coming Back, Phin Montana?” by Jane Candia Coleman (Louis L’ Amour Western Magazine)
- Short Nonfiction: “Captain Marsh: Master of the Missouri” by Nancy M. Peterson (Wild West Magazine)
- Drama Script: The Avenging Angel by Dennis Nemac (Turner Pictures)
- Documentary Script: Ruby to Paradise and the Legends in Between by Vicki Evans (Dragoon Productions)
- Storyteller Award: Dandelions, story by Eve Bunting, illustrations by Greg Shed (Harcourt Brace)
- Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: Thunder inthe Valley by Jim R. Woolard (Berkley)
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
- Western Novel: Mattie by Judy Alter (Doubleday)
- Novel of the West: The Homesman by Glendon Swarthout (Weidenfeld and Nicholson)
- Nonfiction: Hoover Dam: An AmericanAdventureby Joseph Stevens (U of Oklahoma Press)
- Juvenile: In the Face of Danger by Joan Lowery Nixon (Bantam)
- Short Fiction: “Yellow Bird: An Imaginary Autobiography” by Robert J. Conley (U of Oklahoma Press)
- Short Nonfiction: “The Boys of `98” by Dale L. Walker (True West)
- Cover Art: Coyote Tales from the IndianPueblos by Glen Strock (Sunstone Press)
- Medicine Pipe Bearer Award: Spirit of theHills by Dan O’Brien (Crown Publishers)
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)