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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:	None	No Winner
Finalist:	None	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

 

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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 Chief By 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 Rangers By 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

 

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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

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2006

• Novel of the West: High Country: A Novel by Willard Wyman, University of Oklahoma Press

• Best First Novel: High Country: A Novel by Willard Wyman, University of Oklahoma Press

• Western Novel: Tie for Spur Winner: Camp Ford: A Western Story by 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: Dakota by 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, 1893-1923 by David Dorado Romo, Cinco Puntos Press

• Historical Nonfiction: Buffalo Bill's America: William Cody and The Wild West Show by Louis S. Warren, Alfred A. Knopf

• Biography: Chief Joseph: Guardian of the People by Candy Moulton, Forge Books

• Storyteller: Klondike Gold by 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

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2005

• Best Western Novel: Buy the Chief a Cadillac by Rick Steber, Bonanza Publishing

• Best Novel Of The West: People of the Raven by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear, Forge Books

• Best Original Mass Market Paperback Novel: Vengeance Valley by Richard S. Wheeler, Pinnacle Books (Kensington)

• Best First Novel: Field of Honor by D. L. Birchfield, University of Oklahoma Press

• Best Western Nonfiction - Biography: Black Kettle: The Cheyenne Chief Who Sought Peace but Found War by Thom Hatch, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

• Best Western Nonfiction - Historical: Beasts of the Field by Richard Steven Street, Stanford University Press

• Best Western Nonfiction - Contemporary:  The Texas Rangers and the Mexican Revolution by 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 collection Just 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 Childhood by Ednah New Rider Weber, Lee & Low Books

• Best Western Drama Script: Hidalgo by 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 Stars by Walt McDonald, Texas Tech University Press

• Storyteller: Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson, Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter, Simon and Schuster Children's Books

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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).

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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).

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2002

• Best Western Novel: The Way of the Coyote by Elmer Kelton, Forge Books

• Best Novel of the West: The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by 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

• 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

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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 West by 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

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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)