Since 1953, Western Writers of America has promoted and honored the best in Western literature with the annual Spur Awards, selected by panels of judges. Awards, for material published last year, are given for works whose inspiration, image and literary excellence best represent the reality and spirit of the American West. Previous winners include Elmer Kelton, Lucia St. Clair Robson and Larry McMurtry.
Here are the 2013 winners and finalists:
Best Western Long Novel
With Blood in their Eyes, Thomas Cobb, University of Arizona Press
Finalists:
The Orchardist, Amanda Coplin, HarperCollins
Country of the Bad Wolfes, James Carlos Blake, Cinco Puntos Press
Best Western Short Novel
Tucker’s Reckoning (A Ralph Compton Western), Matthew Mayo, New American Library
Finalists:
Lonesome Animals, Bruce Holbert, Counterpoint Press
City of Rocks, Michael Zimmer, Five Star Publishing
Best Western First Novel
Panhandle, Brett Cogburn, Pinnacle
Finalists:
Wide Open, Larry Bjornson, Penguin Group
The Orchardist, Amanda Coplin, HarperCollins
Best Western Juvenile Fiction
Wide Open, Larry Bjornson, Penguin Group
Finalists:
Blooming Prairie, Candace Simar, North Star Press of St. Cloud
And There I’ll Be A Soldier, Johnny D. Boggs, Five Star Publishing
Storyteller Award
Pecos Bill Invents the Ten-Gallon Hat, Kevin Strauss, illustrated by David Harrington, Pelican Publishing
Finalists:
The Adventures of Buffalo Joe and The Blackbird With the Broken Wing, written and illustrated by Jamie Anne Blake, Homestead Publishing
Big Buckaroo and Moose, The Cow Dog, Rachelle “Rocky” Gibbons, illustrated by Jason Hutton, Tate Publishing
Best Western Mass Market Paperback
The Coyote Tracker, Larry Sweazy, Berkley
Finalists:
Redemption: Hunters, James Reasoner, Berkley
The Secret of Lodestar, Tim Champlin, Berkley
Best Western Poem
“Johnny Ringo,” Red Shuttleworth, Riverhouse
Finalists:
“Night Singer, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico,” Steve Dieffenbacher, Wordcraft of Oregon
“Nat Maringo,” Robert Brown, Brave New Genre Inc.
Best Western Audiobook
Ring of Fire, Cotton Smith, Books in Motion
Finalist:
Trouble in Texas, Tom Nichols, Books in Motion
Best Western Nonfiction-Historical
Will Bagley, With Golden Visions Bright Before Them: Trails to the Mining West, 1849-1852, University of Oklahoma Press
Finalists:
Doreen Chaky, Terrible Justice: Sioux Chiefs and U.S. Soldiers on the Upper Missouri, 1854-1868, The Arthur H. Clark Company
Joan Nabseth Stevenson, Deliverance from the Little Big Horn: Doctor Henry Porter and Custer’s Seventh Cavalry, University of Oklahoma Press
Best Western Nonfiction-Contemporary
Deanne Stillman, Desert Reckoning: A Town Sheriff, a Mojave Hermit, and the Biggest Manhunt in Modern California History, Nation Books
Finalists:
Michael W. Childers, Colorado Powder Keg: Ski Resorts and the Environmental Movement, University Press of Kansas
Ruben Martinez, Desert America: Boom and Bust in the New Old West, Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company
Best Western Nonfiction-Biography
Robert M. Utley, Geronimo, Yale University Press
Finalists:
Paul L. Hedren, Ho! For the Black Hills: Captain Jack Crawford Reports the Black Hills Gold Rush and Great Sioux War, South Dakota State Historical Society Press
Catherine Holder Spude, “That Fiend in Hell”: Soapy Smith in Legend, University of Oklahoma Press
Best Western Short Fiction Story
John Mort, “The Hog Whisperer,” Flint Hills Review
Finalists:
Susan K. Salzer, “The Saint of Pox Island,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
Lori Van Pelt, “The Day Delgado Rode In,” Outlaws and Lawmen: La Frontera Publishing Presents the American West
Best Western Short Nonfiction
Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert, “Marathoner Louis Tewanima and the Continuity of Hopi Running, 1908-1912,” Western Historical Quarterly
Finalists:
Paul Andrew Hutton, “Libbie Custer: ‘A Wounded Thing Must Hide’,” Wild West
James E. Potter, “‘Wearing the Hempen Neck-Tie’: Lynching in Nebraska, 1858-1919,” Nebraska History
Best Western Nonfiction-Juvenile
Nancy Plain, Light on the Prairie: Solomon D. Butcher, Photographer of Nebraska’s Pioneer Days, University of Nebraska Press
Finalists:
Kay Moore, The Great Bicycle Experiment: The Army’s Historic Black Bicycle Corps, 1896-97, Mountain Press Publishing Company
Lois Ruby, Strike!: Mother Jones & the Colorado Coal Field War, Filter Press
Best Western Drama Script
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained, The Weinstein Company
Finalists:
Bill Kerby, Ted Mann, and Ronald Parker, Hatfields & McCoys, Thinkfactory Media/History Channel
Graham Yost, Elmore Leonard, Dave Andron, Fred Golan, Benjamin Cavell, Taylor Elmore, Jon Worley, Nichelle D. Tramble, Ryan Farley, Ingrid Escajeda, VJ Boyd, Justified, FX Network
Best Western Documentary Script
Dayton Duncan, The Dust Bowl, Florentine Films/PBS
Finalists: none
Best Western Song
Winner (tie) Jim Jones, “Texas Is Burnin’,” Jim Jones Music
Winner (tie) Mary Kaye, “Any Name Will Do,” Knaphus Enterprises
Finalist:
Jerry Faires, “The Last Real Cowboy in Old Santa Fe,” Silversmith Records
Winners and finalists in 17 categories will be honored June 25-29 at the WWA convention in Las Vegas, Nev.