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The Academy of Western Artists' Eighth Annual Will Rogers Awards for Outstanding Achievement of Contemporary Cowboy Skills in Fort Worth, July 8, 2003, was a sold-out music, poetry, and arts extravaganza. A video of the Awards show is available from Community Cable TV, 401 W 2nd, Fort Worth, TX 76102 for $20, postpaid. There was a Convention and Trade Show in the two days preceding the Awards show, which included talent showcases for musicians and poets. Among the highlights:   Honored Guest Pat Richardson won the Best Male Poet award (and CowboyPoetry.com editor Margo Metegrano had the pleasure of being the presenter).   Honored Guest and BAR-D columnist Rhonda Sedgwick Stearns won the Best Female Poet award.   Honored Guest and BAR-D columnist Yvonne Hollenbeck won the Best Cowboy Poetry CD/Album award for her My Home on the Range recording.   Honored Guest, the late Sunny Hancock and Jesse Smith won the Buck Ramsey Best Cowboy Poetry Book award for their book, Horse Tracks Through the Sage. Alice Hancock and Sandy Smith accepted the award, which was presented by poet Joel Nelson.   Special Western Music Guest Red Steagall won the Best Western Music CD/Album award for his Wagon Tracks.   BAR-D favorite and host of Keepin' it Cowboy Jo Hargrave won the Best Disk Jockey award.   KRLC radio in Lewiston, Idaho, home of Toe Tappin' Tommy Tucker and our columnist Charlie Camden's Western Heritage Show won the Best Radio Station award   Special Western Music Guest Curly Musgrave won the Entertainer of the Year award (presented by Red Steagall) and the Best Male, Western Music award.  Curly received a standing ovation from the sold-out audience for each award.     Below: The complete list of winners Poetry-Related Top Ten Nominees More about the Academy of Western Artists   Page 2: Reports on the events Photos   The 2002 Awards show (separate page)

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2003 Winners

Cowboy Poetry:
Male poet - Pat Richardson 
Female poet - Rhonda Sedgwick Stearns 
Humorist/storyteller (Skinny Rowland Humor Award) - Biscuits O'Brien 
Poetry Book of the Year (Buck Ramsey Award) - 
     Sunny Hancock and Jesse Smith, Horsetracks Through the Sage
Cowboy Poetry Album of the Year - Yvonne Hollenbeck
     My Home on the Range 

Western Music:
Female vocalist - Kip Calahan
Male vocalist - Curly Musgrave
Duo or group - Gillette Brothers
Yodeler - Terri Taylor 
Song of the Year - Donna Guffey, He's a Cowboy 
Album of the Year - Red Steagall, Wagon Tracks 

Western Swing:
Female vocalist - Ginny Mac 
Male vocalist - Craig Chambers
Instrumentalist - Cindy Cashdollar
Duo or Group - Dave Alexander and the Legends of Western Swing
Song of the Year - Harold Hill with Hugh Cardenas, San Antonio Sweetheart
Album of the Year - Time Jumpers, Live at the Station Inn 

Additional awards:
Entertainer of the Year - Curly Musgrave
Rising Star - Tammy Gislason
Radio station - KRLC, Lewiston, Idaho 
Disc jockey - Jo Hargrave, KJON, Oklahoma 
Video - R. W. Kimes, There Ain't Enough Miles

Don King Lifetime Achievement Award - Dave Silva
Jesse Chisholm Award - Anne Windfohr Marion

Chuckwagon - John Wolf
Hitching and braiding - Leland Hensley 
Bits and spurs - Bill Adamson
Engraver - Diane Scalese
Spur Maker - Mark Dahl
Western artist - Robert Summers
Cartoonist - Jack Hanks
Saddlemaker - Eddie Brooks 

Poetry-Related Top Ten Nominees

Poetry-Male

Les Buffham
Mike Dunn
Dennis Flynn
Mike Logan
Waddie Mitchell
Mike Puhallo
Pat Richardson
Red Steagall
Jesse Smith
Paul Zarzyski

 

Poetry-Female

Virginia Bennett
Doris Daley
Sam DeLeeuw
Peggy Godfrey
Deborah C. Hill
Donna Hatton
Yvonne Hollenbeck
Georgie Sicking
Ann Sochat
Rhonda Sedgwick Stearns

 

Poetry Album/CD

Jack "Trey" Allen Cowpoke
Robert Beene Cowboyology
Bill Black Classic Western Poetry
Deborah C. Hill Common Sense, Men and Horses
Yvonne Hollenbeck My Home on the Range
Chris Isaacs Almost Live in Elko
Verlin Pitt Way Out West
Pat Richardson B.Y.O.S. (Bring Your Own Sheep)
Lloyd Shelby  Rainman

Poetry-Book
  (because there are fewer than 10 books, the winner 
  will be picked by a blind jury)

     Yvonne Hollenbeck Where Prairie Flowers Bloom
     Mike Dunn Somewhere Between Earth and Heaven
     Jeff Hildebrandt Cowboy Up America
     Rod Nichols A Little Bit of Texas
     Glen Enloe An Ol' Cowboy Still Remembers
     Sunny Hancock/Jesse Smith Horse Tracks Through the Sage
     John Mitchum An American Boy Grows Up
     Al Marquis Frivolous Cowboy Poetry

The Academy of Western Artists

The Academy of Western Artists is "A dedicated group formed to recognize and honor outstanding individuals who, through their accomplishments, preserve and perpetuate the traditions, values, and heritage of the American Cowboy."

Three of the people who make things happen at the AWA are the Executive Director, Publisher of Rope Burns, and man-who-knows-everyone Bobby Newton; Charles Williams, Executive Vice President, poet, scholar, and the force behind many programs;  and Sandra Herl, who maintains the AWA web site, manages members, recruits talent and advertising for the Awards Show and annual convention, and gets the word out.  There are many more people behind the scenes, but these three are the heart of the organization.

Bobby Newton, AWA Director
Photo by Lloyd Shelby

Visit the web site and consider becoming a member. Even non-members can subscribe to Rope Burns, the source for the Cowboy Entertainment and Trade Industry (and home to a regular Cowboy Poetry column from CowboyPoetry.com).