The
Will Rogers Medallion Award
Committee has announced the 2008 recipients of its awards, which are
presented annually "for Outstanding Merit/Excellence in Printing and
Publication":
Cowboy Poetry: Western Images by
Clark Crouch, Western Poetry
Publications
Photographic Essays: Haythorn Land & Cattle Co. by Lisa Norman,
Trabon Publishing; and Lonesome Dove by Bill Wittliff,
University of Texas Press
Western Nonfiction: Rope to Win by Gail
Hughbanks Woerner, Eakin Press; and Clear Fork Kinship, by
Annie Nicholson Drake, A. N. Drake Publishing
Western Fiction: Bronc Buster by
Dave P. Fisher, Double Diamond Books
Western Fiction – Young Adult: Toquop – Warrior
Stallion by Mike Prince, Cowboy Miner Productions
Western Fiction - Elementary: Longhorn Lullabies by
Joanne K. Rhoads, Flat Hat Publishing
Western/Chuckwagon Cookbooks: Chuckwagon Recipes &
Others, V 1, 2 & 3 by Sue Cunningham and Jean Cates; and
Texas Cowboy Cookbook by Robb Walsh, Broadway Books
In the official media release, Charles Williams, Executive Director
of the Will Rogers Medallion Committee, comments,
“This is the first year we have included other types of Western
Literature along with Cowboy Poetry, and the response has been exciting.
The West still holds a great fascination for Americans and people around
the world. The winners represent a truly outstanding selection of
Western Literature of all types for many interests and ages. These
authors and publishers are examples of the variety and quality that make
Western books so popular.”
Visit the Will Rogers Medallion Award
Committee web site for more information.
See our feature with more about the awards
here, including past winners.
Posted 7/1
The
Western Writers of America
have announced the winners of their respected
Spur Awards.
The Spur Awards have been given annually since 1953, recognizing "distinguished
writing about the American West."
This year two new categories were introduced: Best Western Poem and Best Western Song.
The winners and finalists in those categories are:
Best Western Poem
Winner: "El Corrido de Antonio Beltran," by John Duncklee
Finalist: "The White Dove," by Jane Candia Coleman
Finalist: "Minneola, Kansas, 1916," by Red Shuttleworth
Best Western Song
Winner: "The Last Wild White Buffalo," by Mike Blakely
Finalist: "Where Horses are Heroes," by Wylie
Gustafson
Finalist: "Keepin' Your Head Above the Water," by Devon Dawson
The award for Best Western Documentary was given to Jayne McKay &
Daniel Dixon for
Maynard Dixon: Art and
Spirit. Don Edwards performs
the voice of Maynard Dixon in the documentary.
Winners in other categories include:
Best Western Short Novel: Tallgrass, by Sandra Dallas
Best Western Long Novel: The God of Animals, by Aryn Kyle
Scribner
Best Original Mass Market Paperback: Hellfire Canyon, by Max
McCoy
Best First Novel: The Night Birds, by Thomas Maltman
Best Western Nonfiction Biography: Gall: Lakota War Chief, by
Robert W. Larson
Best Western Nonfiction Historical: Creating Minnesota, by
Annette Atkins
Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary: Lone Star Lawmen: The Second
Century of the Texas Rangers, by Robert M. Utley
Best Western Drama: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward
Robert Ford, by Andrew Dominik
All winners and finalists are listed
here at the
Western Writers of America web
site.
Posted 4/22
The
National
Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum has
announced the literary category winners and the
music, television and film winners for the 47th Annual Western Heritage
Awards competition. Winners receive the Wrangler Award, presented at a
black-tie gala at the the Museum on April 12, 2008.
Literary winners:
Poetry Book: Ludlow, by
David Mason
Western Novel: Harpsong
by Rilla Askew
Nonfiction: For the Love of a Horse by Max Evans
Art Book: Charles M. Russell: A
Catalogue Raisonné edited by B. Bryon Price
Photography Book: Eye of the West by Nancy Wood
Juvenile Book: Journey to San Jacinto by Melodie A.
Cuate
Magazine Article: “Silver Screen Desperado: Billy the Kid in
the Movies” by Paul Hutton, published in the New Mexico
Historical Review.
Music winners:
Original Composition: “The Ballad of
Dawson Le Gate” by Red Steagall
from For All Our Cowboy Friends
Traditional Western Album: Where
the West Remains by R.W. Hampton
New Artist: Lynn Anderson
Film and television winners:
Theatrical Motion Picture: 3:10 to
Yuma directed by James Mangold and written by Halsted
Welles and Michael Brandt.
Television Feature Film: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,
a production by Wolf Films and Travel’s Rest Films in Association with
HBO Films, based Dee Brown’s book, Bury My Heart at Wounded
Knee (1971).
Documentary: Cowboys in Tallgrass” produced by Cox
Communications
Factual Narrative: 100 Years of John Wayne presented by
Starz Entertainment's Encore Westerns channel and written and
produced by Jeff Hildebrandt
The Western Heritage Awards are open to the public.
Call (405) 478-2250 Ext. 219 for information about reservations and ticket
prices.
Read the complete announcements with additional
details in media releases at the Museum's web site:
Literary winners and
Music, Television, and Film winners.
[pictured, photo courtesy of the National
Western and Cowboy Heritage Museum: "The coveted Wrangler, a stunning bronze sculpture of a
cowboy on horseback, is presented by the National Cowboy & Western
Heritage Museum in 15 categories of Western music, film, television and
literature in the Western genre." ]
Posted 3/4
Nominations are open for the
Academy
of Western Artists (AWA) Will Rogers Cowboy Awards. Winners will
be recognized at the 14th Annual Will Rogers Cowboy Awards show,
September 23, 2008 in Garland,
Texas at the Granville Theater.
AWA Director Bobby Newton provided the
following information:
Requirements for 2008 Awards
You do not have to be a member of the
Academy of Western Artists in order to nominate or receive an award. All
final decisions are made by blind juries, qualified within each area of
the awards.
Over 350 awards, over the last 13 years,
have been received by individuals, groups and events who proudly display
this recognition on their websites, personal resumes, etc., to show their
pride in the AWA and its dedication to excellence.
Each year, over 30 awards are given.
All books and CDs must have been
released in 2007 in order to be considered.
All nominations must be dated before
April 1, 2008 in order to be considered for the 14th Annual Will
Rogers Cowboy Awards.
Cowboy Poetry:
Male/Female/Humor
Email:
working_cowboy@hotmail.com
Books: Send two books to AWA, P O Box 35, Gene Autry, OK 73436 (they will
not be returned)
CDs: Send two CDs to Rick Huff, P O Box 8442, Albuquerque, NM 87198-8442
Email: bestofthewest@swcp.com
Western Music/Western Swing/Pure Country:
Male/Female/Duo-Group/ Instrumentalist
Email:
working_cowboy@hotmail.com
Albums/Songs
Send two CDs to Rick Huff, P O Box 8442, Albuquerque, NM 87198-8442
Email: bestofthewest@swcp.com
Art/Gear/Disc Jockeys, Radio Stations, Record
Producer, Record Label, Lifetime Achievement, etc.,
Send To: AWA, P O Box 35,
Gene Autry, OK 73436
Email:
working_cowboy@hotmail.com
See the
AWA web site for additional information.
Posted 2/4
Winners of the
Western Music Association (WMA) awards were announced at the
organization's 19th Annual Western
Music Festival, held November 15-18, 2007 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
WMA members select the nominees and winners.
In 2006, the WMA introduced three new awards for cowboy poetry: Female
Poet of the Year, Male Poet of the Year, and Best
Collaboration of Poet and Musician. For 2007, the organization has
added two additional awards: Best Cowboy Poetry Book
and Best Cowboy Poetry CD. (See a list of the top five nominees in
all categories here at the
BAR-D.) The winners in poetry categories are:
MALE POET OF THE YEAR: Les
Buffham
FEMALE POET OF THE YEAR: Yvonne
Hollenbeck
BEST SONG COLLABORATION OF POET AND MUSICIAN: "El Fuego" by Curly
Musgrave & Virginia
Bennett
COWBOY POETRY CD OF THE YEAR: What Would Martha Do by Yvonne
Hollenbeck
COWBOY POETRY BOOK OF THE YEAR: From My Window by Yvonne
Hollenbeck
Winners in music categories are:
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR: Lynn Anderson
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR: Dave Stamey
TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
Red Rock Moon by Curly
Musgrave &
Belinda
Gail
TRADITIONAL DUO/GROUP:
Sons of the San Joaquin
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR:
Dave Stamey
SONG OF THE YEAR: "I Hope She'll Love Me" by
Juni
Fisher & Joe Hannah
INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR: Tim Johnson - Sons of the San Joaquin
WESTERN SWING DUO/GROUP: The Texas Trailhands
WESTERN SWING ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Cowgirl by Lynn Anderson
CRESCENDO AWARD: The Quebe Sisters Band
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR:
Riders in the Sky
RADIO STATION OF THE YEAR: KWMW - Ruidoso, NM
RADIO DJ OF THE YEAR: Marvin O'Dell
Additional awards
of tribute were presented, selected by the Board of Directors:
Pioneer Trail Award:
Marilyn Tuttle
Hall of Fame: Rex Allen Jr., Fleming
Allen
The Bill
Wiley Award: Margo Metegrano
The popular, well attended event
welcomes the public, and offers entertainment, seminars, youth programs,
open stages, vendors, a members' meeting, jam sessions, and more. More
than eighty poets and musicians perform on daytime stages and
nightly concert venues. The 2007 festival was attended by over 350
registered attendees and the public. Special evening shows included concerts by
Riders in the Sky and by Lynn Anderson, a "Barn Dance"
show featuring more than 30 entertainers, and "Best of the Best" closing
show featuring top poets and musicians.
Read a recent media release about the event in our feature
here.
Visit the
WMA web site for more.
Posted 11/17
The
National
Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum has announced the
induction of legendary Hawaiian rancher John Palmer Parker and Nebraska
cattleman and horse breeder Howard Haythorn into its
Hall of Great
Westerners. From the official media release:
John Palmer Parker, a young ship's clerk,
first arrived in Hawaii in 1809, and following a brief return to sea, he
settled permanently in Hawaii. In 1815, he married Kipikane, the daughter of
a high-ranking chief, who took the Christian name Rachel. She bore him a
daughter and two sons thereby launching a dynasty that would figure
prominently in the next two centuries of Hawaiian history.
King Kamehameha commissioned Parker to cull the herds of feral cattle–all
the progeny of five head of cattle given to Kamehameha more than 20 years
before. As payment, Parker and his wife were awarded 640 acres of land of
their choosing. They selected a small parcel of land about 12 miles from the
center of the current town of Waimea. Due mostly to Palmer's efforts, salt
beef eventually replaced sandalwood as the island's chief export. His
fortune and influence increased as the demand for beef increased, to supply
provisions for hundreds of whaling ships and other merchant fleets.
The Parker Ranch on Hawaii's Big Island was well established by 1847. It is
one of the oldest and largest working cattle ranches in the United States,
spreading across approximately 150,000 acres. Parker diversified his ranch
operation with orchard fruit, dairy husbandry and processing, as well as
poultry and pork production. He developed a market for beef, tallow, hides,
milk, butter and cheese to accommodate the whaling industry, Gold Rush
market and the burgeoning town of Honolulu. He accommodated with gusto the
advent of vaquero mentors in 1833 who converted the native Hawaiians
from bearers of casks of salted beef into mounted cowboys (paniolos)
as adept with a lariat as their Hispanic counterparts.
Poets Joel Nelson and
Randy Rieman worked at the
Parker Ranch. Read more about John Palmer Parker and the Parker Ranch in the
museum's media release
here
and more about the Parker Ranch history at
the Parker Ranch web site.
The museum offers the following information about
Nebraska cattleman and horse breeder Howard Haythorn:
Most who know him agree Nebraska cattleman and
horse breeder Howard Haythorn is a quiet man who "walks the walk" and
doesn't need to "talk the talk."
The Haythorn Land & Cattle Company located near Ogallala, Nebraska, covers
approximately 100 square miles of a geographic region commonly called "the
Sandhills." The ranch was established in 1884, although indirectly, its
origins trace earlier. In 1876, 16-year-old Harry Haythornwaithe (later
changed to Haythorn) stowed away on a ship bound for America from England.
His experience as a Texas cowboy and trail boss led to eventual ownership of
his own Nebraska spread. His sons Walter and Harry Jr. continued a famed
patriarchy of men and horses.
Howard, Harry Jr's son, continues as a third generation of the Haythorn
saga, one of the most interesting stories in Western history. The highly
rated movie Broken Trail with Robert Duvall was based on Haythorn's
grandfather's trip from Oregon to Nebraska with 500 horses. Today, the
Haythorn ranch registers 150 foals every year, and offers 100 well-broke
geldings every other fall in a production sale. More dramatic though, horses
sporting the Figure Four brand have appeared in thousands of professional,
collegiate, high school and amateur rodeos across the country, many ridden
by Haythorns.
Read more about Howard Haythorn and his family and their ranching stories
in the museum's
media
release.
Induction will take place during the Museum's
annual Western Heritage Awards gala April 12, 2008. The black-tie affair
honors principal creators in 15 categories of Western music, literature,
television and film. Also honored during the evening program are inductees to
the Hall of Great Western Performers and the recipient of the Chester A.
Reynolds Memorial Award.
Visit the
National
Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum web site
for more
information.
[pictured, photo courtesy of the National
Western and Cowboy Heritage Museum: "The coveted Wrangler, a stunning bronze sculpture of a
cowboy on horseback, is presented by the National Cowboy & Western
Heritage Museum in 15 categories of Western music, film, television and
literature in the Western genre." ]
Posted 11/5
