I’ll bet some of my blog followers have had a similar experience as mine. I was sitting in the doctor’s office awaiting the doctor’s arrival; mask on. My cell rang. When I noticed the call was from Wyoming….I thought…that has to be answered. After all, I love Wyoming. It might be someone I don’t know. Still, something niggled. Well, when Steve Moulton surprised me with the announcement that my debut book, “Imperfect Promise”, had won Historical Western Romance of 2022…my eyes widened and I looked toward my husband. He looked at me and tilted his head. Since we were awaiting his routine heart check, I pretty much figured I best get my own heart checked at the news I was struggling to bring into focus. After I thanked Steve for the honor, I floated to the ceiling and pretty much stayed there for the next few days. Basking…is the better description. Grateful, honored, and privileged for this award…I’m also humbled.
For the Winners and Finalists.….I say Woohoo, Cheers, and Gosh Darn! Something like this really gets the blood pumping, doesn’t it? Thinking back, I keep going over and over how my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. And worse, I’m embarrassed to admit that I’d forgotten to take off my mask when I was speaking. Following the rules has been ingrained in the fabric of my character. Truly, I don’t normally speak as though cotton were jammed in my throat.
I’d love to hear your experiences, WWA members, Winners, Finalists, and Writers. Thank you Tiffany Schofield, Senior Editor at Five Star Cengage/Gale, for your kind support and for opening the door. Thank you Krista Soukup, Blue Cottage Agency, for guiding me along that bumpy road of social media. You are a wonderful, patient guide.
And to ALL of the cherished members of WWA and WWW who use their superb talents to bring stories to life. I’m amazed and humbled by the truest authors I’ve ever had the good fortune to get to know, both in person and through their craft. Wish I could live long enough to read every book.
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 |
