The Spur Awards
For more information on The Western Writers of America, sponsors of the Spur Awards, click here.

2018
2018
Best Western Historical Novel: The Coming by David Osborne
Best Western Contemporary Novel: Double wide by Leo W. Banks
Best Western Mass Market Paperback Novel: Hell hath no fury : a John Hawk western by Charles G. West
Best Western Romance Novel: The promise bride by Gina Welborn and Becca Whitham
Traditional Novel: Silver City : a novel of the American West by Jeff Guinn
Best Western Biography: Frank Little and the IWW : the blood that stained an American family by Jane Little Botkin
Best Western Contemporary Nonfiction: A land apart : the Southwest and the nation in the twentieth century by Flannery Burke
Best Western Historical Nonfiction: Killers of the Flower Moon : the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI by David Grann
Best Western Juvenile Fiction: Stranded : a story of frontier survival by Matthew P. Mayo
Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: Glorious Fourth of July and other stories from the Plains by Mary Gibson Sprague
Best Western Storyteller: Fergus and the greener grass by Jean Abernethy
Best Western Short Fiction: "Lost and found : a short story" by Rod Miller in Saddlebag Dispatches, Spring 2017
Best Western Short Nonfiction: "States of decay : a journey through America's nuclear heartland" by Ben Mauk in Harper's magazine, October 2017
Best Western Poem: "She saddles her own horse" Marleen Bussma self-published
Best First Western Novel: Double wide by Leo W. Banks
Best First Nonfiction Book: Frank Little and the IWW : the blood that stained an American family by Jane Little Botkin

2017
Best Western Contemporary Novel: Off the grid : a Joe Pickett novel by C. J. Box
Best Western Historical Novel: No award given
Best Western Traditional Novel: The mustanger and the lady by Dusty Richards
Best Original Mass-market Paperback Novel: Return to Red River by Johnny D. Boggs
Best First Novel: Jasper Spring by James T. Hughes
Best First Nonfiction: The fire line : the story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and one of the deadliest days in American firefighting by Fernanda Santos
Best Western Nonfiction Historical: The Apache wars : the hunt for Geronimo, the Apache Kid, and the captive boy who started the longest war in American history by Paul Andrew Hutton
Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary: New Deal cowboy : Gene Autry and public diplomacy by Michael Duchemin
Best Western Biography: Black Elk : the life of an American visionary by Joe Jackson
Best Western Juvenile Fiction: Trouble returns : a Ruby & Maude adventure by Nancy Oswald
Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: The wolves of Currumpaw by William Grill
Storyteller: Seasons of the Bear : a Yosemite story by Ginger Wadsworth ; illustrated by Daniel San Souci
Best Western Short Fiction: "Odell's bones" by Troy D. Smith, published in West of Sundown : selected Western stories by Troy D. Smith
Best Western Short Nonfiction: "'Master of ceremonies' : the world of Peter Biggs in Civil War-era Los Angeles" by Kendra Field and Daniel Lynch published in Western Historical Quarterly 47 (4) : 379-406
Best Western Poem: “Ain't a hermit” by Floyd Beard

2016
Best Western Historical Novel: Paradise sky by Joe R. Lansdale
Best Western Contemporary Novel: Crazy Mountain kiss : a Sean Stranahan mystery by Keith McCafferty
Best Western Traditional Novel: The last midwife by Sandra Dallas
Best Mass-Market Paperback Novel: Lords of an empty land by Randy Denmon
Best Western Biography: Custer's trials : a life on the frontier of a new America by T.J. Stiles
Best Western Historical Nonfiction: William Wells and the struggle for the old northwest by William Heath
Best Western Contemporary Nonfiction: The size of the risk : histories of multiple use in the Great Basin by Leisl Carr Childers
Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: This strange wilderness : the life and art of John James Audubon by Nancy Plain
Best Western Juvenile Fiction: Walk on Earth a stranger by Rae Carson
Best Western Storyteller (illustrated children's book): Buckaroo Bobbie Sue by JoJo Thoreau ; illustrated by Kristina Zack Young
Best Western Short Nonfiction: "Cowboys and capitalists : the XIT Ranch in Texas and Montana, 1885-1912" by Michael M. Miller, published in Montana : the magazine of western history, vol. 65, no. 4, Winter 2015
Best Western Short Fiction Story: "The Scalper" by Richard Prosch as part of the Western Trail Blazer series
Best First Novel: American copper by Shann Ray
Best First Nonfiction Book: William Wells and the struggle for the old northwest by William Heath
Owen Wister Award: Lucia St. Clair Robson

2015
Best Western Contemporary Novel: Bad country : a novel by C. B. McKenzie
Best Western Historical Novel: Wild ran the rivers : one family's Western odyssey by James D. Crownover
Best Western Traditional Novel: The big drift : a novel by Patrick Dearen
Best First Novel: Wild ran the rivers : one family's Western odyssey by James D. Crownover
Best Western Nonfiction Historical: American carnage: Wounded Knee, 1890 by Jerome A. Greene
Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary: Red light to starboard : recalling the Exxon Valdez disaster by  Angela Day
Best Western Nonfiction Biography: Song of Dewey Beard : last survivor of the Little Bighorn by Philip Burnham
Best First Nonfiction Book: Reshaw : the life and times of John Baptiste Richard : extraordinary entrepreneur and scoundrel of the western frontier by Jefferson Glass
Best Western Juvenile Fiction: Rawhide Robinson rides the range : true adventures of bravery and daring in the Wild West by Rod Miller
Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: Edward Wynkoop : soldier and Indian agent by Nancy Oswald
Storyteller: Tasunka : a Lakota horse legend by Donald F. Montileaux
Best Western Short Fiction: "Fingers" by Andrew Geyer, published in Texas 5X5 : twenty-five stories from Texas, edited by Laurie Champion
Best Western Short Nonfiction: "Calamity Jane : a life and legends" by Richard W. Etulain, published in Montana, the magazine of Western history
Best Western Poem: "A little longer than the moment" by Alan Birkelbach
Owen Wister Award: Win Blevins

2014
Best Western Contemporary Novel: Light of the world : a Dave Robicheaux novel by James Lee Burke
Best Western Historical Novel: Silent we stood by Henry Chappell
Best Western Traditional Novel: Crossing Purgatory by Gary Schanbacher
Best First Novel: Spider Woman's daughter by Anne Hillerman
Best Western Nonfiction Historical: Shot all to hell : Jesse James, the Northfield Raid, and the wild west's greatest escape /Mark Lee Gardner by Mark Lee Gardner
Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary: Vacationland : tourism and environment in the Colorado high country by William Philpott
Best Western Nonfiction Biography: Jack London : an American life by Earle Labor
Best Western Juvenile Fiction: Papa's gold by Ellen Gray Massey
Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: Eagle of Delight : portrait of the Plains Indian girl in the White House by Jean A. Lukesh
Storyteller: Yosemite's songster : one coyote's story by Ginger Wadsworth and Daniel San Souci
Best Western Short Fiction: "Cabin Fever" by Brett Cogburn, published in Cactus Country anthology, Volume 3
Best Western Short Nonfiction: "The other James Brother" by Mark Lee Gardner, published in Wild West Magazine
Best Western Poem: "Chamise" by Amy Glynn Greacen, published in Orion Magazine
Owen Wister Award: Robert J. Conley

2013
Best Western Short Novel: Tucker's reckoning : a Ralph Compton novel by Matthew Mayo
Best Western Long Novel: With blood in their eyes by Thomas Cobb
Best Original Mass Market Paperback: The coyote tracker : a Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger novel by Larry Sweazy
Best First Novel: Panhandle by Brett Cogburn
Best Western Nonfiction Biography: Geronimo by Robert M. Utley
Best Western Nonfiction Historical: With golden visions bright before them : trails to the mining West, 1849-1852 by Will Bagley
Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary: Desert reckoning : a town sheriff, a Mojave hermit and the biggest manhunt in modern California history by Deanne Stillman
Best Western Short Fiction Story: "The hog whisperer" by John Mort, published in Flint Hills Review
Best Western Short Nonfiction: "Marathoner Louis Tewanima and the continuity of Hopi running, 1908-1912" by Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert, published in Western Historical Quarterly
Best Western Juvenile Fiction: Wide open by Larry Bjornson
Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: Light on the prairie : Solomon D. Butcher, photographer of Nebraska’s pioneer days by Nancy Plain
Storyteller Award: Pecos Bill invents the ten-gallon hat by Kevin Strauss, illustrated by David Harrington
Owen Wister Award: Jory T. Sherman

2012
Best Western Short Novel: Legacy of a lawman by Johnny D. Boggs
Best Western Long Novel: Remember Ben Clayton : a novel by Stephen Harrigan
Best Original Mass Market Paperback: West Texas Kill by Johnny D. Boggs
Best First Novel: Double Crossing by Meg Mims
Best Western Nonfiction Biography: George Crook : from the redwoods to Appomattox by Paul Magid
Best Western Nonfiction Historical: The Mormon Rebellion: America's first civil war, 1857-1858 by David L. Bigler and Will Bagley
Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary: The Bitterroot and Mr. Brandborg : clearcutting and the struggle for sustainable forestry in the northern Rockies by Frederick H. Swanson
Best Western Short Fiction Story: "The death of Delgado" by Rod Miller in "The traditional West"; "The deacon's horse" by Clay Reynolds in Texas soundtrack : Texas stories inspired by Texas music
Best Western Short Nonfiction: "The Alamo, well remembered" by Paul Andrew Hutton, published in Wild West Magazine
Best Western Juvenile Fiction: Birdie by Candace Simar
Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: Migrant mother : how a photograph defined the Great Depression by Don Nardo
Storyteller Award: Tornado Slim and the magic cowboy hat, written and illustrated by Bryan Langdo
Owen Wister Award: Loren D. Estleman

2011
Best Western Short Novel: Snowbound by Richard S. Wheeler
Best Western Long Novel: Last train from Cuernavaca by Lucia St. Clair Robson
Best Original Mass Market Paperback: Damnation Road by Max McCoy
Best First Novel: Galveston by Nick Pizolatto
Best Western Nonfiction Biography: Wolf : the lives of Jack London by James Haley
Best Western Nonfiction Historical: The killing of Crazy Horse by Thomas Powers
Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary: The frontier of leisure : Southern California and the shaping of modern America by Lawrence Culver
Best Western Short Fiction Story: "Bonnie and Clyde in the backyard" by K. L. Cook in Glimmer Train #73
Best Western Short Nonfiction: "The N Bar N ranch : a legend of the open-range cattle industry, 1885-99" by Lee Niedringhaus Montana: The Magazine of Western History
Best Western Juvenile Fiction: Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: Buffalo Bill Cody by Ronald A. Reis
Storyteller Award: A night on the range by Aaron Frisch; Chris Sheban, illustrator
Owen Wister Award: James A. Crutchfield

2010
Best Western Short Novel: Far bright star : a novel by Robert Olmstead
Best Western Long Novel: Echoes of glory by Robert Flynn
Best Original Mass Market Paperback: Stranger in Thunder Basin by John D. Nesbitt
Best First Novel: No award
Best Western Nonfiction Biography: Peg Leg : the improbable life of a Texas Hero, Thomas William Ward, 1807-1872 by David C. Humphrey
Best Western Nonfiction: Historical Fort Laramie by Douglas C. McChristian
Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary: The secret war in El Paso : Mexican revolutionary intrigue, 1906-1920 by Charles H. Harris III & Louis R. Sadler
Best Western Short Fiction Story: "At the end of the orchard" by John D. Nesbitt, published in Hardboiled Magazine
Best Western Short Nonfiction: "Teddy's Ride to Recovery" by Roger Di Silvestro, published in Wild West Magazine
Best Western Juvenile Fiction: Hard winter by Johnny D. Boggs
Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: With one sky above us by Nancy Plain
Storyteller Award: Finding Susie by Sandra Day O'Connor & Tom Pohrt
Owen Wister Award: N. Scott Momaday

2009
Best Western Short Novel: Another man's moccasins by Craig Johnson
Best Western Long Novel: Shavetail by Thomas Cobb
Best Original Mass Market Paperback: Trouble at the Redstone by John D. Nesbitt
Best First Novel: God's Thunderbolt : the vigilantes of Montana by Carol A. Buchanan
Best Western Nonfiction Biography: Frontiersman : Daniel Boone and the making of America by Meredith Mason Brown
Best Western Nonfiction Historical: Hunting the American West : the pursuit of big game for life, profit, and sport, 1800-1900 by Richard C. Rattenbury
Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary: Full-court quest : the girls from Fort Shaw Indian School, basketball champions of the world by Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith
Best Western Short Fiction Story: "Cornflower Blue" by Susan K. Salzer, published in Untamed Ink
Best Western Short Nonfiction: "Owen Wister’s Paladin of the Plains : The Virginian as a cultural hero" by David A. Smith, published in South Dakota History
Best Western Juvenile Fiction: I am Apache by Tanya Landman
Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: The trial of Standing Bear by Frank Keating, Mike Wimmer (artist)
Storyteller Award: The wheat doll by Alison L. Randall and Bill Farnsworth (artist)
Owen Wister Award:  Elmore Leonard

2008
Best Western Long Novel: The god of animals : a novel by Aryn Kyle
Best Western Short Novel: Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas
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 : a history from the inside out by Annette Atkins
Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary: Lone Star lawmen : the second century of the Texas Rangers By Robert M. Utley
Best Western Short Fiction Story: Crucifixion River, published in Crucifixion River by Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini
Best Western Short Nonfiction: "Selling the 'Noble Savage' myth : George Catlin and the Iowa Indians in Europe, 1843-1845" By Joseph B. Herring, published in Kansas History (Winter 2007)
Best Western Juvenile Fiction: Doubtful Cañon : a western story by Johnny D. Boggs
Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: Sagebrush and paintbrush : the story of Charlie Russell, the cowboy artist by Nancy Plain
Storyteller Award (best illustrated children's book): No award given
Owen Wister Award:  Tony Hillerman

2007
Best Western Long Novel: The night journal by Elizabeth Crook
Best Western Short Novel: The shape shifter by Tony Hillerman
Best Original Paperback Novel: The Horse Creek incident by Dusty Richards
Best First Novel: Broken trail by Alan Geoffrion
Best Western Nonfiction, Historical: Blood and thunder : an epic of the American West by Hampton Sides
Best Western Nonfiction, Contemporary: Copper chorus : mining, politics and the Montana press, 1889-1959 by Dennis L. Swibold
Best Western Nonfiction, Biography: Crazy Horse : a Lakota life by Kingsley M. Bray
Best Western Juvenile Fiction: Geronimo by Joseph Bruchac
Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: Bleeding Kansas and the violent clash over slavery in the heartland by Jeff C. Young
Storyteller Award (best illustrated children's book): Tatanka and the Lakota people : a creation story, illustrated by Donald F. Montileaux
Poetry: Across the high divide : new poems by Laurie Wagner Buyer
Owen Wister Award:  John Jakes

2006
Novel of the West: High country : a novel by Willard Wyman
Best First Novel: High country : a novel by Willard Wyman
Western Novel: Tie for Spur Winner: Camp Ford : a western story by Johnny D. Boggs; and The undertaker's wife by Loren D. Estleman
Original Paperback Novel: Dakota by Matt Braun
Short Fiction: "Pecker's Revenge" by Lori Van Pelt, in Pecker's revenge and other stories from the frontier's edge by Lori Van Pelt
Contemporary Nonfiction: Ringside seat to a revolution : an underground cultural history of El Paso and Juarez, 1893-1923 by David Dorado Romo
Historical Nonfiction: Buffalo Bill's America : William Cody and the Wild West Show by Louis S. Warren
Biography: Chief Joseph : guardian of the people by Candy Moulton
Storyteller Award (best illustrated children's book): Klondike gold by Alice Provensen
Juvenile Nonfiction: The first Americans : the story of where they came from and who they became by Anthony Aveni
Juvenile Fiction: Black storm comin' by Diane Lee Wilson
Poetry: The voice of the Borderlands by Drum Hadley
Owen Wister Award:  Andrew J. Fenady

2005
Best Western Novel: Buy the chief a Cadillac : a novel by Rick Steber
Best Novel Of The West: People of the raven by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear
Best Original Mass Market Paperback Novel:  Vengeance Valley by Richard S. Wheeler
Best First Novel: Field of honor by D. L. Birchfield
Best Western Nonfiction - Biography: Black Kettle : the Cheyenne chief who sought peace but found war by Thom Hatch
Best Western Nonfiction - Historical: Beasts of the field : a narrative history of California farm workers, 1769-1913 by Richard Steven Street
Best Western Nonfiction - Contemporary: The Texas Rangers and the Mexican Revolution by Charles H. Harris III and Louis R. Sadler
Best Western Short Fiction: "The Promotion"  by Larry D. Sweazy, in Texas Rangers, edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg
Best Western Short Nonfiction: "Blood for oil"  by Jim Doherty, in Just the facts : true tales of cops and criminals by Jim Doherty
Best Western Juvenile Fiction: Fire in the hole! By Mary Cronk Farrell
Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: Rattlesnake Mesa : stories from a Native American childhood by EdNah New Rider Weber
Poetry: A thousand miles of stars by Walt McDonald
Storyteller Award (best illustrated children's book): Apples to Oregon : being the (slightly) true narrative . . . by Deborah Hopkinson ; illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
Owen Wister Award:  Judy Alter

2004
Best Western Novel: I should be extremely happy in your company : a novel of Lewis and Clark by Brian Hall
Novel of the West: So wild a dream by Win Blevins
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): The sergeant’s lady by Miles Hood Swarthout
Storyteller Award (best illustrated children’s book): The Star People : a Lakota story written and illustrated by S.D. Nelson
Original Paperback Novel: Plain language : a novel by Barbara Wright
Nonfiction Biography: On a silver desert : the life of Ernest Haycox by Ernest Haycox Jr.
Nonfiction Contemporary: River of shadows : Eadweard Muybridge and the technological wild west by Rebecca Solnit
Nonfiction Historical: One vast winter count : the Native American West before Lewis and Clark by Colin G. Calloway
Short Fiction: "Second Coming"  by Andrew Geyer, in Whispers in dust and bone by Andrew Geyer
Juvenile Fiction: In the eye of the storm by E. Cody Kimmel; illustrated by Scott Snow
Juvenile Nonfiction: Words west : voices of young pioneers by Ginger Wadsworth
Poetry: Wolf tracks on the welcome mat by Paul Zarzyski
Owen Wister Award:  Matt Braun

2003
Best Western Novel:  The chili queen by Sandra Dallas
Best Original Paperback Novel:  Oblivion's altar : a novel of courage by David Marion Wilkinson
Best Novel of the West:  Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling
Nonfiction Historical: Blood of the prophets : Brigham Young and the massacre at Mountain Meadows by Will Bagley
Nonfiction Contemporary: Diné : a history of the Navajos by Peter Iverson
Nonfiction Biography: Sam Houston by James L. Haley
Best Western Short Fiction: "The Old Man"  by Jimbo Brewer, in Hot biscuits : eighteen stories by women and men of the ranching West, edited by Candy Vyvey Moulton and Max Evans
Best Western Short Nonfiction:  "Winter in the Rockies: Winter Quarters of the Mountain Men," by Kerry R. Oman, in Montana : the magazine of Western history
Best Western Juvenile Fiction: The big burn by Jeanette Ingold
Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction: Raising La Belle by Mark G. Mitchell
Storyteller Award (best illustrated children’s book):  Will Rogers : an American legend by Frank Keating, illustrated by Mike Wimmer
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel):  Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling
Owen Wister Award:  Don Coldsmith

2002
Best Western Novel: (under 90,000 words) The way of the coyote by Elmer Kelton
Best Novel of the West: (over 90,000 words) The miracle life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
Original Western Paperback: Drum's ring by Richard S. Wheeler
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel):  Corps of Discovery : a novel based on the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-1806 by Jeffrey W. Tenney
Nonfiction: Historical: Andrew Jackson and his Indian wars by Robert Remini
Nonfiction: Contemporary: Bone wars : the excavation and celebrity of Andrew Carnegie's dinosaur by Tom Rea
Nonfiction: Biography: American character : the curious life of Charles Fletcher Lummis and the rediscovery of the Southwest by Mark Thompson
Juvenile Fiction: Rockbuster by Gloria Skurzynski
Juvenile Nonfiction: In the days of the vaqueros : America's first true cowboys by Russell Freedman
Short Fiction: "A piano at Dead Man's Crossing"  by Johnny D. Boggs, in American West : twenty new stories from the Western Writers of America, edited by Loren D. Estleman
Short Nonfiction: "Killer of Pain's Transcontinental Journey" by Dale L. Walker, in Wild West
Storyteller Award (best illustrated children's book): The legend of Strap Buckner : a Texas tale, retold by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge; illustrated by Andrew Glass
Poetry: Blood sister, I am to these fields : new and selected poems by Linda Hussa
Owen Wister Award:  David Dary

2001
Best Western Novel: Summer of pearls by Mike Blakely
Best Novel of the West: The gates of the Alamo : a novel by Stephen Harrigan
Best Original Paperback: Bound for the promise-land by Troy D. Smith
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): The chivalry of crime : a novel by Desmond Barry
Best Western Nonfiction - Contemporary: What you see in clear water : life on the Wind River Reservation by Geoffrey O'Gara
Best Western Nonfiction - Biography: A river running west : the life of John Wesley Powell by Donald Worster
Best Western Nonfiction - Historical: Pacific destiny : the three-century journey to the Oregon country by Dale Walker
Best Western Short Fiction: “All or nothing” by Gary Svee, in Tales of the American West : the best of Spur Award-winning authors, edited by Richard S. Wheeler
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
Storyteller Award (best illustrated children's book): Cindy Ellen : a wild western Cinderella by Susan Lowell and Jane Manning
Poetry: Western settings : poems by Red Shuttleworth
Owen Wister Award:  Richard S. Wheeler

2000
Western Novel: Masterson by Richard S. Wheeler
Novel of the West: Prophet Annie by Ellen Recknor
Paperback Original: Mine work : a novel by Jim Davidson
Nonfiction-Contemporary: The real wild west : the 101 Ranch and the creation of the American West by Michael Wallis
Nonfiction-Biography: Knight without armor : Carlos Eduardo Castañeda, 1896-1958 by Felix D. Almaraz, Jr.
Juvenile Fiction: Wrango by Brian Burks
Juvenile Nonfiction: The wild Colorado : the true adventures of Fred Dellenbaugh, age 17, on the second Powell Expedition into the Grand Canyon by Richard Maurer
Storyteller Award (best illustrated children's book): The prairie train by Antoine O'Flatharta, illustrated by Eric Rohmann
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): Mine work by Jim Davidson
Owen Wister Award:  Dale L. Walker

1999
Western Novel: Journey of the dead by Loren D. Estleman
Novel of the West: The all-true travels and adventures of Lidie Newton : a novel by Jane Smiley
Paperback Original: Dark trail by Hiram King
Nonfiction-Contemporary: Devil's bargains : tourism in the twentieth-century American West by Hal K. Rothman
Nonfiction-Biography: Duke : the life and image of John Wayne by Ronald L. Davis
Juvenile Fiction: Petey by Ben Mikaelsen
Juvenile Nonfiction: Cowboy with a camera : Erwin E. Smith, cowboy photographer by Don Worcester
Storyteller Award (best illustrated children's book): Slim & Miss Prim by Robert Kinerk, illustrations by Jim Harris
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): The Spanish Peaks by Jon Chandler
Owen Wister Award:  Norman Zollinger

1998
Western Novel: The Kiowa verdict by Cynthia Haseloff
Novel of the West: Comanche moon : a novel by Larry McMurtry
Paperback Original: Leaving Missouri by Ellen Recknor
Nonfiction-Contemporary: Big trouble : a murder in a small western town sets off a struggle for the soul of America by J. Anthony Lukas
Nonfiction-Biography: Death's deceiver : the life of Joseph P. Machebeuf by Lynn Bridgers
Juvenile Fiction: Danger along the Ohio by Patricia Willis
Juvenile Nonfiction: Rattlesnake dance : true tales, mysteries, and rattlesnake ceremonies by Jennifer Owings Dewey
Storyteller Award (best illustrated children's book): The bootmaker and the elves by Susan Lowell ; illustrated by Tom Curry
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): Keepers of the Earth by LaVerne Harrell Clark

1997
For promotional purposes, the WWA Executive Board in 1997 voted to redesignate the Spur Awards to reflect the year the award is presented rather than the year the work was published.
Owen Wister Award:  José Cisneros

1996
Western Novel: Blood of Texas by Preston Lewis writing as Will Camp
Novel of the West: Sierra : a novel of the California gold rush by Richard S. Wheeler
Paperback Original: Potter's fields by Frank Roderus
Nonfiction-Historical: Undaunted courage : Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose
Nonfiction-Contemporary: New westers : the west in contemporary American culture by Michael L. Johnson
Nonfiction-Biography: John Wesley Hardin : dark angel of Texas by Leon C. Metz
Nonfiction-Historical: El Llano Estacado : exploration and imagination on the High Plains of Texas and New Mexico, 1536-1860 by John Miller Morris
Juvenile Fiction: Far North by Will Hobbs
Juvenile Nonfiction: The life and death of Crazy Horse by Russell Freedman ; drawings by Amos Bad Heart Bull
Storyteller Award (best illustrated children's book): The worry stone by Marianna Dengler ; illustrated by Sibyl Graber Gerig
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): Death of a healing woman by Allana Martin
Owen Wister Award:  David Lavender

1995
Western Novel: The dark island by Robert J. Conley
Novel of the West: Stone song : a novel of the life of Crazy Horse by Win Blevins
Paperback Original: Thunder in the valley by Jim R. Woolard
Nonfiction-Historical: Seeking pleasure in the Old West by David Dary
Nonfiction-Contemporary: We are a people in this world : the Lakota Sioux and the massacre at Wounded Knee by Conger Beasley Jr.
Nonfiction-Biography: General M. G. Vallejo and the advent of the Americans : a biography by Alan Rosenus
Juvenile Fiction: Indio by Sherry Garland
Juvenile Nonfiction: Camels for Uncle Sam by Diane Yancey
Storyteller Award (best illustrated children's book): Dandelions by Eve Bunting ; illustrated by Greg Shed
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): Thunder in the valley by Jim R. Woolard
Owen Wister Award:  Gordon D. Shirreffs

1994
Western Novel: St. Agnes' stand by Tom Eidson
Novel of the West: The far canyon by Elmer Kelton
Paperback Original: Survival by K.C. McKenna
Nonfiction-Historical: Precious dust : the American gold rush era, 1848-1900 by Paula Mitchell Marks
Nonfiction-Contemporary: Raven's exile : a season on the Green River by Ellen Meloy
Nonfiction-Biography: Hero of Beecher Island : life & military career of George A. Forsyth by David Dixon
Juvenile: The trail of tears by David K. Fremon

Medicine Pipe Bearer Award
(best first novel): St. Agnes' stand by Tom Eidson
Owen Wister Award:  Robert M. Utley

1993
Western Novel: Friends by Charles Hackenberry
Novel of the West: Empire of bones : a novel of Sam Houston and the Texas Revolution by Jeff Long
Paperback Original: The Gila River by Gary McCarthy
Nonfiction-Historical: The lance and the shield : the life and times of Sitting Bull by Robert M. Utley
Nonfiction-Contemporary: Rivers in the desert : William Mulholland and the inventing of Los Angeles by Margaret Leslie Davis
Juvenile Fiction: Leaving Eldorado by Joann Mazzio
Juvenile Nonfiction: Cowboys, Indians, and gunfighters : the story of the cattle kingdom by Albert Marrin

Medicine Pipe Bearer Award
(best first novel): People of the Whistling Waters by Mardi Oakley Medawar
Owen Wister Award:  Douglas C. Jones

1992
Western Novel: Nickajack by Robert J. Conley
Novel of the West: Slaughter by Elmer Kelton
Paperback Original: The golden chance by Theodore V. Olsen
Nonfiction: Let me be free : the Nez Perce tragedy by David Lavender
Juvenile Fiction: The haymeadow by Gary Paulsen ; illustrated by Ruth Wright Paulsen.
Juvenile Nonfiction: Children of the Dust Bowl : the true story of the school at Weedpatch Camp by Jerry Stanley
Short Fiction: "The Face," in The best western stories of Ed Gorman by Ed Gorman
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): John Stone and the Choctaw Kid by Wayne Davis
Owen Wister Award:  Tom Lea

1991
Western Novel: Journal of the gun years by Richard Matheson
Novel of the West: The medicine horn by Jory Sherman
Paperback Original: Rage in Chupadera by Norman Zollinger
Nonfiction: Custer's last campaign : Mitch Boyer and the Little Bighorn reconstructed by John S. Gray
Juvenile Fiction: Rescue Josh McGuire by Ben Mikaelsen
Short Fiction: "Cimarrron, the killer" in Tales of the Southwest by Benjamin Capps
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): The sixth rider by Max McCoy
Owen Wister Award:  Glendon Swarthout

1990
Western Novel: Sanctuary by Gary Svee
Novel of the West: Home Mountain by Jeanne Williams
Paperback Original: The changing wind by Don Coldsmith
Nonfiction: Helen Hunt Jackson and her Indian reform legacy by Valerie S. Mathes
Juvenile Fiction: Honey girl by Madge Harrah
Juvenile Nonfiction: Woodsong by Gary Paulsen ; illustrated by Ruth Wright Paulsen
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): Caesar of Santa Fe by Tim MacCurdy

1989
Western Novel: Fool's coach by Richard Wheeler
Novel of the West: Panther in the sky by James Alexander Thom
Paperback Original: Among the eagles by C. Clifton Wisler
Nonfiction: Great plains by Ian Frazier
Juvenile: My Daniel by Pam Conrad
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): South Texas by Ann Gabriel

1988
Western Novel: Mattie by Judy Alter
Novel of the West: The homesman by Glendon Swarthout
Nonfiction: Hoover Dam : an American adventure by Joseph Stevens
Juvenile: In the face of danger by Joan Lowery Nixon
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): Spirit of the hills by Dan O'Brien

1987
Western Novel: Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman
Historical Novel: Wanderer Springs : a novel by Robert Flynn
Nonfiction: Jessie Benton Frémont : a biography by Pamela Herr
Juvenile: The orphan train by Joan Lowery Nixon
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): Jenny's Mountain by Elaine Long

1986
Western Novel: The blind corral by Ralph Robert Beer
Historical Novel: Roman by Douglas C. Jones
Nonfiction: Paper medicine man : John Gregory Bourke and his American West by Joseph C. Porter
Juvenile: Make way for Sam Houston by Jean Fritz
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): Come spring by Charlotte Hinger

1985
Western Novel: Lonesome Dove : a novel by Larry McMurtry
Historical Novel: The snowblind moon : a novel of the West by John Byrne Cooke
Nonfiction: Phil Sheridan and his army by Paul Andrew Hutton
Juvenile: Prairie songs by Pam Conrad ; illustrated by by Darryl S. Zudeck
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): The snowblind moon : a novel of the West by John Byrne Cooke

1984
Historical Novel: Gone the dreams and dancing by Douglas C. Jones
Nonfiction: Hashknife cowboy : recollections of Mack Hughes by Stella Hughes
Juvenile: Trapped in the slickrock canyon by Gloria Skurzynski
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): Winterkill by Craig Lesley

1983
Novel: Leaving Kansas by Frank Roderus
Historical Novel: Sam Bass : a novel by Bryan Woolley
Nonfiction: Quarterdeck and saddlehorn : the story of Edward F. Beale, 1822-1893 by Carl Briggs and Clyde Trudell
Juvenile: Thunder on the Tennessee by Gary Clifton Wisler

1982
Novel: Match race by Fred Grove
Historical Novel: Ride the wind : the story of Cynthia Ann Parker and the last days of the Comanche by Lucia St. Clair Robson
Nonfiction: Albuquerque : a narrative history by Marc Simmons
Juvenile: Before the lark by Irene Bennett Brown
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (best first novel): Carry the wind by Terry C. Johnston

1981
Novel: (tie) Eye of the hawk by Elmer Kelton; and Horizon by Lee Head
Historical Novel: Aces and eights by Loren D. Estleman
Nonfiction: Cowboy culture : a saga of five centuries by David Dary
Juvenile: The last run by Mark Jonathan Harris
Medicine Pipe Bearer Award (Best First Novel): Ride down the wind by Wayne Barton

1980
Novel: The valiant women by Jeanne Williams
Nonfiction: The peace chiefs of the Cheyennes by Stan Hoig
Juvenile: Getting there : frontier travel without power by Suzanne Hilton

1979
Novel: The holdouts by William Decker
Nonfiction: The Apaches : Eagles of the Southwest by Donald Worcester

1978
Novel: Riders to Cibola by Norman Zollinger
Nonfiction: Pueblo, Hardscrabble, Greenhorn : the Upper Arkansas, 1832-1856 by Janet Lecompte
Juvenile: The no-return trail by Sonia Levitin

1977
Novel: The great horse race by Fred Grove
Historical Novel: Swimming man burning : a rip-roaring novel of the American West by Terrence Kilpatrick
Nonfiction: The cowgirls by Joyce Gibson Roach
Juvenile: A shepherd watches, a shepherd sings by Louis Irigaray and Theodore Taylor

1976
Novel: (tie) The spirit horses by Lou Cameron; and The court martial of George Armstrong Custer by Douglas C. Jones
Historical Novel: The Kincaids by Matt Braun
Nonfiction: The vanishing white man by Stan Steiner
Juvenile:  "All aboard!" : the story of passenger trains in America by Phillip Ault

1975
Novel: The shootist by Glendon Swarthout
Nonfiction: Lamy of Santa Fe, his life and times by Paul Horgan
Juvenile Fiction: Dust of the earth by Vera and Bill Cleaver
Juvenile Nonfiction: Ride 'em cowgirl by Lynn Haney

1974
Novel: A hanging in Sweetwater by Stephen Overholser
Nonfiction: Colonel Green and the copper skyrocket by C. L. Sonnichsen
Juvenile: Susy's scoundrel by Harold Keith ; illustrated by John Schoenherr.

1973
Novel: The time it never rained by Elmer Kelton
Nonfiction: Burnt-out fires by Richard Dillon
Juvenile Fiction: Freedom trail by Jeanne Williams
Juvenile Nonfiction: Red Power on the Rio Grande; the native American revolution of 1680 by Franklin Folsom ; jacket and symbol illustrations by J. D. Roybal

1972
Novel: A killing in Kiowa by Lewis B. Patten
Historical Novel: Chiricahua by Will Henry
Nonfiction: The time of the buffalo by Tom McHugh
Juvenile Fiction: Only earth and sky last forever by Nathaniel Benchley
Juvenile Nonfiction: The Tiguas : the last tribe of city Indians by Stan Steiner

1971
Novel: The day the cowboys quit by Elmer Kelton
Nonfiction: Western life and adventures by Elliott Barker
Juvenile Fiction: The black mustanger by Richard Wormser ; illustrated by Don Bolognese
Juvenile Nonfiction: Lords of the earth : a history of the Navajo Indians by Jules Loh

1970
Novel: The Last days of Wolf Garnett by Clifton Adams
Nonfiction: The buffalo by Francis Haines
Juvenile Fiction: Cayuse courage by Evelyn Lampman
Juvenile Nonfiction: (tie) Retreat to the Bear Paw : the story of the Nez Percé by Marion T. Place; and Search for the Seven Cities by John Upton Terrell

1969
Novel: Tragg's choice by Clifton Adams
Historical Novel: The white man's road by Benjamin Capps
Nonfiction: Boss cowman; the recollections of Ed Lemmon, 1857-1946. Edited by Nellie Snyder Yost
Juvenile Fiction: The Meeker Massacre by Wayne Overholser and Lewis Patten
Juvenile Nonfiction: Conquistadors and pueblos; the story of the American Southwest, 1540-1848 by Olga Hall-Quest ; illustrated by Marian Ebert.
First Western Novel: Big with vengeance by Cecil Snyder

1968
Novel: Down the long hills by Louis L'Amour
Historical Novel: The red Sabbath by Lewis Patten
Nonfiction: Gold rushes and mining camps of the early American West by Vardis Fisher and Opal Laurel Holmes
Juvenile Fiction: Middl'un by Elizabeth Burleson ; illustrated by George Roth.
Juvenile Nonfiction: Rifles and war bonnets by Marion T. Place

1967
Novel:  The Valdez horses by Lee Hoffman
Historical Novel: The wolf is my brother by Chad Oliver
Nonfiction: America's western frontiers :  the exploration and settlement of the Trans-Mississippi West by John Hawgood
Juvenile Fiction: (tie) Half-breed by Evelyn Lampman ; illustrated by Ann Grifalconi.; and The dunderhead war : a novel by Betty Baker
Juvenile Nonfiction: To the Pacific with Lewis and Clark by Ralph Andrist

1966
Novel: My brother John by Herbert R. Purdum
Historical Novel: Hellfire Jackson by Garland Roark and Charles Thomas
Nonfiction: America's frontier heritage by Ray Billington
Juvenile Fiction: The burning glass by Annabel and Edgar Johnson
Juvenile Nonfiction: Valley of the smallest; the life story of a shrew by Aileen Fisher ; illustrated by Jean Zallinger.

1965
Novel: Sam Chance : a novel by Benjamin Capps
Historical Novel: (tie) Gold in California! by Willis Todhunter Ballard and Mountain man; a novel of male and female in the early American West by Vardis Fisher
Nonfiction: The Nez Perce Indians and the opening of the Northwest by Alvin M. Josephy
Juvenile: The stubborn one by Rutherford Montgomery

1964
Novel: The trail to Ogallala by Benjamin Capps
Historical Novel: Indian Fighter by E. E. Halleran
Nonfiction: Field notes of Captain William Clark, 1803-1805 by E.S. Osgood
Juvenile: Ride a northbound horse by Richard Wormser

1963
Novel: Follow the free wind by Leigh Brackett
Historical Novel: The gates of the mountains by Will Henry
Nonfiction: The Bonanza West; the story of the Western mining rushes, 1848-1900 by William S. Greever
Juvenile: (tie) The story catcher by Mari Sandoz, illustrated by Elsie J. McCorkell; and By the great horn spoon! by Sid Fleischman ; illustrated by Eric von Schmidt

1962
Novel: Comanche captives by Fred Grove
Historical Novel: Moontrap : a novel by Don Berry
Nonfiction: Great surveys of the American West by R.A. Bartlett
Juvenile: The western horse; a handbook by Natlee Kenoyer

1961
Novel: The honyocker by Giles A. Lutz
Historical Novel: The winter war by William Wister Haines
Nonfiction: The lives and legends of Buffalo Bill by Don Russell

1960
Novel: The nameless breed by Will C. Brown
Historical Novel: From where the sun now stands by Will Henry
Nonfiction: South Pass, 1868. James Chisholm's journal of the Wyoming gold rush, ed. by Lola M. Homsher
Juvenile: The horse talker by Jeanne Williams

1959
Novel: Long run by Nelson Nye
Historical Novel: The buffalo soldiers by John Prebble
Nonfiction: The day of San Jacinto by Frank X. Tolbert
Juvenile Fiction: Their shining hour : a novel based on events in the life of Susanna Dickenson at the siege of the Alamo by Ramona Maher
Juvenile Nonfiction: Hold back the hunter : a novel by Dale White

1958
Novel: Short cut to Red River by Noel Loomis
Historical Novel: The Fancher Train by Amelia Bean
Nonfiction: Cripple Creek days by Mabel Barbee Lee
Juvenile: Steamboat up the Missouri by Dale White

1957
Novel: Buffalo wagons by Elmer Kelton
Historical Novel: Silver Mountain by Dan Cushman
Nonfiction: This is the West, ed. by Robert West Howard
Juvenile: Wolf Brother by Jim Kjelgaard

1956
Novel: High gun by Leslie Ernenwein
Historical Novel: Generations of men : a novel by John Clinton Hunt
Nonfiction: Men to match my mountains : the opening of the far West, 1840-1900 by Irving Stone
Juvenile: Trapping the silver beaver by Charley Niehuis ; illustrated by Chris Kenyon

1955
Novel: Somewhere they die by L. P. Holmes
Nonfiction: Whoop-up country:  the Canadian-American West, 1865-1885 by Paul F. Sharp

1954
Novel: The violent land by Wayne D. Overholser
Historical Novel: Journey by the river by John Prescott
Juvenile: Young hero of the range by Stephen Payne
Nonfiction: Bent's Fort by David Lavender

1953
Novel: Lawman by Lee Leighton
Historical novel: The wheel and the hearth by Lucia Moore
Juvenile: Sagebrush sorrel by Frank C. Robertson