W I L L R O G E R S M E D A L L I O N A W A R D
2018 WRMA WINNERS
The winners, by category, include (publishers in parenthesis):
Cowboy Poetry
1st Place: Quit, Except For The Wind, by Carolyn Dufurrena (Quinn River Press)
2nd Place: Cookie’s Special Christmas/Cowboys and Cattle,by John Pelham (White Bird Publications)
3rd Place: Poems Of The Kern Plateau and Beyond, by Tim Heflin (THP)
Special Award: Wooden Lions, by Karla Morton (Texas Review Press)
Cowboy Poetry CD
1st Place: I’ll Ride Thru It, Deanna Dickenson McCall
Western Fiction
1st Place: Cold Hearted River, by Keith McCafferty (Viking Penguin Random House)
2nd Place: Marianna’s Knight/Blood of the Devil, by W. Michael Farmer (Five Star)
3rd Place: Burials, by Mary Anne Evans (Poisoned Pen Press)
4th Place: Gib, by Jon R. Horton (Sunlight Publishing )
5th Place: The Captain’s Coat, by Randall Dale (Dusty Saddle Publishing)
Special Memorial: Gold Of The Sun, by Dusty Richards (Oghma Creative Media)
Biographies & Memoirs
1st Place: Cowboy Princess Rides Again, by Cheryl Rogers-Barnett (Riverwood Press)
2nd Place: Ordinary Skin, by Amy Hale Auker (Texas Tech University Press)
3rd Place: Go West, Young Woman, Nancy Quinn (Hellgate Press)
4th Place: Go West – 10 Principals That Guided My Cowboy Journey, by Jeremy Sparks (Elevate Press)
5th Place: Makin’ Tracks With My Horses and Mules, by Jane Lambert (JLP)
Western Nonfiction
1st Place: American Trinity: Jefferson, Custer & the Spirit of the West, by Larry Lyn Peterson(Sweetgrass Books)
2nd Place: The Pinks, by Chris Enss (Two Dot Publishing)
3rd Place: Golden Elixir of the West, by Jane Perkins & Sherry Monahan (Two Dot)
Photographic Essays
1st Place: The Good The Bad & The Bovine, edited by C.J. Hadley (RANGE Magazine/Range Conservation Foundation)
Inspirational Fiction
1st Place: Short Grass, by John J. Dwyer (Tiree Pres)
2nd Place: Stronger Than Mountains, by Lynn Dean (Wordsworth Publishing)
3rd Place: Addie – Courage Rides a Gray Horse, by Lyn Miller (The Shoo-Fly Gray Publishing)
4th Place: Meghan’s Choice, by Donna L.H. Smith (Hartline Literary Agency )
Western Romance
1st Place: If I Should Die/Home to Wyoming, by Harlan Hague (Five Star)
2nd Place: Mist-chi-mas: A Novel of Captivity, by Janet Oakley (Fair Chance Press)
3rd Place: Maureen, by Mary E. Trimble (Shelter Graphics)
4th Place: Unfortunate Words, by John Hansen (Wolfpack Publishin)
5th Place: Dally, by Shanna Hatfield (SHP)
Western Fiction—Younger Readers
1st Place: Stranded: A Story of Frontier Survival, by Matthew Mayo ( Five Star)
2nd Place: Golden Spike, The Iron Horse Chronicles – Book Three, by Robert Lee Murphy (Five Star)
3rd Place: The Tragically True Adventures of Kit Donovan, by Patricia Bailey (Albert Whiteman and Company Publishing)
4th Place: Charlie Weston – The Cowboy and the Kid, by Mike Prince (Great Basin Publishing)
5th Place: Sophia’s Storm, by Cara Skinner (Cara’s Classics)
Western Fiction—Young Readers, Illustrated
1st Place: Tad Lucas, by Laura B. Edge (Pelican)
2nd Place: Barney, The Lopsided Mule, by Liz Hughey & Son (Whiteside Publishing) 3rd Place: Steve The Mule, by Shanna Hatfield (SHP)
4th Place: Cap Guns & Stick Ponies, by Geoff “Poppa Mac” Mackay (Red Dashboard Press)
5th Place: Pinto, The Chisholm Pony, by Stella Dutton (405 Books)
Western Nonfiction—Young Readers, Illustrated
1st Place: The Spirit Of Texas: Daily Reader, by Laurie Cockerell & Yvonne Cumberland (Kinderfable Press)
Western Cookbooks
1st Place: Tad Lucas, by Stephanie Ford (Pelican) Western Cookbooks
1st Place (Tie): Biscuits, Beans & Cowboy Coffee, by Geoff “Poppa Mac” Mackay (PMP)
1st Place (Tie): Tinsel, Tumbleweeds & Star-Spangled Celebrations, by Sherry Monahan (Two Dot)
Western Humor – Written
1st Place: Bluster’s Last Stand, by Preston Lewis (Wild Horse Press)
2nd Place: Somewhere Out West: In the Middle of Nowhere/Somewhere Our West: Trilogy, by Denny Bertrand (Red Dashboard Publications)
3rd Place: The Lucky Hat Mine, by Julie vl Bell (Hansen Publishing Group)
Western Fiction – Short Stories
1st Place: Rough Patches II, by Deanna Dickenson McCall (The Frontier Project)
2nd Place: Tibby’s Hideout (The Posse Anthology), by Frank Kelso (Intellect Publishing, LLC)
3rd Place: Life, Cowboys and The Free Press, by Charles “David” Cox (Red Dashboard)
2017 WRMA Winners
The winners, by category, include (publishers in parenthesis):
Cowboy Poetry
1st Place: Split Reins, by Deanna Dickenson McCall (The Frontier Project)
2nd Place: Stories From My Side of the Campfire/Touched By The Master, by Geoff ”Poppa Mac” McKay(Red Dashboard Press/ Poppa Mac, Inc.)
3rd Place: Tribute to Simpler Times, by Bob Upchurch (Mac Holt Media)
4th Place: Buckaroo Poetry - Around My Campfire, by P.W. Conway (PWC)
Special Award: Bearing The Mask: Southwestern Persona Poems, edited by Scott Wiggerman & Cindy Huyer (Dosgatospress)
Western Fiction
1st Place: An Obvious Fact/The Highwayman, by Craig Johnson (Viking Penguin Random House)
2nd Place: Beloved Over All, by Irene Sandell (Double Mountain Press) & Buffalo Jump Blues by Keith McCafferty (Viking Penguin Random House)
3rd Place: Dead Man’s Boot, by Patrick Dearen (Five Star)
4th Place: Death in Cantera, by John Nesbitt (Five Star)
5th Place: Triple Play, by James D. Crownover (Five Star)
Biographies & Memoirs
1st Place: Moved at the author’s request
2nd place: Mary Fields aka Stagecoach Mary, by Erich Hicks (First Design Publishing)
Western Nonfiction
1st Place: The Oklahomans: The Story of Oklahoma, by John J. Dwyer(Red River Press)
2nd Place: The Texas Frontier and The Butterfield Overland Mail, by Glen Sample Ely (University of Oklahoma Press)
3rd Place: Law at Little Big Horn, by Charles E. Wright (Texas Tech University Press)
Photographic Essays
1st Place: Cowboys and Critters, edited by C.J. Hadley (RANGE Magazine/Range Conservation Foundation)
Inspirational Fiction
1st Place: West of Penance, by Thomas D. Clagett (Five Star)
2nd Place: The Road We Traveled, by Jane Kirkpatrick (Revell Division, Baker Publishing) &
Chasing Demons, by John Hanson (Outskirts Press)
3rd Place: Naapiikoan Winter, by Althea Williams (C.A. Williams)
4th Place: Maria Ines, by Anne Schroeder (published by Five Star/Gale)
Western Romance
1st Place: A Place For Mei Lin, by Harlan Hague (Five Star)
2nd Place: What Gold Buys, by Ann Parker (Poisoned Pen Press)
3rd Place: The Silver Baron’s Wife, by Donna Baier Stein (Serving House Books)
4th Place: Corsets and Cuffs, by Shanna Hatfield (SFR)
5th Place: First Rodeo, by Judith Hennessey (Spark Press)
Western Fiction—Younger Readers
1st Place: The Green Colt, The Adventures of Wilder Good, by S. J. Dahlstrom ( Paul Dry Books)
2nd Place: Good Water, by John D. Nesbitt (Five Star)
3rd Place: Hidden Regrets/A Good Man Gone, by Randall Dale (Horizons West Publishing)
4th Place: River of Cattle, by Alice Brock (Pen-L Publishing)
Western Fiction—Young Readers, Illustrated
1st Place: The Bat Book, by Conrad J. Storad (published by Bobolink Media)
2nd Place: Notable Women of Texas, by Kathy Gause (Annie Armadillo Publishing)
\Western Cookbook
1st Place: Family Tree Recipes, by Dawn Nelson (Gray Dog Press)
Western Humor – Written
1st Place: Hot Work at Fry Pan Gulch/Sidetracked at Silver City, by Jacquie Rogers (Camp Rogers Press)
2nd Place: Somewhere Out West: On A Ranch, by Denny Bertrand (Red Dashboard Publications)
3rd Place: Trouble Returns, by Nancy Oswald (Published by Filter Press LLC)
Western Graphics and Illustrations
1st Place: The Bat Book, illustrated by Nate (and Tristan) Jensen (Bobolink Media) & Split Reins, illustrated by JaNeil Anderson (The Frontier Project)
2016 WRMA Winners
At the 13th annual Will Rogers Medallion Award Banquet hosted Saturday evening, October 29, in Ft. Worth, 36 authors and publishers were presented Will Rogers Medallion Awards Honoring Excellence in Western Media in 12 categories. “Each year, the quality and level of excellence of the books being awarded goes up,” noted Charles Williams, Executive Director. “It is a tribute both to the enduring appeal of the West, and to the high quality of publications being produced today. We are especially proud of our publishers, who have maintained such high standards in a marketplace where they face competition from e-books and other electronic media.”
The winners, by category, include (publishers in parenthesis):
Cowboy Poetry
1st Place: Reflections Of The West, Edited by C.J. Hadley (RANGE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION)
2nd Place: Is She Country, by Marleen Bussma (DVPress)
3rd Place: After The Chisholm, by George Rhoades (Outskirts Press)
Western Fiction
1st Place: Dry Bones by Craig Johnson (Viking Penguin Random House)
2nd Place: Dakota Trails by Robert McKee (Pen-L Publishing)
3rd Place: The Judas Steer by Tammy Hinton (Shannon Press)
4th Place: Killer Of Witches by W. Michael Farmer (Five Star)
Honorable Mention: Crazy Mountain Kiss by Keith McCafferty (Viking Penguin Random House)
Honorable Mention: Dark Places by Reavis Worthham (Poisoned Pen Press)
Biographies & Memoirs
1st Place: Lecile: This Ain’t My First Rodeo by Lecile Harris & Rex Jones (Clowning Around Enterprises)
2nd Place: Until I Come Home by Paul Spellman (PSE)
3rd Place: The Longest Trail by Roni McFadden (The Biscuit Press)
Western Nonfiction
1st Place: It Ends Here: Missouri’s Last Vigilante by Joe Johnston (Missouri History Museum)
2nd Place: Mochi’s War by Chris Enss & Howard Kazanjian (Rowman & Littlefield)
3rd Place: Finding The Great Northern Trail by Sylvia Gann Mahoney (Texas Tech University Press)
Photographic Essays
1st Place: Cowboy Ethics: What It Takes To Win At Life by James P. Owens (Skyhorse Publishing)
2nd Place: John Lopez Sculpture, Grand River Series by John Lopez (Last Chair Media)
Inspirational Fiction
1st Place: Memory Weaver by Jane Kirkpatrick (Revell Division, Baker Publishing)
2nd Place: Gabriel’s Atonement by Vickie McDonough (Barbour Publishing )
3rd Place: When The Cowboy Rides Away by Mollie Noble Bull (Elk Lake Publishing)
Western Romance
1st Place: Hidden Shadows by Linda Lucretia Shuler (Twilight Times Press)
2nd Place: A Bride For Gil by Dusty Richards (Galway Press/Oghma Creative Media)
3rd Place: The Outlaw Takes A Bride by Susan Page Davis (Barbour Press)
Western Fiction—Younger Readers
1st Place: Friends In Deed/Pardner’s Trust by Randall Dale (Horizons West Publishing)
2nd Place: Bear Claws, The Iron Horse Chronicles by Robert Lee Murphy (Five Star Publishing)
3rd Place: General Houston’s Little Spy by Cara Skinner (Tate Publishing)
Western Fiction—Young Readers, Illustrated
1st Place: Juan N, Seguin by Kathy Gause, Illustrated by Kathy Gause (self)
Western Cookbook
1st Place: The Cowboy Cookbook by Shelly Monahan (Globe Pequiot Press)
2nd Place: Texas Is Chili Country by Judy Alter (Texas Tech University Press)
Western Fiction—Short Stories
1st Place: The Land Of Rain Shadows: Horn Toad, Texas by Joyce Gibson Roach (Texas Tech Univ. Press)
2nd Place: Rough Patches by Deanna Dickenson McCall (The Frontier Project Inc.)
Western Humor – Written
1st Place: Redneck Opera by Margaret Mooney (Kiddrose)
2st Place: Somewhere Out West: Petey and Cecil by Denny Bertrand (Red Dashboard Publications)
Western Humor – Graphics and Illustrations
1st Place: Cowboyin’ With Earl by Wally Badgett (Big Dry Syndicate)
Originally created to honor outstanding volumes of Cowboy Poetry, the Will Rogers Medallion Award soon expanded into other categories as interest and reader demand increased. Will Rogers was an accomplished author as well as a cowboy entertainer, and the purpose of the Award is to honor this facet of his legacy as well as to highlight current books that embody strong content, excellent production values, and enduring interest. The Thirteenth Annual Award Show, hosted in the Ft. Worth Stockyards during Red Steagall’s Twenty-Sixth Cowboy Gathering, attracted authors and publishers from as far away as California, Utah, the Dakotas, and New York State.
“As writers, as Westerners, and as Americans, we owe a tremendous debt to Will Rogers, and this is our way of acknowledging and honoring that debt,” said Mr. Williams.