WRMA CEREMONY WEEKEND EVENTS

2025 WRMA AWARD WEEKEND SCHEDULE

October 30 - November 1, 2025 

Claremore and Tulsa, Oklahoma

STAYED TUNED FOR UPCOMING PLANS FOR THE 2026 WRMA WEEKEND!

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Host Hotel: The Tulsa Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (777 W Cherokee St, Catoosa, OK 74015) will serve as our host hotel. This large, comfortable, and fun hotel is the perfect location for not only our award ceremony and panel discussion, but also a great jumping-off point for the Friday night Meet & Greet in Claremore and other local opportunities available for our award-winning authors and publishers.

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To make reservations with the WRMA discount rate ($159 per night for a king or double queen), you can make your reservation online here . You can only make reservations for individual rooms through this link. 

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You can also make reservations by calling 1-800 760-6700. Be sure to ask for "Individual Block Will Rogers Medallion Award" to receive the special group rate.

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Transportation: Shuttle service is available to transport you from the Tulsa airport to the Hard Rock Hotel. Please contact Hard Rock to schedule service; you'll need to provide your flight information and hotel confirmation number. You might also want to consider renting a car from the airport, especially if you schedule book speaking/signing opportunities in addition to the scheduled group activities (more information will be provided soon). The drive from Tulsa to Claremore takes about twenty minutes, and you will be able to purchase seats on a bus we have scheduled to take you to and from Claremore for the Meet & Greet (see information in the winners' packet of information to be mailed once they are announced) or click here.

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Looking for additional things to do and places to see while visiting Claremore and Tulsa? Check out our list of Oklahoma Visitor Suggestions.

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Thursday, October 30, 2025: If you are in town on Thursday, participating authors will have the opportunity to speak in schools and other local venues. 

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2025: MEET AND GREET at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum, Claremore, Oklahoma (1720 West Will Rogers Boulevard, Claremore, OK 74017)

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Friday night is the perfect night to reconnect with old friends and make new friends and memories. The wonderful Will Rogers Memorial Museum will be hosting the 2025 Meet & Greet. This event is free, but we ask you to rsvp to Laurie to help us plan food and seating. *Please limit to only one additional guest per winner for this event, as our space is limited. 

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We always love to display copies of the winning books, CDs, and DVDs during our Meet & Greet. We ask authors to bring a copy of your 2025 winning entry so that other attendees at this event have the opportunity to see all the winners across all the categories. If you would like to then donate your book (or CD or DVD) to be purchased for a donation during our Saturday night banquet, we'd love to take those off your hands so that you don't have to carry them home - and it all goes to a great cause!

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*3:45 PM: Please meet promptly at the hotel's main entrance if you have reserved a seat on the bus that will take us to the museum. If you haven't reserved a seat yet, just shoot us an email that you plan to ride with us. Round trip cost is $25.

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*4:30-6:00 PM: You'll enjoy delicious food, catered by Claremore's own Front Porch Bakery & Smokehouse, and the opportunity to socialize with fellow authors, publishers, filmmakers, and musicians as you enjoy this beautiful and informative museum.

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*Following the delicious buffet, executives from the INSP network (winner of this year's Golden Lariat award) will speak to our guests about the art of Western writing.

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*After INSP representatives speak, we'll be screening the film REAGAN for our attendees (the museum has its own movie theatre!). Before the film begins, Mark Joseph (REAGAN producer and author of "Making REAGAN: A Memoir from the Producer of the REAGAN Movie") will introduce the movie. Following the movie will be a question and answer period.

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1st

10 AM - noon: WRMA Authors on the Move Book Signings

WRMA award-winning participating authors will speak and sign books at venues in Claremore and Tulsa through our Authors on the Move program. You can find a list of authors and locations here.

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1-3 PM: Panel Discussion

A panel of experts, moderated by Harriet Kocher Lewis, will provide a discussion and opportunity for questions and answers on the topic of Independent Publishing in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Panel members include Mike Cox (award-winning nonfiction author), Amy Kelly (Lone Star Literary Life owner and publisher), Larry Morris (book designer and author), and Preston Lewis (award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction). The panel will be held at the Tulsa Hard Rock Hotel (our host hotel). Stay tuned for more information. This event is free.

​5:30 PM: WRMA Award Banquet & Ceremony

You'll enjoy a delicious buffet dinner, followed by the annual WRMA award ceremony. Award category rankings will be announced and winners will receive their medallions. A professional photographer (Joe Ownbey of Ownbey Photography) will be on hand to take photographs, and we will hold a silent auction with treasures for you to take home! You will need to purchase tickets for yourself and any guests by the date noted at the bottom of the ticket reservation form. Ticket reservation forms will be included in the winners' letter packets and you can also find the form here. 

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RSVP (for Meet & Greet and Panel) to:

laurie@magnificentsam.com

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Many thanks to our 2025 WRMA Program Sponsors:

* Lone Star Literary Life * Oklahoma Today Magazine * Bariso Press 

* River Spirit Casino Resort/Tulsa * Will Rogers Memorial Museum * EK-2 Publishing

* Visit Claremore * Montana: The Magazine of Western History * RCB Bank

* United Axle * JM Davis Arms & Historical Museum * Wolfpack Publishing

* University of Tulsa * Roan & Weatherford Publishing * Claremore Museum of History ​​​

* Tulsa Convention and Visitors Bureau * Women Writing the West * INSP Network

* Arcadia Publishing * TCU Press * BearManor Media * Frontier Justice * Viking Press

* Tombstone Festival of Western Books * TwoDot Books * Muscogee Creek Tourism

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