2012 Spur Awards Honor Best Westerns

ENCAMPMENT, Wyo., March 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Santa Fe, N.M., author Johnny D. Boggs won Spur Awards for two novels, while Rod Miller of Sandy, Utah, also won two Spurs this year for poetry and a short story, Western Writers of America has announced.

Colorado songwriter Jon Chandler claimed his third Spur award for his song "Morning Star Moon." He previously won Spur awards for Best First Novel and Best Western Song.

Winners and finalists in 16 categories were announced this week by Spur Awards Chair Eli Paul. They will be honored June 12-16 at the WWA Convention in Albuquerque, N.M.

Boggs will carry home Spurs for Best Western Short Novel, LEGACY OF A LAWMAN (Five Star), and Best Original Mass Market Paperback Novel, WEST TEXAS KILL (Pinnacle/Kensington). He previously won four Spur Awards for adult and juvenile novels and a short story. This year's wins tie him with Richard S. Wheeler of Livingston, Mont., as the two living authors with the most Spur Awards, six. The late Elmer Kelton won seven.

Miller's poem "Tabula Rosa," published by Port Yonder Press, earned him a Spur, and he will pick up the second one for his short fiction story "The Death of Delgado" (Western Fictioneers). The competition in both categories was particularly strong this year, and a second Spur in the Short Fiction Story category will be awarded to Texas writer Clay Reynolds for "The Deacon's Horse"  (Ink Brush Press).

The Nickelodeon Movies film RANGO earned a Spur for screenwriter John Logan, while director Cindy Meehl and producer Julie Goldman (Cedar Creek Productions) will receive the Spur in the Documentary Script category for BUCK, a film about legendary horseman Buck Brannaman.

Since 1953, Western Writers of America (www.westernwriters.org) has promoted and honored the best in Western literature with the annual Spur Awards, selected by panels of judges. Awards, for material published last year, are given for works whose inspiration, image and literary excellence best represent the reality and spirit of the American West. Previous winners include Thomas Powers, Lucia St. Clair Robson, Larry McMurtry and Nancy Plain.

Stephen Harrigan of Austin, Texas, won for Best Western Long Novel with REMEMBER BEN CLAYTON (Alfred A. Knopf). He previously won Spurs for a novel (THE GATES OF THE ALAMO) and a drama script (KING OF TEXAS).

In the nonfiction categories David L. Bigler of Roseville, Calif., and Will Bagley of Salt Lake City won for Best Nonfiction-Historical with MORMON REBELLION: AMERICA'S FIRST CIVIL WAR 1857-1858. Paul Andrew Hutton of Albuquerque, N.M., will take home his fifth Spur Award for his Short Nonfiction Article, "The Alamo, Well Remembered" published by Wild West Magazine. His prior Spurs were for his biography of Philip Sheridan and three documentary film scripts.

Other winners:

First Novel: DOUBLE CROSSING by Meg Mims (Astrea Press).
Nonfiction-Biography: GEORGE CROOK by Paul Magid (University of Oklahoma Press).
Nonfiction-Contemporary: THE BITTERROOT AND MR. BRANDBORG by Frederick H. Swanson (University of Utah Press).
Juvenile Nonfiction: MIGRANT MOTHER by Don Hardo (Compass Point Books/Capstone).
Juvenile Fiction: BIRDIE by Candace Simar (North Star Press of St. Cloud).
Storyteller (illustrated children's book): TORNADO SLIM AND THE MAGIC COWBOY HAT by Bryan Langdo, author, and illustrator (Marshall Cavendish).

SOURCE Western Writers of America

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