• Source: Spur Award for Best Novel of the West

The Spur Award for Best Novel of the West is a category formerly used by the Western Writers of America (WWA) as part of the annual Spur Awards. It was introduced for the awards' 1988 iteration, replacing the earlier category of Best Historical Novel.
For a period, the Spur Awards included a Best Western Novel category as well as a Best Novel of the West category. John Mort explains the distinction in his book Read the High Country: "WWA defines Westerns... in market terms. A Western novel is a 'traditional' tale of revenge, rival cattlemen at war, or settlers fighting Indians. Owen Wister's The Virginian is a famous example, as well as Louis L'Amour's Hondo. A 'novel of the West' is what's otherwise known as a historical, where characterizations are based around historical events, and historical personages such as Davy Crockett, George Armstrong Custer, and Crazy Horse become characters."
During 2000, the official Spurs Award website defined both categories as "book-length novels... dependent in whole or in part on settings, characters, conditions, or customs indigenous to the American West or early frontier," the distinction being that Best Western Novel was for works "90,000 words or less" while Best Novel of the West was for works "90,000 words or more."
The category was used for the final time in the 2006 iteration of the Spur Awards. After that, the awards' categorization system was reworked, with the new categories of Best Short Novel and Best Long Novel introduced. This division remained until the 2014 awards, which removed Best Short Novel and Best Long Novel and re-added Best Western Historical Novel, also introducing the new category Best Western Contemporary Novel.




List of Winners


1953 – 1987: Best Historical Novel

1953 – The Wheel and the Hearth by Lucia Moore
1954 – Journey by the River by John Prescott
1955 – No Award given
1956 – Generations of Men by John Clinton Hunt
1957 – Silver Mountain by Dan Cushman
1958 – The Fancher Train by Amelia Bean
1959 – The Buffalo Soldier by John Prebble
1960 – From Where the Sun Now Stands by Will Henry
1961 – The Winter War by William Wister Haines
1962 – Moontrap by Don Berry
1963 – Gates of the Mountains by Will Henry (2)
1964 – Indian Fighter by F. F. Halloran
1965 – (tied) "Gold in California by Todhunter Ballard & "Mountain Man by Vardis Fisher
1966 – Hellfire Jackson by Garland Roark & Charles Thomas
1967 – The Wolf Is My Brother by Chad Oliver
1968 – The Red Sabbath by Lewis B. Patten
1969 – The White Man's Road by Benjamin Capps
1970-71 No Award given
1972 – Chiricahua by Will Henry (3)
1973-75 No Award given
1976 – The Kincaids by Matt Braun
1977 – Swimming Man Burning by Terrence Kilpatrick
1978-80 No Award given
1981 – Aces and Eights by Loren D. Estleman
1982 – Ride the Wind by Lucia St. Clair Robson
1983 – Sam Bass by Bryan Woolley
1984 – Gone the Dreams and Dancing by Douglas C. Jones
1985 – The Snowblind Moon by John Byrne Cooke
1986 – Roman by Douglas C. Jones (2)
1987 – Wanderer Springs by Robert Flynn
1988 – 2006: Best Novel of the West

1988 – The Homesman by Glendon Swarthout
1989 – Panther In The Sky by James Alexander Thom
1990 – Home Mountain by Jeanne Williams
1991 – The Medicine Horn by Jory Sherman
1992 – Slaughter by Elmer Kelton
1993 – Empire of Bones by Jeff Long
1994 – The Far Canyon by Elmer Kelton (2)
1995 – Stone Song: A Novel of The Life of Crazy Horse by Winfred Blevins
1996 – Sierra by Richard S. Wheeler
1997: W.W.A. changed the time-frame from 'year published' to 'year award presented'
1998 – Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry
1999 – The All-True Travels and Adventures of Liddie Newton by Jane Smiley
2000 – Prophet Annie by Ellen Recknor
2001 – The Gates of The Alamo by Stephen Harrigan
2002 – The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
2003 – Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling
2004 – So Wild a Dream by Winfred Blevins (2)
2005 – People of the Raven by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear
2006 – High Country: A Novel by Willard Wyman (which also won for Best First Novel)
2007 – 2013: Best Western Long Novel

2007 – The Night Journal by Elizabeth Crook
2008 – The God of Animals By Aryn Kyle
2009 – Shavetail by Thomas Cobb
2010 – Echoes of Glory by Robert Flynn (2)
2011 – Last Train from Cuernavaca by Lucia St. Clair Robson
2012 – Remember Ben Clayton by Stephen Harrigan
2013 – With Blood in Their Eyes by Thomas Cobb
2014 Onwards: Best Western Historical Novel

2014 – Silent We Stood by Henry Chappell
2015 – Wild Ran the Rivers by James D. Crownover
2016 – Paradise Sky by Joe R. Lansdale
2017 – No Award given
2018 – The Coming by David Osborne
2019 – River of Porcupines by G.K. Aalborg
2020 – A Forgotten Evil by Sheldon Russell
2021 – All Things Left Wild by James Wade
2022 – Ridgeline by Michael Punke
2023 – Beasts of the Earth by James Wade
2024 – Death in the Tallgrass: A Young Man’s Journey Through the Western Frontier by Donald Willerton
Only six authors have won it on more than one occasion: Will Henry (3): 1960, 1963, 1972; (2) each for: Win Blevins 1995, 2004; Robert Flynn 1987, 2010; Douglas C. Jones 1984, 1986; Elmer Kelton 1992, 1994; James Wade 2021, 2023.




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Larry McMurtry
• Spur Award for Best Novel of the West
• Spur Award
• Lucia St. Clair Robson
• Richard S. Wheeler
• Spur Award for Best Western Novel
• Aryn Kyle
• Stephen Harrigan
• Winfred Blevins
• John D. Nesbitt
• Chief Joseph