Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!
And sincere and hearty thanks to the many members who submitted award entries! We had very high numbers of entries in many of the categories, so decisions were difficult!
We hope you’re looking ahead to your corral’s or posse’s 2026 accomplishments, to be submitted for awards in spring 2027!! Award entry forms will go out in late winter; awards will be reviewed over the summer; and awards will be handed out at the fall Westerners Gather in Spokane, WA, hosted by the Spokane Corral. All awards that are not picked up in person will be sent by US mail to the recipients.
Co-Founders Best Book Award
First Place (tie)
Paul Andrew Hutton
The Undiscovered Country: Triumph, Tragedy, and the Shaping of the American West
Dutton 2025
Pahaska Corral
First Place (tie)
Paul Hedren
Sitting Bull’s War: The Battle of the Little Big Horn and the
Fight for Freedom on the Plains
Pegasus Books 2025
Omaha Corral
Second Place
Jan Cleere
100 Western Women: The Gold, Brave, Gutsy Women of Arizona’s Past
Wheatmark 2025
Adobe Corral
Third Place
Jeff Broome
Plain Tales of the Plains
Pueblo Historical Society 2025
Denver Posse
“Coke” Wood Award for Historical Monograph or Published Article
First Place
Janolyn G. Lo Vecchio, “An Institution Like No Other in the United States: The
Pima County Preventorium”
Journal of Arizona History Spring 2025
Tucson Corral and Adobe Corral
Second Place
Gerald Ahnert, “Fort Yuma Quartermaster Depot on the Southern Overland Trail”
Desert Tracks June 2025
Cochise County Corral
Third Place
Brian Dervin Dillon, “Fightin’ Bob Heads West, 1860”
The Branding Iron Summer 2025
Los Angeles Corral
Phillip A. Danlelson Award for Best Presentation or Program
(award goes to the hosting corral or posse)
First Place
Denver Posse
For program by Katy Ordway, “Sordid History! Cocaine, Child Brides, and Rat Schools in Two Historical Jeffersons County Preservation Projects”
Second Place
Los Angeles Corral
For a presentation by Brian Dervin Dillon, “Lost in the Sixties:
Coming of Age in Hippie San Francisco”
Third Place
Pahaska Corral
For presentation by Eric Rossborough
“Zane Grey”
Heads Up Award
Larger Corral
The Huntington Corral
San Marino, California
Bill Ellinger, Sheriff
Heads Up Award
Smaller Corral
The Jedediah Smith Corral
Cal Larive, Sheriff
Hot Springs, South Dakota
Fred Olds Award for Cowboy Poetry
First Place
Rod Miller
“Leftovers,” “Nowhere Rodeo,” and “Bronc Rider”
Buckoffs and Broken Barriers
Speaking Volumes 2025
Utah Westerners, Salt Lake City, UT
Second Place
Bob Spahl, “2,000 Miles Through Hell”
Hot Iron, 2025
Cochise County Corral, Tombstone, AZ
Third Place
Tim Heflin
“Lily the Leppy,” 2025
Garden of the Sun Corral, Fresno, CA
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