Since 1990, the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association (of which BTC is a long-standing member) has recognized works of merit in both adult and children’s categories which exemplify the best in writing and/or illustration whose subject matter deals with the region, or whose authors and illustrators live in the region. Mind you, it’s a BIG region that contains jagged peaks, arid plains, abundant recreation, Native Americans, water issues, and seemingly endless archeology, plus a healthy dose of spirited pioneer history. In 2010, the awards were renamed and are now known as the Reading the West Book Awards.
FICTION
2013: The Son by Philip Meyer
2012: Theft by BK Loren
2011: The Voice of the River by Melanie Rae Thon
2010: The Wake of Forgiveness by Bruce Machart
2009: Another Man’s Moccasins, A Walt Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson
2008: The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
2007: Cottonwood Saints by Gene Guerin
2006: A Sudden Country: A Novel by Karen Fisher
2005: The Work of Wolves by Kent Meyers
2004: Land That Moves, Land That Stands Still by Kent Nelson
2003: Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling
2002: The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
2001: Winter Range by Claire Davis
2000: Plainsong by Kent Haruf
1999: One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
1998: The Sky, The Stars, The Wilderness by Rick Bass
1997: Sun Dancer by David London
1996: Stone Song by Win Blevins
1995: Stygo by Laura Hendrie
1994: (Joint Winners) Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver / The Death of Bernadette Lefthand by Ron Querry / Montana 1948 by Larry Watson
1993: (Joint Winners) Cowboys Are My Weakness by Pam Houston / The Meadow by James Galvin / All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
1992: No award for Fiction this year
1991: Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan
1900: The Testimony of Mr. Bones by Olive Ghiselin
NONFICTION
2013: The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko
2012: Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen
2011: Fire Season: Field Noted from a Wilderness Lookout by Philip Connors
2010: No award for Nonfiction this year
2009: (Joint Winners) American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon by Steven Rinella / Staking Her Claim: Women Homesteading the West by Marcia Meredith Hensley
2008: The Day the World Ended at Little Bighorn by Joseph M. Marshall III
2007: (Joint Winners) Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides / Pinedale, Wyoming: A Centennial History 1904-2004 by Ann Chambers Noble
2006: 109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos by Jennet Conant
2005: (Joint Winners) Little Things in a Big Country: An Artist and Her Dog on the Rocky Mountain Front by Hannah Hinchman / Select Peaks of Greater Yellowstone: A Mountaineering History and Guide by Thomas Turiano
2004: (Joint Winners) Hawks Rest: A Season in the Remote Heart of Yellowstone by Gary Ferguson / Creation of the Teton Landscape by David D. Love, John C. Reed, J.D. Love
2003: Breaking Clean by Judy Blunt
2002: A River Running West by Donald Worster
2001: The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams by Nasdijj
2000: Where Rivers Change Direction by Mark Spragg
1999: Lasso the Wind: Away to the New West by Timothy Egan
1998: Legends of the American Desert by Alex Shoumatoff
1997: Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose
1996: The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge by Joe Starita
1995: Killing Custer by James Welch
1994: No award for Nonfiction this year
1993: No award for Nonfiction this year
1992: (Joint Winners) Land Circle: Writings Collected from the Land by Linda Hasselstrom / PrairyErth: A Deep Map by William Least Heat-Moon / Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams
1991: Photographing Montana, 1894-1928: The Life and Work of Evelyn Cameron by Donna M. Lucey
1990: Remote Beyond Compare by John Kessel
ART & POETRY
... suspended until further notice
2009: Colorado’s Wild Horses by Claude Steelman
2008: Great Ranches of the West by Jim Keen
2007: Mesa Verde National Park: The First 100 Years by Rose Houk, Faith Marcovecchio, Duane A. Smith
2006: William Henry Jackson’s “The Pioneer Photographer” by William Henry Jackson, Howard R. Driggs, Bob Blair
2005: The Pueblo Imagination by Lee Marmon
2004: Birds of Prey in the American West by Tom Vezo and Richard Glinski
2003: Drawn to Yellowstone: Artists in America’s First National Park by Peter Hassrick
2002: Ansel Adams at 100 by John Szarkowski
2001: Painters in the American West by Joan Carpenter Troccoli
2000: No award for Art & Poetry this year
1999: In Gravity National Park by C.L. Rawlins
1998: Blue Horses Rush In by Luci Tapahonso
1997: Mountains & Rivers Without End by Gary Snyder
1996: My Town by David Lee
1995: Loose Woman by Sandra Cisneros
1994: So Far From God by Ana Castillo
1993: No award for Art & Poetry this year
1992: No award for Art & Poetry this year
1991: In Mad Love and War by Joy Harjo
1990: What We Have to Live With by Marilyn Krysl
CHILDREN’S (Chapter & Picture Books)
2013: The Last Ride of Caleb O'Toole by Eric Pierpoint
2012: Kepler's Dream by Juliet Bell
2011: Missing on Superstition Mountain by Elise Broach & Antonio Javier Caparo
2010: Starfish by James Crowley
2009: Go Big or Go Home by Will Hobbs / The Illuminated Desert by Terry Tempest Williams, illustrated by Chloe Hedden
2008: Wind Rider by Susan Williams
2007: The Buffalo and the Indians: A Shared Destiny by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, photographs by William Muñoz
2006: Bear Dancer: The Story of a Ute Girl by Thelma Hatch Wyss
2005: Searching for Chipeta: The Story of a Ute and Her People by Vickie Leigh Krudwig / Old Coyote by Nancy Wood, illustrated by Max Grafe
2004: Enduring Wisdom: Sayings from Native Americans by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, illustrated by Synthia Saint James
2003: Women Artists of the West: Five Portraits in Creativity and Courage by Julie Danneberg
2002: Daniel’s Walk by Miichael Spooner / Mountain Men by Andrew Glass
2001: Clarence Goes Out West and Meets a Purple Horse by Jean Ekman Adams
2000: The Wild Colorado by Richard Maurer
1999: Boss of the Plains by Laurie Carlson, illustrated by Holly Meade
1998: The Serpent’s Tongue edited by Nancy Wood
1997: Bill Pickett, Rodeo-Ridin’ Cowboy by Brian & Andrea D. Pinkney
1996: A Boy Called Slow by Joseph Bruchac
1995: Daily Life in a Covered Wagon by Paul Erickson
1994: I Am Lavina Cumming by Susan Lowell
1993: No award for Children’s Chapter & Picture Books this year
1992: No award for Children’s Chapter & Picture Books this year
1991: Canyons by Gary Paulsen
1990: Bearstone by Will Hobbs
SPIRIT OF THE WEST AWARD
2010: No award this year
2009: No award this year
2008: No award this year
2007: Linda Hogan
2006: Robert Utley
2005: Leslie Marmon Silko
2004: Sandra Cisneros
2003: No award this year
2002: No award this year
2001: Ann Haymond Zwinger
2000: Jim Harrison
1999: Terry Tempest Williams
1998: Rudolfo Anaya
1997: Ivan Doig
1996: Vine Deloria, Jr.
1995: Tony Hillerman
1994: N. Scott Momaday
1993: David Lavender
1992: Frank Waters
1991: No award this year
1990: No award this year
