How many of these 'Spur Award' winners have you had the chance to read?

On June 14, I wrote about three “best of” lists called the “17 Best Western Movies,” “IGN’s Top 25 Westerns of All Time” and “AMC’s Greatest Westerns.” Not long after that post, someone told me that if I like Westerns, I should check out the winners of the annual Spur Awards, which are given annually by the Western Writers of America.

According to their Web site, the WWA established the Spur Awards in 1953 to recognize “distinguished writing about the American West.” Spur Awards are currently given in 17 categories, including Best Western Novel (Short Novel), Best Novel of the West (Long Novel), Best Original Paperback Novel, Best First Novel, Best Biography and Best History. Past winners include “Lonesome Dove” by Larry McMurtry and “Dances With Wolves” by Michael Blake.

As chance would have it, the WWA named is 2013 Spur Award winners during the WWA’s annual convention June 24-28 in Las Vegas. What follows is a complete list of this year’s winners:

Best Western Short Novel – “Tucker’s Reckoning” by Matthew Mayo (The other finalists in this category included “Lonesome Animals” by Bruce Holbert and “City of Rocks” by Michael Zimmer.)

Best Western Long Novel – “With Blood in Their Eyes” by Thomas Cobb (The other finalists in this category were “The Orchardist” by Amandan Coplin and “Country of the Bad Wolfes” by James Carlos Blake.)

Best Original Mass Market Paperback – “The Coyote Tracker” by Larry Sweazy (Other finalists in this category included “Redemption: Hunters” by James Reasoner and “The Secret of Lodestar” by Tim Champlin.)

Best First Novel – “Panhandle” by Brett Cogburn (Other finalists in this category included “Wide Open” by Larry Bjornson and “The Orchardist” by Amanda Coplin.)

Best Western Nonfiction Biography – “Geronimo” by Robert M. Utley

Best Western Nonfiction Historical – “With Golden Visions Bright Before Them: Trails to the Mining West, 1849-1852” by Will Bagley

Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary – “Desert Reckoning: A Town Sheriff, A Mojave Hermit and the Biggest Manhunt in Modern California History” by Deanne Stillman

Best Western Short Fiction Story – “The Hog Whisperer” by John Mort

Best Western Short Nonfiction – “Marathoner Louis Tewanima and the Continuity of Hopi Running, 1908-1912” by Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

Best Western Juvenile Fiction – “Wide Open” by Larry Bjornson

Best Western Juvenile Nonfiction – “Light on the Prairie: Solomon D. Butcher, Photographer of Nebraska’s Pioneer Days” by Nancy Plain

Storyteller Award – “Pecos Bill Invents the Ten-Gallon Hat” by Kevin Strauss and illustrated by David Harrington

Best Western Drama Script (Fiction) – “Django Unchained” by Quentin Tarantino

Best Western Documentary Script (Nonfiction) – “The Dust Bowl” by Dayton Duncan

Best Western Poem – “Johnny Ringo” by Red Shuttleworth

Best Western Audiobook – “Ring of Fire” by Cotton Smith

Best Western Song (tie) – “Texas Is Burnin’” by Jim Jones and “Any Name Will Do” by Mary Kaye

For more information about these award winners, this year’s other finalists, past winners and the WWA, visit the WWA’s official Web site at www.westernwriters.org.

In the end, how many of the books mentioned above have you had the chance to read? What did you think about them? Which did you like or dislike? Let us know in the comments section below.