Past WILLA Award
Winners and Finalists

2007 WILLA Literary Award Winners and Finalists

Contemporary Fiction

WINNER: The Girl from Charnelle by K.L. Cook (HarperCollins)

FINALIST: Quarry by Susan Cummins Miller (Texas Tech University)

FINALIST: Bleeding Hearts by Susan Wittig Albert (Berkley Publishing Group)

Creative Nonfiction

WINNER: Montana Women Writers: Geography of the Heart, Caroline Patterson, Editor with introduction by Sue Hart (Farcountry Press)

FINALIST: At Home in the Vineyard by Susan Sokol Blosser (University of California Press)

FINALIST: Drawing to an Inside Straight: The Legacy of an Absent Father by Jodi Varon (University of Missouri Press)

Scholarly Nonfiction

WINNER: Revolutionary Heart: The Life of Clarina Nichols and the Pioneering Crusade for Women’s Rights by Diane Eickhoff (Quindaro Press)

FINALIST: Touching Tomorrow: The Emily Griffith Story by Debra B. Faulkner (Filter Press)

Historical Fiction

WINNER: The Night Journal by Elizabeth Crook (Viking)

FINALIST: A Clearing in the Wild by Jane Kirkpatrick (WaterBrook/Press/Random House)

FINALIST: Augusta Locke by William Haywood Henderson (Viking)

Poetry

WINNER: To Sing Along the Way: Minnesota Women Poets from Pre-Territorial Days to the Present Connie Wanek, Joyce Sutphen, Thom Tammaro, Editors (New Rivers Press)

FINALIST: Adobe Odes by Pat Mora (University of Arizona Press)

FINALIST: Across the High Divide by Laurie Wagner Buyer (Ghost Road Press)

Original Softcover Fiction (Trade or Mass Market)

WINNER: Hallowed Ground by Lori G. Armstrong (Medallion Press)

FINALIST: Rain of Fire by Linda Jacobs (Medallion Press)

Children’s/Young Adult Fiction & Nonfiction

WINNER: Harvey Girl by Sheila Wood Foard (Texas Tech University Press)

FINALIST: Call Me the Canyon by Ann Howard Creel (Brown Barn Books)

The WILLA Literary Awards, celebrating the finest books published about the Women’s West during 2006, are sponsored by Women Writing the West . Awards and trophies were presented to winners and finalists at the annual conference held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, October 19-21, 2007.

The 2007 WILLA Literary Awards Winners include: back row, K.L. Cook and Lori G. Armstrong; front row, Caroline Patterson, Elizabeth Crook, Thom Tammaro and Sheila Wood Foard

The 2007 WILLA Literary Awards Finalists include, left to right: Debra B. Faulkner, Susan Cummins Miller, William Haywood Henderson, Jane Kirkpatrick, Laurie Wagner Buyer and Ann Howard Creel

 

2006 WILLA Literary Award Winners and Finalists

Contemporary Fiction

WINNER: Sky Bridge: Laura Pritchett, author; Milkweed Editions

FINALIST: Crazy Quilt: Paula Paul, author; University of New Mexico Press

FINALIST: Return to Abo: Sharon Niederman, author; University of New Mexico Press

Historical Fiction

WINNER: New Mercies: Sandra Dallas, author; St. Martin’s Press

FINALIST: Apache Lance, Franciscan Cross: Florence Byham Weinberg, author; Twilight Times Books

FINALIST: Sarah’s Quilt: Nancy E. Turner, author; St. Martin’s Press

Original Softcover Fiction

WINNER: Summer of Fire: Linda Jacobs, author; Medallion Press

FINALIST: Loving Mercy: Teresa Bodwell, author; Kensington Publishing

FINALIST: Loving Miranda: Teresa Bodwell, author; Kensington Publishing

Children’s/Young Adult Fiction and Nonfiction

WINNER: A Heart for Any Fate: Westward to Oregon - 1845: Linda Crew, author; Oregon Historical Society Press

FINALIST: Anna’s Blizzard: Alison Hart, author; Peachtree Publishers

FINALIST: Under A Stand Still Moon: Ann Howard Creel, author; Brown Barn Books

Memoir/Essay

WINNER: The Lady Rode Bucking Horses: Dee Marvine, author; Globe Pequot Press—Two Dot Imprint

FINALIST: Child of Many Rivers: Lucy Fischer-West, author; Texas Tech University Press

FINALIST: If You Lived Here I’d Know Your Name: Heather Lende, author; Algonquin Books

Other Nonfiction

WINNER: Impertinences, Selected Writings of Elia Peattie: Susanne Bloomfield, editor; University of Nebraska Press

FINALIST: Pioneer Doctor: The Story of a Woman’s Work: Mari Graña:, author; Globe-Pequot Press

FINALIST: More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Nevada Women: Jan Cleere, author; Globe-Pequot Press

Poetry

WINNER: Beasts In Snow: Jane Elkington Wohl, author; High Plains Press

FINALIST: Refuge of Whirling Light: Mary Beath, author; University of New Mexico Press

FINALIST: Hill Country & Other Poems: Renee Walker, author; Fixin' To Press

 

2005 WILLA Literary Award Winners and Finalists

Memoir/Essay

WINNER: Into The Canyon: Seven Years In Navajo Country by Lucy Moore
FINALIST: Above The Clearwater: Living On Stolen Land by Bette Lynch Husted
FINALIST: Grace Stone Coates: Her Life In Letters by Lee Rostad

Nonfiction

WINNER: Isabella Greenway: An Enterprising Woman by Kristie Miller
FINALIST: The Quilt That Walked To Golden: Women and Quilts in the Mountain West-From the Overland Trail to Contemporary Colorado by Sandra Dallas
FINALIST: The Montana Frontier: One Woman’s West by Joyce Litz

Contemporary Fiction

WINNER: The Real Minerva: A Novel by Mary Sharratt
FINALIST: Last Lullaby by Denise Hamilton
FINALIST: Useful Girl by Marcus Stevens

Historical Fiction

WINNER: Tombstone Travesty: Allie Earp Remembers by Jane Candia Coleman
FINALIST: Where Heaven Begins by Rosanne Bittner
FINALIST: Four Souls by Louise Erdrich

Children's and Young Adult Fiction and Nonfiction

WINNER: Nothing Here But Stones by Nancy Oswald
FINALIST: E is for Enchantment: A New Mexico Alphabet by Helen Foster James
FINALIST: Justina Ford: Medical Pioneer by Joyce B. Lohse

Original Softcover Fiction

WINNER: Echoes by Erin Grady
FINALIST: Moon In The Water by Elizabeth Grayson
FINALIST: Higher Ground by Gladys Smith

Poetry

WINNER: I am Madagascar by Ellen Waterston
FINALIST: The Northwest Rainforest Pioneers by Claudia Harper
FINALIST: Cowboy Poetry: Turning to Face the Wind by Jane Ambrose Morton

Contemporary Fiction

WINNER: Perma Red, Debra Magpie Earling (Blue Hen/Penguin)
FINALIST: Bad Faith, Aimée and David Thurlo (St. Martin's Minotaur)
FINALIST: No Man Standing, Barbara Seranella (Scribner)

Historical Fiction

WINNER: Enemy Women, Paulette Jiles (William Morrow)
FINALIST: Strength of Stone, Dianne Elliott (Two Dot/Globe Pequot)
FINALIST: The Chili Queen, Sandra Dallas (St. Martin's Press)

Memoir/Essay

WINNER: Breaking Clean, Judy Blunt (Alfred A. Knopf)
FINALIST: Between Grass and Sky, Linda M. Hasselstrom (University of Nevada Press)
FINALIST: When Montana and I Were Young, Margaret Bell; Mary Clear Blew, Editor (University of Nebraska Press)

Nonfiction

WINNER: Mary Colter: Architect of the Southwest, Arnold Berke (Princeton Architectural Press)
FINALIST:  Mary Hallock Foote, Darlis A. Miller (University of Oklahoma Press)
FINALIST: Woman Walking Ahead, Eileen Pollack (University of New Mexico Press)

Original Paperback

WINNER: Small Rocks Rising, Susan Lang (University of Nevada Press)
FINALIST: The Caballeros of Ruby, Texas, Cynthia Leal Massey (Panther Creek Press)
FINALIST: Flight from Fear, Sarah Byrn Rickman (Disc-Us Books)

Poetry

WINNER: Miracles of Sainted Earth, Victoria Edwards Tester (University of New Mexico Press)
FINALIST: The Widow's Burden, Robert Cooperman (Western Reflections)

Children's/Young Adult

WINNER: Circle of Time, Marisa Montes (Harcourt)
FINALIST: Together Apart, Dianne E. Gray (Houghton Mifflin)
FINALIST: Whistler in the Dark, Kathleen Ernst (Pleasant Company Publishers)

2001 WILLA Award Finalists and Winners

Contemporary Fiction

WINNER: The Spirit Woman, Margaret Coel (Berkley)
FINALIST: Smoke Eaters, Christine Andreae (Thomas Dunne Books)
FINALIST: Catching Heaven, Sands Hall (Ballantine)

Historical Fiction

WINNER: For California's Gold, JoAnn Levy (University Press of Colorado)
FINALIST: Alice's Tulips, Sandra Dallas (St. Martin's Press)
FINALIST: Soul of the Sacred Earth, Vella Munn (Tor/Forge)

Best Original Paperback

WINNER: Dead Man Falls, Paula Boyd (Diomo Books)
FINALIST: Painted by the Sun, Eliz abethth Grayson aka Karen Witmer-Gow (Bantam/Random House)
FINALIST: A Rant of Ravens, Christine Goff (Berkley)

Memoir/Essay

WINNER: One Degree West: Reflections of a Plainsdaughter, Julene Bair (Mid List Press)
FINALIST: Scrapbook of a Taos Hippie, Iris Keltz (Cinco Punto Press}
FINALIST: Naming the Winds: A High Plains Apprenticeship, Caroline Marwitz (High Plains Press)

Children's

WINNER: Horned Toad Prince, Jackie Mims Hopkins (Peachtree Publishers)
FINALIST: Ghost Towns: Seven Ghostly Stories, Joan Lowery Nixon (Random House)