This is a list of the works of fiction which have won the
Spur Award for Best Novel of the West:
* 1953 - Best Historical Novel: "The Wheel and the Hearth" by Lucia Moore
* 1954 - Best Historical Novel: "Journey by the River" by John Prescott
* 1955 - No Award given
* 1956 - Best Historical Novel: "Generations of Men" by John Clinton Hunt
* 1957 - Best Historical Novel: "Silver Mountain" by Dan Cushman
* 1958 - Best Historical Novel: "The Fancher Train" by Amelia Bean
* 1959 - Best Historical Novel: "The Buffalo Soldier" by
John Prebble
John Edward Curtis Prebble, FRSL, OBE, (23 June 1915 – 30 January 2001) was an English journalist, novelist, and screenwriter. He is known for his studies of Scottish history.
Early life
He was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, England, but in 1921 ...
* 1960 - Best Historical Novel: "From Where the Sun Now Stands" by
Will Henry
* 1961 - Best Historical Novel: "The Winter War" by
William Wister Haines
William Wister Haines (September 17, 1908 – November 18, 1989) was an American author, screenwriter, and playwright. His most notable work, ''Command Decision'', was published as a novel, play, and screenplay following World War II.
Pers ...
* 1962 - Best Historical Novel: "Moontrap" by
Don Berry
* 1963 - Best Historical Novel: "Gates of the Mountains" by Will Henry (2)
* 1964 - Best Historical Novel: "Indian Fighter" by F.F. Halloran
* 1965 - Best Historical Novel: (tied) "Gold in California" by
Todhunter Ballard
Willis Todhunter Ballard (December 13, 1903 – December 27, 1980) was an American writer, known for his Westerns and mystery novels.
Pseudonyms
Ballard was a prolific pulp writer, most notably for the legendary mystery magazine '' Black Mask'' ...
& "Mountain Man" by
Vardis Fisher
* 1966 - Best Historical Novel: "Hellfire Jackson" by
Garland Roark & Charles Thomas
* 1967 - Best Historical Novel: "The Wolf is My Brother by
Chad Oliver
Symmes Chadwick Oliver (30 March 1928 – 9 August 1993) was an American anthropologist and science fiction and Western writer. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father was a surgeon and his mother a nurse. When he was young he suffered from ...
* 1968 - Best Historical Novel: "The Red Sabbath" by
Lewis B. Patten
* 1969 - Best Historical Novel: "The White Man's Road" by Benjamin Capps
* 1970-71 No Award given
* 1972 - Best Historical Novel: "Chiricahua" by Will Henry (3)
* 1973-75 No Award given
* 1976 - Best Historical Novel: "The Kincaids" by
Matt Braun
* 1977 - Best Historical Novel: "Swimming Man Burning" by Terrence Kilpatrick
* 1978-80 No Award given
* 1981 - Best Historical Novel: "Aces and Eights" by
Loren D. Estleman
* 1982 - Best Historical Novel:
Ride the Wind by
Lucia St. Clair Robson
* 1983 - Best Historical Novel: "Sam Bass" by Bryan Woolley
* 1984 - Best Historical Novel: "Gone the Dreams and Dancing" by
Douglas C. Jones
* 1985 - Best Historical Novel: "The Snowblind Moon" by
John Byrne Cooke
John Byrne Cooke (October 5, 1940 – September 3, 2017) was an American author, musician, and photographer. He was the son of Alistair Cooke, and the great-grandnephew of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
In the 1960s he played with the Bluegrass mus ...
* 1986 - Best Historical Novel: "Roman" by Douglas C. Jones (2)
* 1987 - Best Historical Novel: "Wanderer Springs" by
Robert Flynn
* 1988 - Best Novel of The West: "The Homesman" by
Glendon Swarthout
* 1989 - Best Novel of The West: "Panther In The Sky" by
James Alexander Thom
* 1990 - Best Novel of The West: "Home Mountain" by Jeanne Williams
* 1991 - Best Novel of The West: "The Medicine Horn" by Jory Sherman
* 1992 - Best Novel of The West: "Slaughter" by
Elmer Kelton
Elmer Stephen Kelton (April 29, 1926Kelton, Elmer (2007). - ''Sandhills Boy: The Winding Trail of a Texas Writer''. - New York, New York: Forge. - p.26. - . – August 22, 2009) was an American journalist and writer, known particularly for hi ...
* 1993 - Best Novel of The West: "Empire of Bones" by
Jeff Long
* 1994 - Best Novel of The West: "The Far Canyon" by Elmer Kelton (2)
* 1995 - Best Novel of The West: "Stone Song: A Novel of The Life of Crazy Horse" by Win Blevins
* 1996 - Best Novel of The West: "Sierra" by
Richard S. Wheeler
* 1997:
W.W.A. changed the time-frame from 'year published' to 'year award presented'
* 1998 - Best Novel of The West: "
Comanche Moon" by
Larry McMurtry
Larry Jeff McMurtry (June 3, 1936March 25, 2021) was an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work was predominantly set in either the Old West or contemporary Texas.
* 1999 - Best Novel of The West: "The All-True Travels and Adventures of Liddie Newton" by
Jane Smiley
Jane Smiley (born September 26, 1949) is an American novelist. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992 for her novel ''A Thousand Acres'' (1991).
Biography
Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a s ...
* 2000 - Best Novel of The West: "Prophet Annie" by Ellen Recknor
* 2001 - Best Novel of The West: "The Gates of The Alamo" by
Stephen Harrigan
* 2002 - Best Novel of The West: "The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint" by
Brady Udall
* 2003 - Best Novel of The West: "Perma Red" by
Debra Magpie Earling
* 2004 - Best Novel of The West: "So Wild A Dream" by Win Blevins (2)
* 2005 - Best Novel of The West: "People of The Raven" by
Kathleen O'Neal Gear and
W. Michael Gear
* 2006 - Best Novel of The West: "High Country: A Novel" by Willard Wyman (which also won for
Best First Novel)
* 2007 - Best Western Long Novel: "The Night Journal" by Elizabeth Crook
* 2008 - Best Western Long Novel: "
The God of Animals" By
Aryn Kyle
* 2009 - Best Western Long Novel: "Shavetail" by
Thomas Cobb
* 2010 - Best Western Long Novel: "Echoes of Glory" by Robert Flynn (2)
* only five 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
American literary awards