The High Plains Book Awards are North American

literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded Literature, literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award c ...

s for literature about the High Plains region of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Description

The awards go to books that highlight the experience and landscape of the High Plains region of the US and Canada. Books are eligible for nomination if the book is newly published that year and the authors are living and publishing in or about the region. Billings Public Library presents and administers the awards. The awards defines the High Plains region as the states of

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, and

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, and the

Canadian Province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

s of

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. Thirteen categories have one winner each. The 2021 winners received and a commemorative plaque, for a total of in prize money.

History

In 2006 the

Billings, Montana Billings is the most populous Lists of populated places in the United States, city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, i ...

Billings Public Library Board of Trustees established the High Plains Book Awards. Board Chair Lloyd Mickelson led the effort to recognize works that were evocative of the High Plains landscape. The first awards were in 2007. Parmly Billings Library administered and hosted the awards. The first awards ceremony was at Parmly as a kick off event to the fifth annual High Plains BookFest in October 2007. The original categories were Emeritus Award for best body of work by an author or team of authors, Best Book Award for fiction, non-fiction, or poetry published the previous year, and Best First Book Award for a work published in the previous year by a first-time author. Larry Watson received the inaugural Emeritus Award for his body of work in 2007. During the sixth High Plains Book Awards in 2013, 60% of nominated works were by women, the first instance where more women's works were nominated than men's. 164 books published in 2012 were nominated in 9 categories: best fiction, nonfiction, poetry, first book, woman writer, art and photography, short stories, culinary, and young adult. The 2017 awards debuted the Native American Author category, sponsored by

Montana State University Billings Montana State University Billings (or MSU Billings) is a public university in Billings, Montana, United States. It is the state's third largest university. Its campus is located on 110 acres in downtown Billings. Formerly Eastern Montana Normal ...

Library. The awards became a tax exempt organization in September 2017.

References

External links

*
High Plains Book Awards LibGuide from Montana State University Billings

High Plains Book Awards
on

LibraryThing LibraryThing is a social cataloging web application for storing and sharing book catalogs and various types of book metadata. It is used by authors, individuals, libraries, and publishers. Based in Portland, Maine, LibraryThing was developed b ...

Awards established in 2006 English-language literary awards North American literary awards Non-profit organizations based in Montana 2006 establishments in Montana {{Lit-award-stub

Description

History

Archives

See also

References

Further reading

External links