The latest winner of the Spur Award for Best Debut Western Novel is featured below along with a complete list of all past winners of the Spur Award for Best Debut Novel. The Award was called the Pipe Bearer Award for a number of years, but that name seems to have been dropped. We also provide links to the other Spur Awards and to our index of all book awards featured on Happy Dead Trees.

"The Spur Awards, given annually for distinguished writing about the American West are among the oldest and most prestigious in American literature."

The latest winners of the Spur Award for Best Debut Western Novel

2009 - God's Thunderbolt: The Vigilantes of Montana by Carol A. Buchanan  [2010 winner will announced Spring 2010] 

All past winners of the Spur Award for Best Debut Western Novel

1979 - Thirsty by Andrew Dequaisie

1980 - No Award Given

1981 - Ride Down the Wind by Wayne Barton

1982 - Carry the Wind by Terry C. Johnston

1983 - No Award

1984 - Winterkill by Craig Leslie

1985 - The Snowblind Moon by John Byrne Cook

1986 - Come Spring by Charlotte Hinger

1987 - Jenny's Mountain by Elaine Long

1988 - Spirit of the Hills by Dan O'Brien

1989 - South Texas by Ann Gabriel

1990 - Caesar of Santa Fe by Tim MacCurdy

1991 - The Sixth Rider by Max McCoy

1992 - John Stone and the Choctaw Kid by Wayne Davis

1993 - People of the Whistling Waters by Mardi Oakley

1994 - St. Agnes' Stand by Tom Eidson

1995 - Thunder in the Valley by Jim R. Woolard

1996 - Death of a Healing Woman by Allana Martin

1997 - Seems to skip a year because the awards are now dated by the year a book wins, rather than the year it was published.

1998 - Keepers of the Earth by LaVerna Harrell

1999 - The Spanish Peaks by Jon Chandler

2000 - Mine Work by Jim Davidson

2001 - The Chivalry of Crime by Desmond Barry

2002 - Corps of Discovery by Jeffrey W. Tenney

2003 - No Award

2004 - The Sergeant's Lady by Miles Hood Swarthout

2005 - Field of Honor by D. L. Birchfield

2006 - High Country by Willard Wyman

2007 - Broken Trail by Alan Geoffrion

2008 - The Night Birds by Thomas Maltman

2009 - God's Thunderbolt: The Vigilantes of Montana by Carol A. Buchanan

2010 - Will be announced Spring 2010

Spur Award for Western Writing Nonfiction Biography > > >

The Official Website of the Western Writers of America Spur Awards > > >

(Visit our Book Awards Index for a complete list of the dozens of book awards listed on Happy Dead Trees.)