"Django Unchained" among National Cowboy Museum's 2013 Western Heritage Award winners
Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar-winning slave saga “Django Unchained,” Ken Burn’s documentary about “The Dust Bowl” and Kevin Costner’s miniseries about the feuding “Hatfields and McCoys” are among the winners of this year’s Wrangler Awards.
America’s premier Western museum, the Oklahoma City-based National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, marked today its 52nd anniversary with the announcement of the Western Heritage Award winners in literature, music, film and television. The awards will be presented April 20 and reflect the significant stories of the American West, according to a news release.
Each honoree receives a Wrangler, an impressive bronze sculpture of a cowboy on horseback. This year’s Wranglers are presented for works completed in 2012. Qualified professionals, outside of museum staff, judge all categories:
Literary Awards
There are seven categories in the literary competition. They include Western novel, nonfiction book, art book, photography book, juvenile book, magazine article and poetry book:
The Outstanding Western Novel is “Unbroke Horses” by D.B. Jackson, published by Goldminds Publishing. Three Civil War deserters, dispossessed of all virtue, kidnap a young boy with the purpose of conscripting him into their degenerate band of misfits. Tethered about the neck with a rawhide lace, the boy’s survival depends upon his ability to adapt to their malevolent ways. His life, cast into darkness and evil, promises no chance for salvation. His single opportunity for redemption may lie with an old Indian horse trainer and a small band of “unbroke” horses.
Robert M. Utley wins the Wrangler for Outstanding Nonfiction Book for “Geronimo,” published by Yale University Press. A thoroughly researched biography by a renowned historian of the American West, Utley strips away the myths and rumors that have long obscured the real Geronimo and presents an authentic portrait of a man with unique strength and weaknesses and a destiny that swept him into the fierce storms of history.
“Bob Kuhn: Drawing on Instinct,” edited by Adam Duncan Harris, is named the Outstanding Art Book. Published by the University of Oklahoma Press, the book was created by the National Museum of Wildlife Art to accompany an exhibit of the same name. Wildlife artist Robert Kuhn (1920–2007) spent a lifetime sketching and painting animals and generously mentoring other artists. This book offers a compelling blend of the artist’s finished paintings and finest sketches along with various perspectives on the artist’s career. The lavishly illustrated volume is sure to further establish Bob Kuhn’s place in the pantheon of late-20th-century American artists.
Rich Clarkson and James C. McNutt collaborated with National Geographic photo editors on “National Geographic Greatest Photographs of the American West,” earning them the Western Heritage Award for Outstanding Photography Book, published by National Geographic Books. Divided into four chapters—”Legends,” “Encounters,” “Boundaries” and “Visions”—renowned National Geographic photography, past and present, brings the magic and the mystery of the American West alive through the best of its collection.
“The Quilt Walk,” written by Sandra Dallas, is the Outstanding Juvenile Book. The novel, published by Sleeping Bear Press, is a story based in 1864. Emily Blue Hatchett has been told by her father that, come spring, their family will leave their farm, family and friends in Illinois and travel to their new home in Colorado. When Emmy’s grandmother comes to say goodbye, she gives Emmy a special gift, something to occupy her time along the trip. The journey by wagon trail is long and full of hardships, and Emmy’s experiences along the way bring the period of westward expansion, as well as issues facing women, to life for young readers.
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