2025 Will Rogers Medallion Award Winners Announced

GRASS VALLEY, CA, UNITED STATES, June 3, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Creative works by authors from 25 states and three countries have been named finalists for the 2025 Will Rogers Medallion Awards (WRMA) celebrating excellence in writing about the American West.

Named in honor of American humorist, social commentator and performer Will Rogers the WRMA rankings will be announced with the presentation of gold, silver and bronze medallions during the 2025 awards banquet Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, at the Hard Rock Hotel in Tulsa.

Western Biography/Memoir
Twisting in Air: The Sensational Rise of a Hollywood Falling Horse, Carol Bradley, (Bison Books);
Dances with Fire: Lessons on Life, Faith & Firefighting, Kate Hamberger, (Story Architect Publishing);
Edward S. Curtis, Printing the Legends: Looking at Shadows in a West Lit Only by Fire, Dr. Larry Len Peterson

Western Film – Documentary Long
Legends of the Pony Express, Writer, Rene Brar, Executive Producers, Craig Miller, David Cerullo, Doug Butts and Dale Ardizzone; (INSP);
The Birth and History of Western Swing, Writers, Mike Markwardt, Mark A. Nobles, Cary Ginell and Robert Huston; Executive Producer, Mike Markwardt;
Into the Wild Frontier 402: Jim Beckwourth: The Long Ride, Writer, Steffen Schlachtenhaufen, Indian Land, SC; Executive Producers, Craig Miller, David Cerullo, Doug Butts and Dale Ardizzone, (INSP).

Western Film – Documentary Short
Jefford’s Secret, Writer and Producer, Carol Markstrom
Window to the West: Horse Sense, Featuring Adan Banuelos; Teton Ridge.

Western Film – Drama Feature
Elkhorn 101: The Greenhorn, Writer, John Flanagan, Executive Producers, Craig Miller, David Cerullo, Doug Butts and Dale Ardizzone; (INSP);
Elkhorn 106: The Hunt, Writer, Will Ilgen, Indian Land, SC; Executive Producers, Craig Miller, David Cerullo, Doug Butts and Dale Ardizzone; (INSP);
Reagan, Writer, Howard Klausner, La Mirada, CA; Executive Producer, Mark Joseph, (Rawhide Pictures).


Western Film Drama Short
The Tall Tales of Jim Bridger 109: The Prizefighter, Writers, Paul Epstein and David Schaye, Executive Producers, Craig Miller, David Cerullo, Doug Butts and Dale Ardizzone; (INSP);
Wild West Chronicles 405: Bronco Bill’s Treasure, Writer, Will Ilgen, Indian Land, SC; Executive Producers, Craig Miller, David Cerullo, Doug Butts and Dale Ardizzone; (INSP);
Memoirs of Madame Moustache, Writer and Executive Producer, Manuela Schneider

Western Inspirational
The Big Dry, Patrick Dearen, (TCU Press);
Heidi’s Faith, Jill Dewhurst
The Reluctant Pioneer, Julie McDonald Zander, (St. Helens Press).

Western Mystery
Knife River, Baron Birtcher, (Open Road Media);
First Frost, Craig Johnson, (Viking);
Tooth and Claw, Craig Johnson, (Viking).

Western Photographic Essays
Indian City USA, Dr. Bobbie Chew Bigby and Randy Palmer, (Arcadia Publishing);
The Cavalry Trilogy: John Ford, John Wayne and the Making of Three Classic Westerns, Michael F. Blake, (TwoDot);
Mexico Lindo! Ah, You Have No Eyes: The Making of Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch, John Farkis, (BearManor Media).

Western Romance
Luna, Shanna Hatfield, (Wholesome Hearts Publishing);
Cloaked in Beauty, Karen Witemeyer, (Bethany House);
If the Boot Fits, Karen Witemeyer, (Bethany House).

Western Short Non-Fiction
Love and the Gold Miner, Chris Enss, (Saddlebag Dispatches);
Sarah Royce’s Journey West, Chris Enss, (Saddlebag Dispatches);
The Immortal Life of “80 John,” W.K. Stratton, (Texas Monthly).

Western Fiction Short Stories
“My Friend Tom,” Ben Henry Bailey, (Saddlebag Dispatches);
“Go On,” Jim Jones, (Through Western Storms anthology, Lohman Hills Creative, LLC);
“Windmiller,” Jackson Lowry; (Through Western Storms anthology, Lohman Hills Creative, LLC.)

Cowboy Songwriting
Cowboy Heart, Jim Jones and Deanna McCall, (Jim Jones Music);
On PegLeg’s Trail, Jon Chandler, (Raven Records).

Western Songwriting
Out Here in the Sticks, Carol Markstrom;
Two Wounded Knees, Carol Markstrom;
This Old Barn, Manuela Schneider and Dan Washburn

Western Cookbooks
End of the Trail Eats: Cowboy-Approved Recipes from the Cowtown Cafe to the Saloon, Natalie (TwoDot);
What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking, Caroline Chapman; (Union Square & Co.);
Victorian Recipes with a Side of Scandal, Sherry Monahan, (Otterford Gourmey).

Historical Fiction
Proud Outcast: Days of War, Days of Peace; Chato’s Chiricahua Apache Legacy, Volume Two, W. Michael Farmer, (Hat Creek).
Sunny Gale, A Novel, Jamie Lisa Forbes, (Pronghorn Press);
Nate: The Texas Story, Mark Warren, (Wolfpack).

Modern Fiction
Mary’s Place, Charlotte Hinger, (University of Nebraska Press);
Blue Wild Indigo, James Jennings, (Plum Bay Publishing);
The Broken Truth, Reavis Z. Wortham, (Poisoned Pen Press).

Traditional Fiction
Summer’s Lease, John D. Nesbitt, (Thorndike Press);
Blizzard, Ron Schwab, (Leafcutter Publishing Group, Inc.);
The Journey South, Reavis Z. Wortham, (Pinnacle Kensington Publishing Corp).

Western Non-Fiction
Sandoz Studies, Volume 2: Sandoz and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, edited by Rene’e M. Laegreid, (Bison Books);
A Phantom Storm: Sitting Bull, America, and the Ghost Dance, Norman Ed. Matteoni; (South Dakota Historical Society Press);
Black Robes Enter Coyote’s World: Chief Charlo and Father De Smet in the Rocky Mountains, Sally Thompson, (Bison Books).

Cowboy Poetry – Written
Yonderin’ Tales, Rik “Yonder”, (Yonderin’ Tales Press);
Ranch Call: Original Cowboy Poetry from the Vet Truck and Beyond, Miska Paget, (Windy Whistle Ranch);
Running Iron, Cochise County Corral of the Westerners, Editor, Debora Lewis

Western Poetry – Written
Notes from a Fall, Sally Harper Bates, (Arizona Cowboy Connection);
Tangled Trails: Family, Friends & Folly; Marcella F. “Marci” Broyhill, (Prairie Poet Press);
Etchings, Betty Lynne McCarthy, (Sunlit Silver Bit).

Young Reader/Fiction
The Untamed Sky, Win and Meredith Blevins, (Wise Wolf);
The Horse Who Carries the Stars, Darby Karchut, (Owl Hollow Press);
Jenny Cameron’s Cattle Rustling Catastrophe, Donna Alice Patton, (Lily of the Valley Creations).

Young Reader/Fiction/Illustrated
The Story, Writer, Phil Mills, Jr., Illustrator, Jean Abernethy; (Young Dragons);
Rosie’s Wild Ride, Writer, Paige Murray, Illustrator, Kristen Humphrey; (Zonderkidz);
The Bonedigger’s Daughter: Sara “Sadie” Ellen Felch, Writer Sheryl Peterson, (Filter Press)
The Horse Who Wanted to Fly, Writer, Pamela Kleibrink Thompson, Illustrator, Melissa Bailey; (Firefly Books).

Young Reader/Non-Fiction
Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of the American Indian Boarding Schools, Dan SaSuWeh Jones, (Scholastic);
Pintsized Pioneers: Taming the Frontier, One Chore at a Time, Preston Lewis and Harriet Kocher Lewis, (Bariso Press).

Young Reader/Non-Fiction/Illustrated
Georgia Jipp: Blizzard Pilot, Writer, Laura Beth Dean, Illustrator, Jeanne Bowman, III; (South Dakota Historical Society Press);
The Cows Are Out, Writer, Mary Fichtner, Illustrator, Roslan Fichtner; (Rusty’s Reading Remuda);
Bloomers on Pikes Peak: The Story of Julia Archibald Holmes, Writer, Clarissa Willis,

Chris Enss
Will Rogers Medallion Award
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