Western Literature Association Awards

Monday, June 14th, 2010

 

Distinguished Achievement Award: for an influential scholar in the field of western American literature (creative writer or critic)

Delbert and Edith Wylder Award: for exceptional service to the Western Literature Association by a longtime member

Thomas J. Lyon Book Award: named after a former editor of Western American Literature, this award goes to an outstanding monograph in western literary or cultural studies

Don D. Walker Prize: given to the best journal essay or book chapter from an edited collection on the literature and culture of the North American West, published during the previous year

J. Golden Taylor Award: named after the first editor of Western American Literature, this award goes to the graduate student who submitted the best paper to the annual conference

Dorys Crow Grover Awards: given to two outstanding papers that meet the criteria of each year’s conference and are submitted by graduate students

Creative Writing Award: this award goes to the best creative writing submission at the annual conference

Susan J. Rosowski Award: named after a longtime WLA member, this award goes to a generous and caring mentor and teacher in the field of western American literary studies

Louis Owens Awards: provide financial support for diverse and international graduate students to attend the annual WLA conference

WLA/Charles Redd Center K–12 Teaching Award: provides teachers with the opportunity to attend and present at the WLA Conference; sponsored by the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies and the WLA

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Composition of Award Committees

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WLA’s Distinguished Achievement Award

Monday, June 14th, 2010

 

The WLA’s Distinguished Achievement Award Recipients

Year	Recipient(s)
2022	Luci Tapahonso
2021	No award was given due to rescheduling of the conference to 2022.
2020	Juan Felipe Herrera
2020	Stephen Graham Jones
2019	Leslie Marmon Silko
2018	Percival Everett & José E. Limón
2017	Rick Shiomi
2016	Maxine Hong Kingston
2015	LeAnne Howe & Robert Laxalt
2014	Connie Kaldor
2013	Robert Hass & Louis Owens
2012	Richard Slotkin & Joss Whedon
2011	Thomas McGuane
2010	Luis Valdez
2009	Cormac McCarthy
2008	William Kittredge and Patty Limerick
2007	Sherman Alexie
2006	Terry Tempest Williams
2005	Gerald Vizenor and Joan Didion
2004	Mary Clearman Blew and Thomas King
2003	Sandra Cisneros and José David Saldívar, Ramón Saldívar, and Sonia Saldívar-Hull
2002	Annette Kolodny and Alberto A. Ríos
2001	Patricia Hampl and Roderick Nash
2000	Joy Harjo
1999	James D. Houston and Gerald Haslam
1998	Rudy Wiebe
1997	Rudolfo Anaya
1996	Tillie Olsen
1995	Robert Kroetsch
1994	James Maguire, Wayne Chatterton, and James Welch
1993	Tony Hillerman
1992	Louise Erdrich
1991	Ann Zwinger
1990	Elmer Kelton
1989	Ivan Doig and Mildred R. Bennett
1988	Ken Kesey and Max Westbrook
1987	Larry McMurtry and Thomas J. Lyon
1986	Benjamin Capps and Don D. Walker
1985	Américo Paredes and William Eastlake
1984	Gary Snyder
1983	N. Scott Momaday
1982	Thomas Hornsby Ferril
1981	Dorothy Johnson
1980	Sophus Keith Winther and Bernice Slote
1979	Wright Morris
1978	Edward Abbey
1977	Thomas McGrath
1976	William Stafford
1975	Jack Schaefer
1974	Wallace Stegner and J. Golden Taylor
1973	Paul Horgan
1972	A. B. Guthrie, Jr.
1971	Harvey Fergusson and John G. Neihardt
1970	Henry Nash Smith
1969	Walter Van Tilburg Clark
1968	Frank Waters
1967	Frederick Manfred
1966	Vardis Fisher

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WLA’s Delbert and Edith Wylder Award for Exceptional Service to the WLA

Monday, June 14th, 2010

 

Instituted in 1993 and named for a WLA president and two founding members of the association, this award goes to a longtime WLA member for exceptional contributions to the association.

Delbert Wylder was not just a WLA president and founding member of the WLA, but a lifelong contributor to all things WLA, who kept in touch personally with many of the early members. At his memorial, he was described as follows: “Family, friends, books, and wine: these were the four elements of Delbert Wylder. Put them together and you get The Quintessential Deb, a charming, occasionally eccentric combination of humor, warmth, and high spirits.” Deb Wylder himself described his wife, Edith, as “such a pleasure to live with every day” (communication with Dorys Grover, 2000).

In order to nominate someone for the Wylder award, please collaborate with WLA colleagues and solicit at least three detailed letters of support, from students, WLA members, or anyone else who seems appropriate. They can be submitted together or separately to the WLA Awards Coordinator/s. The Awards Coordinator/s will submit the nominations to the Past Presidents and current presidential line, who will make the decision.

Members who have previously won the award will not be considered for a second nomination.

Please send nominations to our Awards Coordinator, Anne Kaufman.

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Recipients of the Delbert and Edith Wylder Award for Exceptional Service to the WLA

Year	Recipient
2022	Krista Comer
2021	Due to covid-related rescheduling of the 2021 conference, no award was given.
2020	Nicolas S. Witschi
2019	Susan Kollin
2018	Tom Lynch
2017	Sara Spurgeon
2016	Susan Naramore Maher
2015	Nancy S. Cook
2014	William R. Handley
2013	Melody Graulich
2012	Susanne George Bloomfield
2011	Ann Putnam
2010	Judy Nolte Temple
2009	Charles Crow
2008	Martin Bucco
2007	Laurie Ricou
2006	Phyllis Doughman
2005	Gerald Haslam
2004	Melody Graulich
2003	Robert Thacker
2002	Stephen Tatum
2001	Susan J. Rosowski
2000	James C. Work
1999	Ann Ronald
1998	Barbara Meldrum
1997	Jim Maguire
1996	Thomas J. Lyon
1995	Glen A. Love
1994	George F. Day
1993	Helen Stauffer

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Don D. Walker Prize

Monday, June 14th, 2010

The Don D. Walker Prize is given annually to the best journal essay or book chapter from an edited collection on the literature and culture of the North American West, published during the previous calendar year (for example, the 2023 winner will have published an essay in 2022). “Western” in this context is defined broadly and refers to all of North America that historically or critically has been considered “West” as well as to comparative studies of the American West that cross regional or national boundaries.

Nominations are solicited from presses and journals, as well as from individuals. Self-nominations are accepted. The prize selection committee is made up of Western Literature Association members.

The award will be given at the annual Western Literature Association conference. 

It is not necessary to be a member of the association to win the award.

Please submit the essay or article you wish to nominate (preferably by electronic attachment) to the committee chair, Emily Lutenski.

In the event of print submission, please send 5 copies to

Emily Lutenski
Walker Prize Chair
Saint Louis University
Adorjan Hall
3800 Lindell Blvd 131
St Louis MO 63108

Deadline for nominations: June 1, 2023.

If you have any questions, please email Dr. Emily Lutenski directly.

Don D. Walker Prize Recipients

Year	Recipent(s)
2022	Krista Comer for “Staying with the White Trouble of Recent Feminist Westerns,” Western American Literature 56.2
2021	Joshua Smith for “Uncle Tom’s Cabin Showdown: Stowe, Tarantino, and the Minstrelsy of the Weird West,” in Weird Westerns: Race, Gender, Genre , ed. by Kerry Fine, Michael Johnson, Rebecca Lush and Sara Spurgeon
2020	Emily Lutenski for "Dickens Disappeared: Black Los Angeles and the Borderlands of Racial Memory," American Studies
2019	Marcel Brousseau for "Allotment Knowledges: Grid Spaces, Home Places, and Storyscapes on the Way to Rainy Mountain, " Native American and Indigenous Studies
2018	Jessica Hurley for "Impossible Futures: Fictions of Risk in the Longue Durée," American Literature
2017	Christopher Pexa
2016	Lori Harrison-Kahan and Karen E. H. Skinazi
2015	Joanna Hearne
2014	Jayson Gonzales Sae-Saue
2013	Kay Yandell
2012	Kirby Brown
2011	Chadwick Allen
2010	Hsuan L. Hsu
2009	Mark Rifkin
2008	Chadwick Allen
2007	Stephen Tatum
2006	Janet Dean
2005	Susan Bernardin
2004	Stephanie LeMenager
2003	Susan Scheckel
2002	Victoria Lamont
2001	Susan Kollin
2000	Chadwick Allen
1999	Krista Comer
1998	Forrest Robinson
1997	Gary Scharnhorst
1996	Susan K. Bernardin
1995	Stephen Tatum
1994	Susan Lee Johnson
1993	Annette Kolodny
1992	Roxanne Rimstead
1991	Glen A. Love
1990	Lee Clark Mitchell
1987	Roger Stein
1986	Margery Fee
1985	William Lemon
1984	Melody Graulich
1983	Robert Roripaugh
1982	Richard Slotkin
1981	Anthony Hunt
1980	Forrest G. Robinson
1979	Jarold Ramsey

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The J. Golden Taylor Award

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Named in honor of the first editor of Western American Literature, and also one of the Western Literature Association’s founders and presidents, the Taylor Award is a prestigious award juried by a team of experts in the field and given annually to a work of scholarship submitted by a graduate student for the annual conference. Creative work is not considered for the Taylor; however, creative work may be submitted to the association’s Creative Writing Award, and graduate student participants have been successful in winning that in the past (see Creative Writing Award).

To be considered for the Taylor Award, submit a complete, conference-length paper (not exceeding 15 pages) that you will be presenting at the conference with a cover letter indicating that you wish to be considered for the Taylor Award.

Email your submission to Bill Handley, chair of the Taylor Judging Committee with the subject line “TAYLOR AWARD SUBMISSION.”

Deadline for submission: August 1, 2023.

The award consists of a $200 cash prize plus a banquet ticket.

The award will be given during the conference banquet. 

Note: To be eligible for this award, you must be registered as a graduate student at the time of the awards ceremony. 

The award can only be received once. 

The J. Golden Taylor Award Recipients

Year	Recipient	Affiliation
2022	Bowen Du	UC Davis
2021	Meagan Meylor	University of Southern California
2020	Surabhi Balachander	University of Michigan
2019	Amanda Monteleone	University of Texas at Arlington
2018	Travis Franks	Arizona State University
2017	Elena Valdez	Rice University
2016	Jada Ach	University of South Carolina
2015	Jenna Hunnef	University of Toronto
2014	Aubrey Streit Krug	University of Nebraska, Lincoln
2013	Heather Dundas	University of Southern California
2012	Sylvan Goldberg	Stanford University
2011	Christopher Muniz	University of Southern California
2010	Alex Young	University of Southern California
2009	Joshuah O'Brien	West Texas A&M
2008	Matthew J. Lavin	University of Iowa
2007	Patrick Gleason	University of California, San Diego
2006	Angela Waldie	University of Calgary
2005	John Gamber	Univ. of California, Santa Barbara
2004	Ianina Arnold	University of Idaho
2003	Matt Burkhart	University of Arizona
2002	Laurie Clements Lambeth	University of Houston
2001	Virginia Kennedy	Montclair State University
2000	Jenny Emery Davidson	University of Utah
1999	Jenny Emery Davidson	University of Utah
1998	Anne L. Kaufman
1997	Jonathan Pitts	SUNY-Buffalo
1996	Wes Mantooth
1995	Phil Coleman-Hull
1994	David Mazel
1993	Evelyn I. Funda	Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln
1989	Nat Lewis
1988	Nancy Cook	SUNY-Buffalo
1987	Cheryll Burgess Glotfelty	Cornell University
1986	Linda A. Hughson-Ross
1984	Anne K. Phillips

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Creative Writing Award

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Instituted in 2001, the Creative Writing Award celebrates the creative writers among our members.

You can submit poetry, short story, memoir, or other creative nonfiction. Please submit the piece that you are planning on reading at the conference (in other words, this is your conference paper).

The award comes with a small stipend.

To be eligible for the award, a piece cannot have been accepted for publication in any form by the submission deadline. 

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SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

— You must be a WLA member.

— You must include a statement that your submission has not been accepted for publication at this time.

— Please submit your entry in full length (no longer than 10 double-spaced pages) to info@westernlit.org with the subject heading “CREATIVE WRITING AWARD SUBMISSION” by August 1, 2023.

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Judging Committee:

TBA

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Recipients of the Creative Writing Award

Year	Recipient	Piece
2022	Lawrence Coates	“A Great Man among His People”
2021	Melody Graulich	"The Magpie"
2020	Raul B. Moreno	"Sleepier Than Me"
2019	Joshua Dolezal	"Darkness and Light"
2018	Sydney Thompson	"Thataway"
2017	Cheyenne Marco	"Water Signs"
2016	Erin Flanagan	"The Rule of Threes"
2015	Michael Branch	"Dark Cliffy Spot: Naming a Place, Placing a Name"
2014	Lisa Knopp	"Groundwork"
2013	No prize was awarded.
2012	David Thacker	"The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness and Other Poems"
2011	Doreen Pfost	"Trailing Consequences"
2010	Liz Stephens	"Ten Years I'll Never Get Back"
2009	Denice Turner	"Shadow Legacy"
2008	J. J. Clark	“As Is”
2007	Joshua Dolezal	“Selway by Headlamp”
2006	Russ Beck	“When I Believe in Faith”
2004	Terre Ryan	“In the Name of the Bomb: Confessions of a Cold War Catholic Kid”
2003	Laurie Clements Lambeth	“Fluid on the Brain”
2002	Michael L. Johnson	“Southwestern Afllatus”
2001	Lee Ann Roripaugh	“‘Mitten Springs’ and Other Poems Searching for Home: Japanese Americans in the American West”

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The Susan J. Rosowski Award

Monday, June 14th, 2010

 

This award was instituted by the WLA Executive Council in 2005 and was given for the first time at the 2006 WLA Conference in Boise. It is awarded every other year (in even years).

The Susan J. Rosowski Award recipients

Year	Recipient
2020	No award was given.
2018	No award was given.
2016	William R. Handley
2014	Evelyn I. Funda
2012	Melody Graulich and Annette Kolodny
2010	Cheryll Glotfelty
2008	Susan Naramore Maher
2006	James H. Maguire

Susan Rosowski (1942–2004), long-time WLA member and University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Adele Hall University Professor, epitomized what it means to be a generous and caring mentor and teacher. While her service to the Association and to Cather studies on a national level was exemplary and her scholarship (The Voyage Perilous [1986] and Birthing a Nation [1999]) was singular and remains widely used, Sue is best remembered as a teacher and mentor of unparalleled quality.

THE NEXT AWARD WILL BE GIVEN IN 2022. 

Nominating Procedure:

In order to nominate someone for the Rosowski Award, please collaborate with WLA colleagues and solicit at least five separate letters of support, from students, WLA members, or anyone else who seems appropriate. Letters should address the nominee’s long-standing support of WLA members, as well as graduate students. They might address service in WLA that benefits graduate students; evidence of mentoring younger colleagues; information about support letters written; number of students who have become involved in WLA’s curriculum development; pedagogical publications, etc. Please submit materials in one packet to the WLA Awards Coordinators, who will keep track of the files.

Once nominated, the candidate remains in the pool of nominees for two award cycles. However, members who were nominated prior to the previous award cycle may be re-nominated. Members who have previously won the award will not be considered for a second nomination.

Nominations or questions about the award may be addressed via email to Anne Kaufman, Awards Coordinator.

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The Louis Owens Awards for Graduate Student Presenters at WLA Conferences

Monday, June 14th, 2010

The WLA honors the great writer and scholar Louis Owens for his contributions to western American and American Indian literary studies and for his unfailing generosity as a colleague, teacher, and mentor. The goal of the Louis Owens Awards is to build for the future of the Western Literature Association by modeling Owens’ own support and encouragement of diverse graduate student engagement in western literature and culture studies.

The Owens Awards are intended to foster ever-greater diversity within the WLA membership, to help broaden the field of western American literary studies, and to recognize both graduate student scholarship and financial need. Since its inception in 2004 through an anonymous donation and with the help of yearly donations from our members, 32 scholarships have been awarded so far.

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PLEASE HELP US KEEP THIS AWARD GOING AND DONATE TODAY:

THANK YOU!

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The monetary amount of this year’s scholarships: TBA.

If you are interested in applying for this award, submit a paper proposal for participation in the conference. If your paper is accepted, you can then submit the award application materials via Google Forms: https://forms.gle/VBuUzkRenhj72HHz5.

Application deadline: August 1, 2023

If you are awarded one of the Owens stipends, you are expected to attend most of the conference. Please see conference details for the 2023 WLA Conference. 

If you have any questions regarding the Owens Awards, please contact  Prof. Lydia Heberling, Chair of the Owens Committee.

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PREVIOUS WINNERS:

Originally named the Minority Student Award

2004:  JOSHUA SMITH, University of Southern California

2005:  JESSICA BREMMER, University of Southern California

    ANDREA DOMINGUEZ, University of Arizona

Renamed Louis Owens Award/s

2006: ELIXABETE ANSA-GOICOECHEA, Indiana University

    JENNIFER CLARK, University of Southern California

2007: NAVEED REHAN, University of Alberta

2008: JESSICA BREMMER, University of Southern California

2009: CAROLE JUGE, Université Paris, Sorbonne

    JAMES E. MURRAY, University of South Dakota

2010: ELISA BORDIN, University of Verona

   STEPHEN SIPERSTEIN, University of Southern California

2011: JOHANNES FEHRLE, University Freiburg, Germany

2012: CHRISTOPHER MUNIZ, University of Southern California

   AUBREY STREIT KRUG, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

2013: RENATA GOMES, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil

   JASMINE JOHNSON, University of British Columbia

2014: JANE WONG, University of Washington

2015: SHANE JOSEPH WILLIS FRANKIEWICZ, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany

   LORENA GAUTHEREAU, Rice University

   JULIE WILLIAMS, University of New Mexico

2016: MIKA KENNEDY, University of Michigan

   MARIA MACKAS, Georgia State University

   HO’ESTA MO’E’HAHNE, University of Southern California

2017: LAURA DE VOS, University of Washington

           NADHIA GREWAL, Goldsmiths University of London, UK

2018: LYDIA HEBERLING, University of Washington-Seattle

           TISHA REICHLE, University of Southern California

           BERNADETTE RUSSO, Texas Tech University

2019: MARIA ALBERTO, University of Utah

           SURABHI BALACHANDER, University of Michigan

2020: No awards were given.

2021: No awards were given.

2022: TACEY ATSITTY, Florida State University

           DOMINIC DONGILLI, Goldsmiths University of London

           LAUREN WHITE, University of Southern California

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FEATURE OF PREVIOUS WINNER:

Note: Our 2018 award recipient, Lydia Heberling, is this year’s award committee chair! She is now an assistant professor at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in the Department of Ethnic Studies.

Meet one of our Owens Recipients: Lydia Heberling (2018)

The Western Literature Association is truly one of the most welcoming professional organizations for graduate students entering the field of Western literary studies. WLA faculty are generous with their mentorship, feedback, and encouragement, and the graduate student cohort is deeply collaborative and supportive. I have been energized and encouraged by the vibrant exchange of ideas and collaborative spirit I found in the WLA since I first attended in Reno, Nevada, in 2015.

It is through the generous support of the Louis Owens Award committee that I was able to attend the 2018 conference in St. Louis, Missouri, and present work on reimagining 17^th and 18^th century Spanish missions in California as Indigenous hubs of resistance. This work in progress examined the rich mixed-media, mixed-genre book Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir (2013) by Chumash and Costanoan Ohlone-Esselen writer Deborah Miranda, which reframes dominant narratives about Indigenous erasure in California. The WLA is particularly supportive of work in the field of American Indian and Indigenous literary studies, and I am so grateful that awards such as the Louis Owens Award exist to support work by Indigenous scholars and scholars of color in this field. 

Through the WLA I have made several lasting friendships and connections that will continue to shape my professional work and enrich my personal life. At WLA conferences I have had the immense pleasure of interacting with scholars such as Krista Comer, Lisa Tatonetti, Susan Bernardin, Joanna Hearne, Jenn Ladino, and Kirby Brown. The WLA is a fantastic space for emerging scholars to develop work in any area of Western literary and cultural studies. 

~Lydia Heberling, University of Washington (2019)

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