Past Medallion Awards The Acade

Past Medallion Awards

The Academy of Western Artists is proud to announce the winners of the 2005 Will Rogers Medallion Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Publishing of Cowboy Poetry. The books, authors and publishers to be honored this year are:

“Cowboy Poetry: Cloud Watchers” Author – Rolf Flake

Publisher- Cowboy Miner Productions

“Where Sagebrush Grows” Author – Darin Brookman/Brian Asher

Publisher – Pair’a Spurs Press

“Cowboy Poetry: The Reunion” Editor – Virginia Bennett

Publisher – Gibbs-Smith, Publisher

“Short Poems – Tall Cowboys” Author – Jesse Colt/Val Moker

Publisher - Friesen’s Business Machines

Will Rogers was a respected writer as well as cowboy entertainer. The Academy hopes and believes that the Will Rogers Medallion Awards will help to expand the heritage of literature which honors the traditions and values of the American Cowboy, which Will did so much to embody and demonstrate. Additionally, the Medallion Award was created to encourage the continued upgrading of the quality of published books of Cowboy Poetry. The honored books continue the establishment of this tradition of presenting Cowboy Poetry to the general public in an appealing and accessible manner. High quality publications like the books above invite readership in competition with many other forms of literature. As with Will’s published words, we believe that Medallion books have that timeless quality which allows them to be enjoyed over and over again.

Outstanding books are the result of a collaborative effort between authors, publishers and printers, and the award criterion emphasizes production values as well as artistic merit. The Will Rogers Medallion Award for Outstanding Merit/Excellence in Printing and Publication is awarded annually to those publishing houses that contribute the high production values, commercial viability and prestige to volumes of cowboy poetry.

The Medallion Awards will be presented during the 2005 AWA Symposium in the Richardson Civic Center on July 11^th. The Will Rogers Medallion Awards are separate from the Buck Ramsey Cowboy Poetry Book of the Year, presented at the Will Rogers Award Show These books are still in strong contention for that award, which is voted by the members of the Academy of Western Artists. The Will Rogers Award Show will be held in the Eisemann Theater in Richardson, TX on July 12^th.