High Plains Book Awards announced

Five Montanans were among the winners in 13 categories chosen from a record 236 nominated works in the 2021 High Plains Book Awards.

The awards were announced Sept. 25 on the High Plains Book Awards website and on social media.

In addition to the Montanans, and Canadians from three provinces, award winners this year hailed from Colorado and Illinois. The criteria for the awards require that the literary works reflect life on the High Plains or that the author resides in the region.

The Montana authors were Jean Belangie-Nye, Maxim Loskutoff, Rob Chaney, Gretchen E. Minton, and co-authors Donald W. Hyndman and Robert C. Thomas.

Complete list of winners:

Art and Photography: “Corner of Space and Time: Lee Nye's Eddie's Club Portraits” — Jean Belangie-Nye, Montana

Short Stories: “If Sylvie Had Nine Lives” — Leona Theis, Saskatchewan

Creative Nonfiction: “Black Water: Family, Legacy, and Blood Memory” — David A. Robertson, Manitoba

Nonfiction: “The Grizzly in the Driveway” — Rob Chaney, Montana

Children’s Book: “On a Good Horse” — Darby Karchut, Colorado,

Indigenous: “Winter Counts” — David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Colorado

Woman Writer: “The Historians” — Cecilia Ekbäck, Alberta

Poetry: “Ghosts Still Linger” — Kat Cameron, Alberta

Medicine and Science: “Roadside Geology of Montana” — Donald W. Hyndman and Robert C. Thomas, Montana

First Book: “The Response of Weeds” — Bertrand Bickersteth, Alberta

Young Adult: “Opulence, Kansas” — Julie Stielstra, Illinois

Fiction: “Ruthie Fear: A Novel” — Maxim Loskutoff, Montana

A special prize that was introduced two years ago, the Big Sky Award, is for the overall best book by a Montana author. This year’s winner of that award was Gretchen E. Minton, the author of “Shakespeare in Montana: Big Sky Country's Love Affair with the World's Most Famous Writer.”

The High Plains Book Awards were established to recognize regional authors and/or literary works that examine and reflect life on the High Plains including the states of Montana, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas. The Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan are also represented.

Nominations will be accepted starting in January 2022 on the website: www.highplainsbookawards.org

The High Plains Book Awards are held in conjunction with the High Plains BookFest.