OLD WEST 2001 HONORABLE MENTION WINNERS
(Listed alphabetically by writer)

Chris Enss, The Trial of Juanita
"Citizens in a quiet western community decide to lynch a woman for killing a mad man and are forced to reckon with a ruthless Mexican bandit fighting to keep her alive."

Reinaldo Garcia, Liberty & Libertad
"In 1835, three passengers emerge from a sailing ship docking in Monterey Bay, California and seek their respective treasures against the backdrop of the 1836 revolution which freed California from Mexico."

Reinaldo Garcia, Mescalera
"Mescalera is the true story of Apache shamaness/warrior Lozen who, along with her brother, Chief Victorio, and the medicine man, Geronimo, held off the Mexican and U.S. armies for two decades in the latter part of the 19th century."

Sharon Gillespie, Captive
"Captured by Commanches from a Texas fort in 1836, a young mother survives brutality and isolation out of love for her child. Based on a true story."

Emmet King, The Ash Man
"A Native American medicine man turns bounty hunter to track down the gang responsible for plundering his tribe’s most sacred artifact, thereby unleashing a series of catastrophic events throughout the Indian nation."

Paul W. Mortensen, Refiner’s Fire
"A Mormon zealot scarred by 19th century ethnic cleansing rises above revenge and blind submission to authority while staying true to his theocratic kingdom."

Michael O’Rourke, In The Land Where Acorns Dance
"On a cold October day in 1854, a boy of 17 rode from his father’s farm in search of gold and heroes in Northern California. What he found instead was life among the Waimuk, a native people of the Mt. Shasta region – a people on the grinding edge of conquest brought on by the Gold Rush."

Doug Phillips, Lost Boundaries
"When Mexican "border bandits" kidnap their sister, two young adult brothers track down the gang and face reluctant-buddy, coming-of-age and racial prejudice issues while on their mission."

Doug Reitinger, A Town Called Desire
"In a frontier town in the American West, a black man and a white woman fall deeply in love, and the two must either renounce their love or face the town’s racist fury."

Jay W. Ryemon, The Boxer
"Set in prohibition America, John, a champion boxer, is at the end of the road. Marked for death by the New York mob, he ends up in Texas where he finds love and his biggest fight."

Louis Sihler, Savage Journey
"Savage Journey is the story of the Donner Party and their struggle over the Sierra Nevada Mountains."

Burton Swope, Savages
"An African-American cowboy left for dead by a racist land baron in 1875 Arizona seeks to avenge the murders of his father and brother."

Frederick W. Warrick, Across the River
"When an aging bounty hunter is hired to bring a murderer back from Mexico, he finds a brother, betrayal and the Mexican army on his heels."

NEW WEST HONORABLE MENTION WINNERS
(listed alphabetically by writer)

Russ Brandon, Holy Smokes!
"Three men are trapped by a perfect storm of fire during a camping trip in Yellowstone. They find deliverance from their travails and are changed and renewed from their experiences."

Dennis Goldberg, Kakorraphiaphobia
"A female shylock is duped into becoming a patient at ‘Quackenberry’s’ where she conquers her phobia and saves the sanatorium."

C. Golden, Earth and Sky
"Bitter rivalry between father and son in a championship race bring about tragedy, personal redemption and romance on Canada’s famed chuckwagon race circuit."

Carter P. Hydrick, Last Chance Romance
"Children in tow, a Mafioso wife fleeing from her murderous husband and his life of crime encounters the simple life of a western rancher and the real meaning of contentment and strength of the human spirit."

Samantha Marshall, So, Ann – How’s Your Love Life?
"Trying to break a curse placed by her high school sweetheart, a budding physician struggles to find love."

Samantha Marshall, Finding Mrs. Wright
"Desperate to win a contest and become director of a student play, a high school teen tries to find a love interest for her drama teacher."

Samantha Marshall and Tami Schwab, Bear Lake
"Two women cope with indescribable loss that tests the mettle of their friendship."

Bill Meadows, Things Fall Apart
"A man seeking to attend a job interview in Omaha, Nebraska is cursed by his Gypsy ex-girlfriend and discovers that every mechanical or electrical thing he touches breaks."

Bill Meadows, South of Tucson
"In southern Arizona, a crippled man hunts down the group of ruthless drug runners responsible for his condition and gets his revenge."

Holly Pullar, A Soul for a Side of Bacon
"A grizzly murder that occurs in a Montana wilderness grabs the world’s attention when the clues lead to pre-white man contact Indians with ancestral claim to the Great Nez Perce Chief Joseph."

Rebecca Smith, The Cowboy’s Song
"English meets Western when a snooty college coed takes a summer job guiding horseback rides and falls in love with a cowboy."

Burton Swope, Belize
"A 16-year old girl and 17 year-old boy from opposite sides of the tracks decide to run away after she becomes pregnant."

Michael Bennett Weisman, Shadow of the Moon
"In the year 2004, a mutated airborne form of the deadly ebola virus rose from the jungle regions of the Congo Basin. The virus mercilessly and methodically killed all but a few of the unfortunate primates it infected – including humans. Within a few short years, the world population was decimated."