The Ninth Annual Thompson Awards for Western American Writing
By Kurt Gutjahr
The Center of the American West fielded more than 130 entries for the ninth annual Thompson Awards for Western American Writing, making it one of the most successful years yet for this growing competition. To honor our winners, the Center hosted a banquet that featured Colorado author Laura Pritchett as keynote speaker. She gave advice to her fellow writers about the importance of passion and the value of telling stories that people want, and even in some cases need, to hear. After her talk, our prizewinners - seven in all - came to the podium to receive their awards and read selections from their winning entries. The audience quickly discovered that these authors had crafted narratives, articles, poems, and scripts that told us who we are, why we are, and, in each and every case, where we are. They took us to Japanese internment camps, a cheap hotel room in Commerce City, Marine boot camp, a Cinco de Mayo celebration, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Wounded Knee, a desert cemetery, and more. Through this narrative act of echolocation, the West, in all its complicated three-dimensional glory, came shining through. The Center would like to thank Jack and Jeannie Thompson for their generous support of this event and this contest. To read this year's winning entries visit our writing awards page.