The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City has announced the 2006 winners in the literary categories of the prestigious Western Heritage Awards. The actual award ceremony will be held April 21, 2007. The coveted Wrangler Award, a stunning bronze sculpture of a cowboy on horseback, will be presented in 14 categories of music, film, television and literature in the Western genre. Broken Trail (Fulcrum Press) written by Alan Geoffrion, won Outstanding Western Novel. As a bonus, Geoffrion’s novel, which was broadcast on AMC (starring Robert Duvall), will also be honored at the Western Heritage Awards for Outstanding Television Feature Film.
Haven’t read it or seen the film version? Well, it’s a rather heartfelt story centered on a “bowed and bandy-legged old cowboy” named Print Ritter. He is a man with miles of dusty trail under his well-worn belt. When his sister dies and leaves all she owns to him, Print feels it’s only right to take her estranged son under his wing. Then, the two
horseman–one old, one young–set off to seek their fortune on a long cattle drive across the West. Before long, they find themselves risking everything to save five kidnapped Chinese girls from a life of prostitution. That sets in motion a perilous journey that forever changes the fates of the young women, their unlikely guardians, and the other characters they meet along the way. This award-winning tale might be a good read for those days when you can’t ride.