reported by Lisa Cutler, FictionFanatic.com

California writer Willard Wyman won two Spur Awards for his first novel while Loren Estleman collected his fifth from Western Writers of America.

Winners in 15 categories were announced March 18 by WWA President Rita Cleary during the National Festival of the West.

HIGH COUNTRY by Willard Wyman of LaHonda, Calif., won Spurs for Best First Novel and also for Novel of the West, a distinction few writers have achieved. The book is published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Estleman earned his fifth Spur for THE UNDERTAKER'S WIFE (Forge Books) tying for Western Novel with Johnny D. Boggs, author of CAMP FORD: A WESTERN STORY (Five Star Publishing) who is a two-time Spur winner.

Since 1953, Western Writers of America (http://www.westernwriters.org/) has promoted and honored the best in Western literature with the annual Spur Awards, selected by panels of judges. Awards, for material published last year, are given for works whose inspiration, image and literary excellence best represent the reality and spirit of the American West.

Winners and finalists will be honored June 13-17 at the WWA Convention in Cody, Wyo.

Other winners:

Original Paperback: DAKOTA by Matt Braun (St. Martin's Press).

Nonfiction - Historical: BUFFALO BILL'S AMERICA: WILLIAM CODY AND THE WILD WEST SHOW by Louis S. Warren (Alfred A. Knopf).

Nonfiction - Biography: CHIEF JOSEPH: GUARDIAN OF THE PEOPLE by Candy Moulton (Forge Books).

Nonfiction - Contemporary: RINGSIDE SEAT TO A REVOLUTION: AN UNDERGROUND CULTURAL HISTORY OF EL PASO AND JUAREZ, 1893-1923 by David Dorado Romo (Cinco Puntos Press).

Short Nonfiction: "The Contradictory Legacies of Buffalo Bill Cody's First Scalp for Custer" by Paul Hedren (Montana, the Magazine of Western History).

Documentary Script: "Mountain Massacre" written by Paul Hutton, and Jamie Schenk, produced by Kurtis Productions for the History Channel.

Drama Script: Spur Tie: Miracle at Sage Creek written by Thadd Turner for Talmarc Productions and Into the West Episode IV: "Hell on Wheels" written by Kirk Ellis for DreamWorks.

Short Fiction: "Pecker's Revenge" by Lori Van Pelt (University of New Mexico Press).

Poetry: VOICE OF THE BORDERLANDS by Drum Hadley (Rio Nuevo Publishers).

Juvenile Nonfiction: FIRST AMERICANS: THE STORY OF WHERE THEY CAME FROM AND WHO THEY BECAME by Anthony Azeni (Scholastic Nonfiction).

Juvenile Fiction: BLACK STORM COMIN' by Diane Lee Wilson (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing).

Storyteller: KLONDIKE GOLD written and illustrated by Alice Provensen (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing).

Website: http://www.westernwriters.org