RANGEfire! | RANGE magazine wins 2023 WRMA Gold for “Face to Face with the American West”

RANGE magazine wins Gold in the 2023 Will Rogers Medallion Awards for “Face to Face with the American West”

Each year the Will Rogers Medallion Awards (WRMA) honors the best in Western literature, poetry, photography and illustrative art during its annual festivities in Fort Worth, Texas. This year, RANGE magazine’s book “Face to Face with the American West” took Gold in the category of Western Photographic Essays.

The Award recognizes editor, C.J. Hadley, wordsmith Carolyn Dufurrena and designer John Bardwell for their efforts in shaping this unusual and remarkable book; unusual for its poignant black and white   photographs, and remarkable for the range of faces, places and activities depicted in its moving photographic essays.

In this captivating book, the story of the West unfolds in seemingly timeless settings with people whose lifestyles are as rooted in the land and livestock as those of their forebears. Faces of men and women sculpted by weather and work, burnished as the saddles in which they ride, speak of lifetimes of toil and purpose, while the carefree faces of youth beam with humor and optimism, all with eyes that tell stories mere words cannot inform. “Face to Face with the American West” is what its name declares and has found its way into the hearts of readers throughout the United States and beyond.

Face to Face with the American West

RANGE magazine’s founder, editor and publisher, C.J. Hadley, is no stranger to the WRMA. During its 2021 celebration, C.J. was presented with the WRMA’s first-ever “Lifetime Achievement Award,” which recognizes authors, publishers and illustrators who have made significant contributions to Western Literature and Media throughout their careers. “Nippers and Oldies: The Long Trail Home,” garnered a Bronze award in Photographic Essays in 2022, and in 2021 the RANGE book “Quinlan & Jones,” a compilation of “humor, history and hallucinations” penned by Vess Quinlan and Bill Jones, took WRMA Gold for its overall quality and graphic design.

WRMA wins from previous years include:

“Tales from Out There–Raw and real stories from the middle of nowhere” won Gold in the 2020 Western Photographic Essays category.

In 2019 “The Magnificent American West” won joint 1st place for Western Photographic Essays in 2019.

In 2018 RANGE contributor Carolyn Dufurrena took Gold for “Quiet Except for the Wind” in the category of Cowboy Poetry.

“The Good, the Bad, and the Bovine” won Gold for Western Photographic Essays in 2018, as did “Cowboys & Critters” in 2017. In 2016, the Cowboy Poetry anthology “Reflections of the West” received accolades, and in 2015, “The M Bar” won honors for the best in Memoirs.

RANGE’s hardcover books have been honored by WRMA since selections were first entered in 2014.

You can see the full slate of WRMA’s 2023 winners here https://www.willrogersmedallionaward.net/2023-wrma-winners

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