2007 National Outdoor Book Award winners announced
November 16, 2007
A father and son reconnecting on an Alaskan river. A biography of a river running legend. An investigation into one of North America鈥檚 worst mountaineering disasters.
These are some of the themes found among the winners of the 2007 National Outdoor Book Awards (NOBA).
The winners of this annual award program represent some of the finest outdoor writing and artwork were announced Nov. 14. The NOBA Foundation, 色花堂app and the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education sponsor the awards program.
Awards are given in 10 individual categories.
鈥淭he overall quality of the entries was very high this year,鈥 said Ron Watters, a professor emeritus at ISU and the chairman of the National Outdoor Book Awards. 鈥淐onsequently, the judges awarded two winners in several of the categories.鈥
One of those categories was the Literature category. Sharing top honors is 鈥淏lue Horizons鈥 by Beth Leonard. 鈥淏lue Horizons鈥 is a beautifully written collection of vignettes about a six-year, 50,000-mile ocean voyage that she and a companion took around the world.
The other winner in the literature category is a book about fishing, rivers and fatherhood. Titled 鈥淏ackcast鈥 and written by Lou Ureneck, the book takes place on a remote Alaskan River. As the trip progresses, Ureneck reflects back on his own life while adroitly capturing the sometimes hilarious and sometimes serious interactions between himself and his son.
The two winners of the history/biography category include 鈥淭he Very Hard Way鈥 and 鈥淔orever on the Mountain.鈥
Authored by Brad Dimock, 鈥淭he Very Hard Way鈥 is a biographical work about Bert Loper, a legendary Grand Canyon river runner. Loper, however, wasn't the easiest subject to write about. He was an ordinary person, not particularly educated, never quite successful at anything.
Yet Dimock artfully combines his own exhaustive research with interviews, first-person stories, letters, and Loper鈥檚 own writing to fashion an absorbing portrait of his life.
鈥淔orever on the Mountain鈥 is an engrossing narrative of one of North America鈥檚 most controversial mountaineering accidents. In 1967 seven climbers were caught in a storm on Mt. Mckinley. All died.
Extensive investigations by author James M. Tabor shed new light on the tragedy. But Tabor is more than a good investigative journalist; he is also an outstanding story teller, and once started, this is a book that is hard to put down.
Complete reviews of these and the other 2007 winners may be found at National Outdoor Book Award Web site at: www.noba-web.org.
The following is a list of winners:
鈥 Outdoor Literature Category. Winner. 鈥淏ackcast: Fatherhood, Fly-fishing, and a River Journey Through the Heart of Alaska.鈥 By Lou Ureneck. St. Martins Press, New York. ISBN 9780312371517.
鈥 Outdoor Literature Category. Winner. 鈥淏lue Horizons: Dispatches from Distant Seas.鈥 By Beth A. Leonard. International Marine/McGraw-Hill, Camden, ME. ISBN 9780071479585.
鈥 History-Biography Category. Winner. 鈥淭he Very Hard Way: Bert Loper and the Colorado River.鈥 By Brad Dimock. Fretwater Press, Flagstaff, AZ. ISBN 9781892327697.
鈥 History-Biography Category. Winner. 鈥淔orever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters.鈥 By James M. Tabor. W. W. Norton & Company, New York. ISBN 9780393061741.
鈥 Natural History Category. Winner. 鈥淪ky Time in Gray鈥檚 River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place.鈥 By Robert Michael Pyle. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. ISBN 978039582812.
鈥 Natural History Category. Honorable Mention. 鈥淟ast Stand: George Bird Grinnell, the Battle to Save the Buffalo, and the Birth of the New West.鈥 By Michael Punke. Smithsonian Books, New York. ISBN 9780060897826.
鈥 Nature and Environment Category. Winner. 鈥淐ondors in Canyon Country: The Return of the California Condor to the Grand Canyon Region.鈥 By Sophie A. H. Osborn. Grand Canyon Association, Grand Canyon, AZ. ISBN 9780938216988.
鈥 Nature and Environment Category. Winner. 鈥淲hite Paradise: Journeys to the North Pole.鈥 By Francis Latreille. Abrams, New York. ISBN 9780810930940.
鈥 Design and Artistic Merit Category. Winner. 鈥淵osemite in the Sixties.鈥 Photographs by Glen Denny. Essays by Kevin Starr, Steve Roper and Glen Denny. Patagonia and T. Adler Books, Santa Barbara, CA. ISBN 0979064909.
鈥 Design and Artistic Merit Category. Winner. 鈥淎rctic Wings: Birds of the Artic National Wildlife Refuge.鈥 Edited by Stephen Brown. The Mountaineers Books, Seattle. ISBN 0898869765.
鈥 Outdoor Adventure Guidebook Category. Winner. 鈥淕uide to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.鈥 By Tom Martin and Duwain Whitis. Vishnu Temple Press, Flagstaff, AZ. ISBN 9780977674985.
鈥 Children鈥檚 Category. Winner. 鈥淧eak.鈥 By Roland Smith. Harcourt, Orlando, FL. ISBN 9780152024178.
鈥 Instructional Category. Winner. 鈥淭he Complete Mountain Biking Manual.鈥 By Tim Brink. Ragged Mountain Press, Camden, ME. ISBN 9780071493901.
鈥 Nature Guidebook Category. Winner. 鈥淏irds of Northern South America: An Identification Guide.鈥 By Robin Restall, Clemencia Rodner and Miguel Lentino. Yale University Press, New Haven. ISBN 9780300108620.
鈥 Outdoor Classic Award. 鈥淎 Natural History of North American Trees.鈥 By Donald Culross Peattie. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. ISBN 9780618799046.
鈥 Work of Significance Award. 鈥淐onnecticut Walk Book: The Guide to the Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails of Western Connecticut.鈥 Edited Ann T. Colson. Connecticut Forest and Park Association, Rockfall, CN 06481. ISBN 0961905263.
More information on the awards program is found on the National Outdoor Book Award Web site at: www.isu.edu/outdoor/books.
NOTE: Color scans (print quality), complete reviews, and other supplementary art work may be downloaded from: www.noba-web.org/bookrel07.htm.
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