History Colorado Announces the 11th Biennial Barbara Sudler Award

For the best work of nonfiction on a western American subject by a female author. The award, which carries a cash prize of $500 for the author and certificates for both author and publisher, will be presented at History Colorado’s annual meeting in October, 2012.

Publishers are invited to submit up to two titles published between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2011, for consideration by the Sudler Award screening committee.  The committee will select two works from among the entries for final review by a panel of outside judges – at which time we will request two additional copies of each finalist title.

The deadline for submission of works to be considered is 5:00pm, April 1, 2012. History Colorado cannot return books that have been submitted, nor can it accept books for consideration without the publisher’s endorsement.

Send entries to:

Barbara Sudler Award Committee
History Colorado Volunteer Office
1200 Broadway
Denver, CO 80203

The Sudler Award is named in honor of the Colorado Historical Society’s (now named History Colorado) former president (serving from 1979 to 1989), who maintained an active interest in historical issues and was an avid reader of western American literature.  Barbara Sudler Hornby died in February, 2006.

Award Criteria

Entries for the Barbara Sudler Award should be single-volume, single-author works (not coauthored or edited books or anthologies) that have a strong western character and link to one or more western themes. Subjects may include history, natural history, literature and the arts, folklore, and social or cultural life of the past or present. The most important quality an entry should have is wide potential readership and general interest.

The following questions, used for evaluation by members of the screening committee and outside judges, may also serve as a guide for publishers in their selection.

 1. Significance of the book to an understanding of the West and its people.

 2. Degree to which the author has lived up to the subject’s potential.

 3. Ability of the author to keep the reader interested throughout.

 4. Degree of creativity of thought (insights, discoveries) shown by the author.

 5. Degree to which you are convinced by the author’s argument.

 6. Clarity of organization and purpose.

 7. The book’s potential for making a long-term contribution to scholarship and knowledge  about the West.

 8. Success with which the book will be meaningful to a broad audience.

 9. Degree of stylistic power or expertise demonstrated by the author.

10. Likelihood that you will recommend the book to someone else.

Please include Marketing Department contact name, phone number and email address with submitted works. For more information, please call Jeanne Heimbuck, Volunteer President and Chair of the Barbara Sudler Award Committee, 303-941-8479, or email to jeanne.heimbuck@state.co.us.