2007 National Outdoor Book Award Winners

A father and son reconnecting on an Alaskan river. A biography of a river running legend. An investigation into one of North America's worst mountaineering diasters.

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 being published today. The NOBA Foundation, Idaho State University and the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education sponsor the awards program.

Awards are given in ten individual categories.

"The overall quality of the entries was very high this year," said Ron Watters, a professor emeritus at Idaho State University and the chairman of the National Outdoor Book Awards. "Consequently, the judges awarded two winners in several of the categories."

One of those categories is the Literature category. Sharing top honors is "Blue Horizons" by Beth Leonard. "Blue Horizons" is a beautifully written collection of vignettes about a six-year, 50,000-mile ocean voyage that she and a companion took from one end of the world to the other.

The other winner in the Literature Category is a book about fishing, rivers and fatherhood. Entitled "Backcast" 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 "The Very Hard Way" and "Forever on the Mountain."

Authored by Brad Dimock, "The Very Hard Way," 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's own writing to fashion an absorbing portrait of his life.

"Forever on the Mountain" is an engrossing narrative of one of North America's 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.

Here is a list of winners:

• Outdoor Literature Category
  

  Backcast: Fatherhood, Fly-fishing, and a River Journey Through the Heart of Alaska
  By Lou Ureneck.

  Blue Horizons: Dispatches from Distant Seas
  By Beth A. Leonard.

• Natural History Category

  Sky Time in Gray's River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place
  By Robert Michael Pyle.

  Last Stand: George Bird Grinnell, the Battle to Save the Buffalo, and the Birth of the New West (Honorable Mention)
  By Michael Punke.

• Nature and Environment Category

  Condors in Canyon Country: The Return of the California Condor to the Grand Canyon Region
  By Sophie A. H. Osborn

  White Paradise: Journeys to the North Pole
  By Francis Latreille

• Design and Artistic Merit Category

  Yosemite in the Sixties
  Photographs by Glen Denny. Essays by Kevin Starr, Steve Roper and Glen Denny

  Arctic Wings: Birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
  Edited by Stephen Brown.

• Outdoor Adventure Guidebook Category

  Guide to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon
  By Tom Martin and Duwain Whitis
  Vishnu Temple Press, Flagstaff, AZ. ISBN 9780977674985.

• Children's Category

  Peak
  By Roland Smith.

• Instructional Category

  The Complete Mountain Biking Manual
  By Tim Brink.

• Nature Guidebook Category

  Birds of Northern South America: An Identification Guide
  By Robin Restall, Clemencia Rodner and Miguel Lentino.

• Work of Significance Award

  Connecticut Walk Book: The Guide to the Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails of Western Connecticut
  By Ann T. Colson.
  Connecticut Forest and Park Association, Rockfall, CN 06481. ISBN 0961905263.

• Outdoor Classic Award

  A Natural History of North American Trees
  By Donald Culross Peattie.

Article Source: http://www.noba-web.org
National Outdoor Book Awards
Box 8128, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID 83209

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