George Strait and Robert Duvall Expected to Attend the 60th Annual Western Heritage Awards
New event details including workshops, luncheons and livestream events announced.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – It may be the 60th, but there are lots of new and exciting additions to the Annual Western Heritage Awards this year. Held at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, the awards honor individuals who have made significant contributions to Western heritage or share the great stories of the American West through creative works in literature, music, television and film. After being postponed in 2020, the event is returning in-person on September 17-18, 2021, recognizing honorees and inductees from both 2020 and 2021. Among the inductees being honored this year are Academy Award winner Robert Duvall and country music singer George Strait.
About Robert Duvall
Veteran actor and director Robert Duvall will receive the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award for his significant career portraying strong characters, many of which promoted the image of the American West. Perhaps his most notable Western role was his triumphant characterization of grizzled Texas Ranger Gus McCrae in the TV mini-series Lonesome Dove in 1989, for which he received an Emmy nomination.
About George Strait
Singer and songwriter George Strait will receive the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award. Strait has sold more than 84 million albums and counting while earning more than 60 major entertainment industry awards as well as countless nominations. Strait is the only act in history to have a Top 10 hit every year for over three decades. With 33 different Platinum or multi-Platinum albums, he’s earned the third-most certifications of any artist in any genre, following only The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Strait has more No. 1 songs than any other artist in history (including Elvis), with a total of 60.
New Awards
Each award winner and inductee will receive a Wrangler, an impressive bronze sculpture of a cowboy on horseback created by Oklahoma artist Harold T. Holden, a 2017 Hall of Great Westerners inductee. New this year, both Lifetime Achievement Award honorees will also receive a commemorative three-piece Western buckle set created by Traditional Cowboy Arts Association silversmiths Scott Hardy and Beau Compton.
New Awards Luncheon
Also new this year, awards for individuals in the literature and music categories will be recognized at the Western Heritage Awards luncheon on Friday, September 17 at 11:30 a.m., with actors Rachel Cannon and Rex Linn as emcees. Linn will also emcee the Saturday evening award ceremony.
Panel Discussion and Workshop Open to the Public
As part of the weekend’s festivities, the Museum will host a panel discussion and workshop on Saturday, September 18, both of which are open to the public and free to Museum members or with Museum admission. The panel discussion will begin at 11 a.m. in front of the famed End of the Trail sculpture and will offer visitors a chance to interact with the honorees.
The workshop will take place from 12:30-1:30 p.m. and will feature members of the Chickasaw Nation discussing the differences in producing a feature film verses a documentary. This workshop will show clips from two films, Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher and Montford Johnson: An Original Brand. Montford T. Johnson is a 2020 Hall of Great Westerners inductee.
Ticket Information
Due to the overwhelming support of our Inductees, Honorees, their families and sponsors, tickets to the 2021 Western Heritage Awards Induction Ceremony are sold out, but tickets for a special livestream remote dinner held in the Museum’s Annie Oakley Center are available for purchase and include access to the cocktail reception preceding the induction ceremony, Saturday, September 18. Tickets are also available for the Awards Luncheon Friday, September 17.
The Museum will close to the general public at 4 p.m. on both Friday, September 17 and Saturday, September 18.
The full list of Western Heritage Honorees and Inductees for 2020 and 2021 are listed below. For more information about the 2021 Western Heritage Awards, ticket purchases or events open to Museum visitors, visit nationalcowboymuseum.org/western-heritage-awards.
The 60th Annual Western Heritage Awards supporting sponsors are Arvest Bank, The Chickasaw Nation, Cresap Family Foundation, Wrangler and Mr. and Mrs. Lenny Sadler. Promoting sponsors are Hall Capital, Fred Jones Family Foundation and Greg and Bekki Kowalski.
2020 Western Heritage Awards Inductee List
Hall Of Great Westerners
Montford T. Johnson (1843 – 1896)
Bennett Richard “Ben” Houston (1929 – 2016)
Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award
John Scott
Lifetime Achievement Award
Robert Duvall
Special Directors’ Award
Traditional Cowboy Arts Association
2021 Western Heritage Awards Inductee List
Hall Of Great Westerners
Matthew “Bones” Hooks (1867 – 1951)
Mel O. Potter
Hall Of Great Western Performers
Woodrow Wilson Woolwine “Woody” Strode (1914-1994)
Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award
R.W. Hampton
Lifetime Achievement Award
George Strait
2020 Western Heritage Awards Honoree List
LITERATURE
Western Novel
The Cheyenne Story: An Interpretation of Courage, written and published by Gerry Robinson
Nonfiction Book
Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power by Pekka Hämäliänen published by Yale University Press
Art Book
Don Weller Tracks, by Don Weller, published by Weller Institute for the Cure of Design
Juvenile Book
J is for Jackalope by Teal Blake.
Magazine Article
“If You had Fought Bravely I would have Sung for You” The Changing Roles of Cheyenne Women During Nineteenth-Century Plains Warfare, by David Beyreis, published Montana The Magazine of Western History
Poetry Book
We Make a Tiny Herd: Poems to Honor the Burro Lady of Far West Texas by Lucy Griffith, published by Main Street Rag
MUSIC
Original Western Composition
“Hats Off to the Cowboy” recording artist Red Steagall, composed by Red Steagall and Joe Merrick
Traditional Western Album
Shadow of a Cowboy, recording artist Andy Hedges
New Horizon
“Desert Dwelling Mama” recording artist Adrian Brannan, produced by Craig Schumacher
FILM & TELEVISION HONOREES
Western Lifestyle Program
Cow Town, produced by Robert Burch at OETA
Theatrical Motion Picture
Deadwood: The Movie starring Timothy Olyphant, directed by Daniel Minahan, produced by HBO
Documentary
Country Music, directed by Ken Burns, written by Dayton Duncan, and produced by Duncan, Burns and Julie Dunfey
Fictional Drama
“Touching Your Enemy” Yellowstone S2, E5 starring Kevin Costner, written by Taylor Sheridan
2021 Western Heritage Awards Honoree List
LITERATURE
Western Novel
The King of Taos: A Novel by the late Max Evans, published by the University of New Mexico Press.
Nonfiction Book
Sand Creek and the Tragic End of a Lifeway by Louis Kraft, published by the University of Oklahoma Press
Art Book
Making a Hand: The Art of H.D. Bugbee by Michael Grauer, published by Texas A&M University Press
Juvenile Book
Silverbelly by S.J. Dahlstrom, published by Paul Dry Books.
Magazine Article
“Transitions in the Changing West: The Photographic Legacy of Jessamine Spear Johnson,” by Tempe J. Javitz, published in Montana: The Magazine of Western History by the Montana Historical Society
Poetry Book
Second Wind by Patricia Frolander, published by High Plains Press
MUSIC
Original Western Composition
“El Caballo Del Fuego,” recording artist Doug Figgs/The Cowboy Way, composed by Doug Figgs, Floyd Beard, Mariam Funke
Traditional Western Album
A Place to Land, recording artist Kristyn Harris, produced by Aaron Meador
FILM & TELEVISION HONOREES
Western Lifestyle Program
Today’s Wild West, E307 produced by Mark Bedor at Today’s Wild West LLC
Theatrical Motion Picture
News of the World, starring Tom Hanks, produced by Universal Pictures
Documentary
Charlie Russell’s Old West, by coproducer and director Gus Chambers and writer and coproducer Paul Zalis at MontanaPBS
Fictional Drama
“I Killed a Man Today,” Yellowstone, S3, E8 starring Kevin Costner, written by Taylor Sheridan