Read full reviews of all of the 2023 finalists HERE.
2023 Finalists
2023 High Plains Book Awards Finalists
Art & Photography
- Montana Modernists: Shifting Perception of Western Art by Michele Corriel; published by Washington State University Press
- Conserving America’s Wildlands: The Vision of Ted Turner Photographs by Rhett Turner; Text by Todd Wilkinson; published by Rizzoli
- Montana Panoramic: Transparent in the Backlight Photographs by Craig W. Hergert; Text by Shann Ray; Published by Montana Panoramic Gallery
Creative Nonfiction
- I Never Met a Rattlesnake I Didn’t Like by David Carpenter; published by Thistledown Press
- Otters Dance by Bob Budd; published by Fulcrum Publishing
- Think Like a Horse: Lessons in Life, Leadership, and Empathy from an Unconventional Cowboy by Grant Golliher; published by Penguin Random House
Fiction
- Jameela Green Ruins Everything by Zarqa Nawaz; published by Simon & Schuster Canada
- The New Neighbor by Carter Wilson; published by Sourcebooks
- Hell and Back by Craig Johnson; published by Viking
First Book
- A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings: A Graphic Memoir by Will Betke-Brunswick; published by Tin House
- Crazy Mountain by Elise Atchison; published by Sowilo Press/Hidden River Arts
- In Celebration by Dorothy Bradley; published by Farcountry Press
Indigenous Writer
- With Great Discretion by J. Hoolihan Clayton; published by Dog Soldier Press
- Thunderous by M. L. Smoker & Natalie Peeterse; published by Dynamite Entertainment
- Valley of the Birdtail: And Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation by Andrew Stobo Sniderman & Douglas Sanderson; published by HarperCollins
Nonfiction
- Born of Lakes and Plains: Mixed-Descent Peoples and the Making of the American West by Anne F. Hyde; published by W. W. Norton & Company
- Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land by Taylor Brorby; published by W. W. Norton & Company
- This America of Ours: Bernard and Avis DeVoto and the Forgotten Fight to Save the Wild by Nate Schweber; published by Mariner/HaperCollins
Poetry
- Goodbye Yellowstone Road by Tom Vandel; published by Tiny Road Books
- Puzzled by Ruth Maus; published by Meadowlark Press
- The Big Melt by Emily Riddle; published by Nightwood Editions
Short Stories
- Not the Apocalypse I Was Hoping For by Leslie Greentree; published by University of Calgary Press
- The Term Between by Brady Harrison; published by Twelve Winters Press
Woman Writer
- White Horse by Erika T. Wurth; published by Flatiron Books
- Black Umbrella by Katherine Lawrence; published by Turnstone Press
- The Apothecary’s Garden by Jeanette Lynes; published by HarperCollins
Children’s Picture Book
- I Do Not Like the Rotten Egg Scent in Yellowstone National Park by Penelope Kaye; published by PipStones Publishing
- Buddy: A Farm in the Forest Story by Jena Wagmann; published by Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing
- What If You Could? by Lynne Harley; self-published
Children’s Middle Grade
- Thunderous by M. L. Smoker & Natalie Peeterse; published by Curiosity Books
- Tenmile by Sandra Dallas; published by Sleeping Bear Press
- If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It: How 25 Inspiring Individuals Found Their Dream Jobs by Colleen Nelson & Kathie MacIsaac; published by Pajama Press
Young Adult Book
- Ann of Sunflower Lane by Julie A. Sellers; published by Meadowlark Press
- Behind the Label: Gloria and Willa by Lorna Schultz Nicholson; published by Red Deer Press
- The Emir’s Falcon by Matt Hughes; published by Shadowpaw Press
Big Sky Award
- Montana: A Paper Trail by Thomas E. Minckler; published by The Montana Historical Society Press
- Montana Modernists by Michele Corriel; published by Washington State University Press
- On a Benediction of Wind by Charles Finn & Barbara Michelman; published by Chatwin Books
