Wyoming Arts Council

2014 Blanchan and Doubleday Writing Award winners announced


Lipp-Acord Cover Image

Darcy Lipp-Acord’s first book was published last year by the South Dakota State Historical Society Press.

The Wyoming Arts Council (WAC) announces the winners of the 2014 Blanchan/Doubleday Writing Awards.

Darcy Lipp-Acord of Weston won the Neltje Blanchan award for nature writing for excerpts from her creative nonfiction book, Circling Back Home: A Plainswoman’s Journey. Winner of the Frank Nelson Doubleday award for women writers is Yvette Ward-Horner of Cody for her fiction entry, “Giving Birth is not a Promise.” Each of the writers will receive a $1,000 prize and a stipend to participate in a public reading later in the year.

Honorable mentions in the Blanchan category went to Kathy Bjornestad, Sundance; Yvette Ward-Horner, Cody; and Matt Daly, Jackson. Doubleday honorable mentions went to Anita Weisheit, Sheridan; Patricia A. Stuart, Powell; and Caryn Flanagan, Jackson.

The competition received a total of 47 entries.

Judge for the awards was Ken Waldman, a writer and musician who spent most of his professional life in Alaska but now travels the U.S. performing and conducting writing workshops. His books include the memoir Are You Famous?, which Nashville Scene magazine described as “a travel guide for free spirits.” He’s published six full-length poetry collections, including D is for Dog Team, a sequence of acrostic poems for young readers. Waldman will travel to Wyoming later in the year for the reading with the Blanchan/Doubleday winners.

The Neltje Blanchan and Frank Nelson Doubleday awards are made possible through the generosity of private donor Neltje of Banner, Wyo.

Lipp-Acord’s first book, Circling Back Home: A Plainswoman’s Journey, was published by the South Dakota Historical Society Press in September 2013. She works as a youth services specialist for the Campbell County Library in Gillette and lives with her family north of Weston.

ward horner close-up

Yvette Ward-Horner

Ward-Horner has published short stories in a number of print and online journals, and is working on her second novel. She is an avid mountain climber and a member of the Cody search and rescue team. Her web site is www.yvettewardhorner.com

The Blanchan/Doubleday awards program is an annual competition administered by the Wyoming Arts Council. For more information about the awards visit the WAC website or contact Michael Shay at mike.shay@wyo.gov or 307-777-5234.


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