For Immediate Release
Press Release
For Interview or Additional Information:
Or Email: paul@paulbagdon.com


                                       PAUL BAGDON NAMED “2007 SPUR AWARD” FINALIST
                                      FOR BEST ORIGINAL PAPERBACK IN WESTERN WRITING

April 1, 2007 – ROCHESTER, NY.  Local Western Author Paul Bagdon’s 2006 novel, Deserter,
has been chosen as a national 2007 Spur Award finalist. The Spur Award is awarded by
Western Writers of America (WWA), a 500 member professional trade association representing
the western genre.

The Spur Award is considered one of the oldest and most prestigious in American literature. In
1953, when the awards were established by WWA, western fiction was a staple of American
publishing. At the time awards were given to the best western novel, best historical novel, best
juvenile, and best short story.  Since then the awards have been broadened to include other
types of writing about the West. Today, Spurs are offered for the best western novel (short
novel), best novel of the west (long novel), best original paperback novel, best short story, best
short nonfiction. Also, best contemporary nonfiction, best biography, best history, best juvenile
fiction and nonfiction, best TV or motion picture drama, best TV or motion picture documentary,
and best first novel (called The Medicine Pipe Bearer's Award).

Paul Bagdon’s, Deserter, published by Dorchester in 2006, won the distinction of finalist in the
category of Best Original Paperback.  

Winners of the Spur Awards in previous years include Larry McMurtry for Lonesome Dove,
Michael Blake for Dances With Wolves, Glendon Swarthout for The Shootist, and Tony
Hillerman for Skinwalker.

Paul Bagdon, a former horseman and rodeo champion is author of over 30 novels, and a
lifelong resident of Rochester, NY, where he currently teaches writing.  He is currently working
on a sequel to his 2006 novel, Partners, also published by Dorchester.  He also writes Christian
Romance under a pen name: Paige Lee Elliston.  

The author’s website is www.paulbagdon.com.  For more information on the contest, visit www.
westernwriters.org.


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