Past Winners

2025

2025 WINNER: Wild and Distant Seas, by Tara Karr Roberts. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2024.

2025 HONORABLE MENTION: If Seasons Were Kingdoms, by Margaret Koger. Newberg, Oregon: Fernwood Press, 2024.

2024

2024 WINNER:  Risen, James. The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys—and One Senator’s Fight to Save Democracy. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2023.

2024 HONORABLE MENTION: Bradfield, Elizabeth; CMarie Fuhrman; Derek Sheffield, editors. Cascadia Field Guide. Seattle, Washington: Mountaineers Books, 2023.

2024 HONORABLE MENTION:  Teague, Alexandra. Spinning Tea Cups: A Mythical American Memoir. Corvallis, Oregon: Oregon State University Press, 2023.

2024 HONORABLE MENTION:  Teton, Randy’L He-Dow, author. Aly McKnight, Illustrator. It’s Her Story: Sacajawea. Chicago, Illinois: Sunbird Books, 2023.

2023

2023 WINNER: Tinghui Zhang, Jenny. Four Treasures of the Sky. New York: Flatiron Books, 2022.

2022

2022 FICTION WINNER: Doerr, Anthony. Cloud Cuckoo Land. New York: Scribner, 2021.

2022 NON-FICTION WINNER: Sentilles, Sarah. Stranger Care: A Memoir of Loving What Isn’t Ours. New York: Random House, 2021.

2022 HONORABLE MENTION: Anderson, Cory. What Beauty There Is. New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2021.

2021

2021 WINNER: Reed Lewis, Mark McFaddan, John Burch, and Chelsea McRaven Feeney. Idaho Rocks! A Guide to Geologic Sites in the Gem State. Missoula, Minnesota: Mountain Press Publishing Company, 2020.

2021 HONORABLE MENTION: Rember, John. A Hundred Little Pieces on the End of the World. Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 2020.

2021 HONORABLE MENTION: Wendy, Swore. The Wish and the Peacock. Salt Lake City, Utah: Shadow Mountain, 2020.

2020

2020 WINNER: Quinney, Dana Stewart. Wildflower Girl: A Lifelong Journey beyond the Trail. McCall, Idaho: Hidden Shelf Publishing House, 2019.

2020 HONORABLE MENTION: Kyle, Catherine. Shelter in Place. New York City: Spuyten Duyvil, 2019.

2020 HONORABLE MENTION: Bingham, Dave. Idaho Underground: The Fins, Snake River Basalt, Boise, Sun Valley [a Climber’s Guide]. 2nd Edition. New Castle, Colorado: Wolverine Publishing, 2019.

2020 HONORABLE MENTION: Petersen, Keith C.; afterword by Janet L. Gallimore. Idaho: The Land and Its People [A Companion to Exhibits at the Idaho State Museum]. Boise, Idaho: Idaho State Historical Society, 2019.

2019

2019 WINNER: Owens, Delia. Where the Crawdads Sing. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2018.

2019 HONORABLE MENTION: Westover, Tara. Educated. New York: Random House, 2018.

2019 HONORABLE MENTION: Sigler, John; and Donald Zaroban. Fishes of Idaho. First edition. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2018.

2018

2018 WINNER: Ruskovich, Emily. Idaho. New York: Random House, 2017.

2017

2017 WINNER: Feldman, Murray; and Jennifer Emery Davidson. Idaho Wilderness Considered.  Boise, Idaho: Idaho Humanities Council, 2016.

2017 HONORABLE MENTION: LeFavour, Nichole; photographs by Mark William Lisk. Sawtooth White Cloud. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2016.

2017 HONORABLE MENTION: Niemeyer, Carter. Wolf Land. Boise, Idaho: BottleFly Press, 2016.

2016

2016 WINNER: Stuebner, Steve; and Todd Shallat. Idaho Microbes: how tiny single-celled organisms can harm, or save, our world. Boise, Idaho: Boise State University, School of Public Service and Division of Research and Economic Development, 2015.

2015

2015 WINNER: Doerr, Anthony. All the Light We Cannot See. New York: Scribner, 2014.

2015 HONORABLE MENTION: Sowards, Adam M., editor. Idaho’s Place: A New History of the Gem State. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 2014.

2014

2014 WINNER: Wegars, Priscilla. As Rugged as the Terrain: CCC “Boys,” Federal Convicts, and World War II Alien Internees Wrestle with a Mountain Wilderness.  Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2013.

2014 WINNER: Shallat, Todd; and Russell Tremayne. Surviving Minidoka. Boise, Idaho: Boise State University Publications Office, College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs, 2013.

2013

2013 WINNER: Swetnam, Susan H. Books, Bluster, and Bounty: Local Politics and Carnegie Library Building Grants in the Intermountain West, 1890-1920. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2012.

2013 HONORABLE MENTION: Williams, Jack R. Be Brave, Tah-hy! The Journey of Chief Joseph’s Daughter. Pullman, Washington: Washington State University Press, 2012.

2013 HONORABLE MENTION: Deurbrouck, Jo. Anything Worth Doing: A true story of adventure, friendship and tragedy on the last of the West’s great rivers. Idaho Falls, Idaho: Sundog Book Publishing, 2012.

2012

No awards were given for the 2012 Idaho Book Award.

2011

2011 WINNER: Udall, Brady. The Lonely Polygamist. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010.

2011 HONORABLE MENTION: Niemeyer, Carter. Wolfer: A Memoir. Boise, Idaho: Bottlefly Press, 2010.

2010

2010 WINNER: Wieland, Mitch. God’s Dogs: A Novel in Stories. Dallas, Texas: Southern Methodist University Press, 2009.

2010 HONORABLE MENTION: Weston, Julie Whitesel. The Good Times Are All Gone Now: Life, Death, and Rebirth in an Idaho Mining Town. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009.

2010 HONORABLE MENTION: Laughy, Linwood. The Fifth Generation: A Nez Perce Tale. Kooskia, Idaho: Mountain Meadow Press, 2009.

2009

2009 WINNER: Percy, Ann. James Castle: A Retrospective. Philadelphia, Pensylvannia: Philadelphia Museum of Art; New Haven Connecticut: In association with Yale University Press, 2008.

2009 HONORABLE MENTION: Schrand, Brandon R. The Enders Hotel: A Memoir. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2008.

2009 HONORABLE MENTION: Fox, William. Owyhee Canyonlands. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2008.

2008

2008 WINNER: Whiting, Henry II. At Nature’s Edge: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Artist Studio. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 2007.

2008 HONORABLE MENTION: Carlson, Ron. Five Skies. New York: Viking, 2007.

2007

2007 WINNER: Scherer, Joanna Cohan. A Danish Photographer of Idaho Indians: Benedicte Wrensted. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006.

2007 HONORABLE MENTION: Campbell, Spence. Lewis & Clark and Me. Rochester, Washington: Gorham Printing, 2006.

2006

2006 WINNER: Olsen, Gregg. The Deep Dark: Disaster and Redemption in the America’s Richest Silver Mine. New York: Crown Publishers, 2005.

2006 HONORABLE MENTION: Stuebner, Stephen; and Mark Lisk. Salmon River Country. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2004.

2006 HONORABLE MENTION: Weatherby, James B.; Randy Stapilus. Governing Idaho: Politics, People and Power. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2005.

2005

2005 WINNER: Hilldorfer, Joseph; and Robert Dugoni. The Cyanide Canary. New York: Free Press, 2004.

2005 HONORABLE MENTION: Trusky, Tom. James Castle: His Life & Art. Boise, Idaho: Idaho Center for the Book, 2004.

2004

2004 WINNER: Rember, John. Traplines: coming home to Sawtooth Valley. New York: Pantheon Books, 2003.

2004 HONORABLE MENTION: Wegars, Priscilla. Polly Bemis, a Chinese American pioneer. Cambridge, Idaho: Backeddy Books, 2003.

2003

2003 WINNER: Shallat, Todd, editor. The Secrets of the Magic Valley and Hagerman’s Remarkable Horse. Boise, Idaho: Black Canyon Communications, 2002.

2003 Special Recognition for His Contribution to the Literature of Idaho: Ford Swetnam

2003 HONORABLE MENTION: Gruber, William. On All Sides Nowhere: Building a Rural Life in Idaho. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2002.

2002

2002 WINNER: Freeman-Toole, T. Louise. Standing up to the Rock. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2001.

2001

2001 WINNER: Johnson, William C. Out of the Ruins. Lewiston, Idaho: Confluence Press; Kansas City, Kansas: Distributed by Midpoint Trade Books, 2000.

2001 HONORABLE MENTION: Swetnam, Susan H. Home Mountains: Reflections from a Western Middle Age. Pullman, Washington. Washington State University Press, 2000.

2000

2000 WINNER: Fiege, Mark. Irrigated Eden: The Making of an Agricultural Landscape in the American West. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1999.

1999

1999 WINNER: Peek, Pat Cary. One Winter in the Wilderness. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1998.

1998

1998 WINNER: Lukas, J. Anthony. Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

1997

1997 WINNER: James, Caroline. Nez Perce Women in Transition, 1877-1990. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1996.

1997 HONORABLE MENTION: Barnes, Kim. In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in an Unknown Country. New York: Doubleday, 1996.

1997 HONORABLE MENTION: Derig, Betty B. Roadside History of Idaho. Missoula, Montana: Mountain Press Pub. Co., 1996.

1996

1996 WINNER: Petersen, Keith C. River of Life, Channel of Death: Fish and Dams on the Lower Snake. Lewiston, Idaho: Confluence Press, 1995.

1996 HONORABLE MENTION: Yahr, Warren. Smokechaser. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1995.

1995

1995 WINNER: Nisbet, Jack. Sources of the River: Tracking David Thompson Across Western North America. Seattle, Washington: Sasquatch Books, 1994.

1995 HONORABLE MENTION: Shallat, Todd A.; and E.B. Bentley. Snake: The Plain and its People. Boise, Idaho: Boise State University, 1994.

1995 HONORABLE MENTION: Killoren, John J. “Come, Blackrobe”: De Smet and the Indian tragedy. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994.

1994

1994 WINNER: Hedberg, Kathleen. A Flood Cannot Happen Here: The Story of Lower Goose Creek Reservoir, Oakley Idaho, 1984. Burley, Idaho: Magic Valley Publishers, 1993.

1994 HONORABLE MENTION: Schwantes, Carlos. Railroad Signatures Across the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1993.

1994 HONORABLE MENTION: Pavesic, Max G.; William Studebaker; and Catherine S Fowler. Backtracking: Ancient Art of Southern Idaho. Pocatello, Idaho: Idaho Museum of Natural History, 1993.

1993

No awards were given for the 1992 Idaho Book Award.

1992

1992 WINNER: Attebery, Jennifer Eastman. Building Idaho: An Architectural History. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1991.

1991

1991 WINNER: Stacy, Susan M. Conversations: A Companion Book to Idaho Public Television’s “Proceeding on through a Beautiful Country, a History of Idaho”. Boise, Idaho: Idaho Educational Public Broadcasting Foundation, 1990.

1990

1990 WINNER: Woodward, Tim. Tiger on the Road: The Life of Vardis Fisher. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1989.

1989

1989 WINNER: Stapilus, Randy. Paradox Politics: People and Power in Idaho. Boise, Idaho: Ridenbaugh Press, 1988.

1988

1988 WINNER: Petersen, Keith C. This Crested Hill: An Illustrated History of the University of Idaho. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1987.

1987

1987 WINNER: Maguire, James H., editor. The Literature of Idaho: An Anthology. Boise, Idaho: Hemingway Western Studies, Boise State University, 1986.

1986

1986 WINNER: Attebery, Louie W.; and Brian Attebery. Idaho Folklife: Homesteads to Headstones. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press; Boise, Idaho: Idaho State Historical Society, 1985.

1985

1985 WINNER: Hart, Patricia; and Ivar Nelson. Mining Town: The Photographic Record of T.N. Barnard and Nellie Stockbridge from the Coeur d’Alenes. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press; Boise, Idaho: Idaho State Historical Society, 1984.

1985 was the first year for the Idaho Book Award.