ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., April 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- "True Grit," a remake of the 1969 movie classic of the same name, and veteran novelist Richard Wheeler are among the winners of the 2011 Spur Awards presented by the Western Writers of America.

Eighteen Spur Awards in 17 categories will be handed out June 25 in Bismarck, N.D., during the annual convention of the WWA, an organization of more than 600 writers of fiction and nonfiction about the American West. The WWA established the Spur Award in 1953, the year the organization was founded.

The "True Grit" remake tied with "Temple Grandin," an HBO-TV movie, for the Spur Award in the Drama category.

"True Grit" was written and directed by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen and starred Jeff Bridges in the role of crusty, one-eyed, pot-bellied U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn.  

Christopher Monger and William Merritt wrote "Temple Grandin," which starred Claire Danes in the title role of a woman with autism who pioneered practices for the humane handling of livestock.

Novelist Wheeler won his sixth Spur in the Short Novel category for "Snowbound," a biographical novel based on the exploits of John Fremont, a prominent Western frontier explorer. Wheeler's Spur ranks him second only to the late Elmer Kelton ("The Time it Never Rained") in the accumulation of Spurs. Kelton won seven.

Other winners:

Long Novel: Lucia Robson, "Last Train From Cuernavaca"

Original Mass Paperback:  Max McCord, "Damnation Road"

First Novel: Nic Pizolatto, "Galveston"

Biography: James Haley, "Wolf: The Lives of Jack London"

Historical Nonfiction: Thomas Powers, "The Killing of Crazy Horse"

Juvenile Fiction: Clare Vanderpool, "Moon Over Manifest"

Juvenile Nonfiction: Ronald A. Reis, "Buffalo Bill Cody"

Storyteller (picture book): Aaron Frisch, author, and Chris Sheban, illustrator, "A Night on the Range

Audiobook: Kirby Jonas, "Secret of Two Hawks"

Documentary: Rob Rapley, "American Experience: Wyatt Earp"

Poem: Red Shuttleworth, "Roadside Attraction"

Song: Tom Russell and Paul Zarzyski, "Heart of a Bucking Horse"

Short Fiction: K.L. Cook, "Bonnie and Clyde in the Backyard"

Short Nonfiction: Lee Niedringhaus, "The N Bar N Ranch: A Legend of the Open-Range Cattle Industry, 1885-99"

Contemporary Nonfiction: Lawrence Culver, "The Frontier of Leisure: Southern California and the Shaping of Modern America"

For complete listings of Spur winners and finalist, go to www.westernwriters.org -- click on Awards.

SOURCE Western Writers of America