Robert Greer's "Spoon" was nominated in the Best Western Short Novel category. See full list of winners and finalists at http://www.westernwriters.org/spur_award_history.htm#2010
Robert, a writer, editor and physician, spends most of each year at his ranch near Wheatland. He's the author of a number of novels set throughout the West, but mainly in Wyoming and Colorado.
Here's some info about "Spoon:"
SPOON: A NOVEL, Fulcrum Publishing, Hardcover: October 2009, ISBN 978-1-55591-689-3
A novel of the contemporary American West, Spoon tells the story of Arcus Witherspoon, a mysterious half-black, half-Indian, oddly clairvoyant man searching the West for his roots. Hitchhiking near Hardin, Montana, Spoon falls in with a ranching family struggling to keep their ranch afl oat amidst the pressures of hard economic times and an encroaching coal company. Proving himself a gifted ranch hand and mentor, Spoon charges himself with rescuing the Darleys and guiding the family's teenage son TJ on his path to manhood. While Spoon's checkered past includes a prison stint and a navy tour of Vietnam, it is his tenacity, wisdom, and charm that end up defining this quintessential Western man.