The Spur Award for Best Western Novel is a prize given by the Western Writers of America as part of the annual Spur Awards.
The category was introduced in 1953, when it was known simply as the "Novel" award. A second category for novel-length prose fiction, the Historical Novel award, was introduced in 1972. The original Novel award was renamed Western Novel in 1985, while Historical Novel became Novel of the West in 1988.[1] This resulted in a period in which the Spur Awards included both a Best Western Novel category as well as a Best Novel of the West category. John Mort explains the distinction in his book Read the High Country: "WWA defines Westerns... in market terms. A Western novel is a 'traditional' tale of revenge, rival cattlemen at war, or settlers fighting Indians. Owen Wister's The Virginian is a famous example, as well as Louis L'Amour's Hondo. A 'novel of the West' is what's otherwise known as a historical, where characterizations are based around historical events, and historical personages such as Davy Crockett, George Armstrong Custer, and Crazy Horse become characters."[2]
During 2000, the official Spur Award website defined both categories as "book-length novels... dependent in whole or in part on settings, characters, conditions, or customs indigenous to the American West or early frontier," the distinction being that Best Western Novel was for works "90,000 words or less" while Best Novel of the West was for works "90,000 words or more."[3] In 2007, the Western Novel and Novel of the West categories were replaced with Best Short Novel and Best Long Novel. These categories were removed in 2014, with Best Contemporary Novel Best Historical Novel and Best Traditional Novel being added.[1]