National Outdoor Book Awards

Year	Title and Author(s)
2005	Journey of a Hope Merchant: From Apartheid to the Elite World of Solo Yacht Racing by Neal Petersen with William P. Baldwin and Patty Fulcher This is the story of Neal Petersen, a black South African who overcomes physical disability and the humiliation of apartheid to compete in one of the most dangerous of all sports: solo sailing around the globe. While many of his well-heeled fellow competitors sail in the latest technological marvels, Petersen builds his own yacht, scrounging supplies and materials. Without enough money to install electronic navigation equipment, he sails off on his first race with a sextant that he hasn't yet learned how to use. From then on it's all adventure. His account of approaching Cape Horn and surviving a vicious night of 150-foot waves and multiple knockdowns is as thrilling as it gets. Quite simply, this is a wonderful story of the sea, and one man's hope, determination, and joy for life.
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2004	Ways to the Sky: A Historical Guide to North American Mountaineering by Andy Selters Author Andy Selters and the American Alpine Club deserve a big round of applause for this new and significant work in the outdoor field. Tackling a subject as broad and diverse as the history of North American mountaineering is no easy task, easily ranking up there with making a winter attempt on Denali. But Selters undertook the project and carried it off with aplomb. Backing up Selters' painstakingly researched — and very readable text — are a wonderful selection of historic photos. Rounding off an already first-rate effort, Ways to the Sky, is also part guide book, including several mini-chapters which picture and describe climbing routes dating from the era under discussion.
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2003	Southern Exposure: A Solo Sea Kayaking Journey Around New Zealand's South Island by Chris Duff With this book, Chris Duff solidly establishes himself as a leading voice in outdoor adventure writing. His previous work, On Celtic Tides chronicled his circumnavigation of Ireland, but in Southern Exposure, the stakes are higher. Here, the waves loom larger, the shoreline more forbidding, and weather more unforgiving. Duff is up to the task and has created an engrossing and mesmerizing account that sweeps the reader along. Southern Exposure also won the Grand Prize from the 2004 Banff Mountain Book Festival.
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2002	Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism by Char Miller Gifford Pinchot was the first chief of the Forest Service. To this day, his influence is still being felt on the policies which guide the management of lands used by hundreds of thousands of Americans for hiking, climbing, biking, fishing and other forms of outdoor adventure. Yet Pinchot is a controversial figure, the bad guy in a bitter battle with the great conservationist, John Muir. This eminently readable and erudite biography of Pinchot, the first in over forty years, reveals a much more complicated man, and sheds new light on Pinchot's contributions and place in conservation history.
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2001	A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell by Donald Worster For years, people have been waiting for this book: an authoritative study of Powell—the whitewater world's first river runner as well as the West's great voice of reason. Thanks to Donald Worster, we now have one. A superbly written book supported by exhaustive research, this 673-page book is an expansive view of Powell's life and times—as expansive as the view across the Colorado Plateau. A River Running West is a memorable portrait of one of the greats of river history.
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	Sunk Without a Sound: The Tragic Colorado Honeymoon of Glen and Bessie Hyde by Brad Dimock The 1920s was the decade of mysteries for the outdoor world. The mountaineering world had Mallory dissolving into the mists of Everest, while the whitewater world had Bessie and Glen Hyde disappearing in the depths of the Grand Canyon. This fascinating exploration into what happened to the Hydes is an important contribution to the whitewater genre, and seasoned Colorado River boater, Brad Dimock, was the perfect person to write it. Few others would have been able to put the right amount of heart and soul into an investigation of the mystery; indeed, Dimock and his wife, Jeri, actually built a replica of the Hydes' wooden scow and ran the river in much the same manner as the young couple would have done in the 1920s. Enthralling and compelling, this is a book that refuses to be put down.
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2000	The Wildest Dream: The Biography of George Mallory by Peter and Leni Gillman Biographies don't get any better than this. Supremely well researched and documented, erudite, and masterfully written, this book isn't so much about what happened to Mallory in 1924 when he and his climbing partner Irvine disappeared in the mists of Mt. Everest, but rather it seeks the answer to another, almost more fascinating question: who was this man Mallory? This is the book to read to find the answer.
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1999	One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey by Sam Keith and Richard Proenneke Lots of books have been published about intrepid souls who head off into the wilderness, build their own cabin, and live a life removed from civilization. But if you were to pick one which comes closest to truly describing that experience, this is the book. Richard Proenneke has a refreshingly simple and wonderful outlook on life, and like the warmth from a potbelly wood stove, you can't help but be drawn to him and his engaging story. You'll be there right alongside him on the shore of Twin Lakes, helping him carve out a masterpiece of a cabin, and then settling in with him for a full and introspective life in the Alaskan bush.
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1998	The Doing of the Thing: The Brief and Brilliant Whitewater Career of Buzz Holmstrom by Vince Welch, Cort Conley, and Brad Dimock In this well-researched and well-written biography, western whitewater pioneer Buzz Holmstrom, famous for his 1937 thousand-mile solo run down the Colorado River, comes to life. Near its conclusion, the book answers one of the great mysteries of the whitewater world: how and why did Holmstrom die on the Grand Ronde river in Oregon? This is a wonderful story about rivers and wooden boats, humility, solitude, and one man's lone struggle in a difficult and changing world.
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Honorable Mentions

	Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life by Arlene Blum (2005)
	Arctic Crossing: A Journey Through the Northwest Passage and Inuit Culture by Jonathan Waterman (2002)
	Women on High: Pioneers of Mountaineering by Rebecca A. Brown (2003)

The National Outdoor Book Award Categories This is a non-profit, educational program. The winners are chosen by a panel of judges consisting of respected outdoor columnists, authors, educators, and book reviewers from throughout the country. In early November, the NOBA committee announces the winners of the nine categories that make up the awards program plus a set of books that achieved honorable mentions. The NOBA awards are given in nine different categories. Children's Books Design and Artistic Merit History and Biography Instructional and How-To Natural History Literature Nature and Environment Nature Guidebooks Outdoor Adventure Guidebooks Outdoor Classics Outdoor Literature

If you like this list of outdoor award winners, you may enjoy these additional lists of award winning books on mountaineering. Check out the winners (and finalists) of the following awards:

	American Alpine Literary Award
	Banff Mountain Book Awards
	Boardman-Tasker Memorial Award for Mountain Literature