Great Plains Research and Great Plains Quarterly announce annual awards

            Great Plains Research and Great Plains Quarterly, scholarly journals published by the University of Nebraska's Center for Great Plains Studies, have announced the winners of their annual awards for the best articles published during the 2011 volume year.

            Alexander J. Smart, Matthew J. Nelson, Peter J. Bauman and Gary E. Larson received the Charles E. Bessey Award for their article, "Effects of Herbicides and Grazing on Floristic Quality of Native Tallgrass Pastures in Eastern South Dakota and Southwestern Minnesota," published in the fall issue of Great Plains Research. Smart is a professor, Nelson a graduate student, and Larson a professor, all in the Department of Natural Resource Management at South Dakota State University. Bauman is with the Nature Conservancy in Clear Lake, S.D.

            The winners of the Leslie Hewes Award are Peter J. Longo and Joan M. Blauwkamp for their paper, "Workplace Religious Accommodation for Muslims and the Promise of State Constitutionalism," published in the spring issue of Great Plains Research. Longo is professor and Blauwkamp associate professor of political science, both at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

            C. M. Cooper received the 2012 Frederick C. Luebke Award for her article, "From 'No Place' to Home: The Quest for a Western Home in Brewster Higley's 'Home on the Range,'" published in the fall issue of Great Plains Quarterly. Cooper is a recent graduate of Concordia University's M.A. creative writing program.

            The judges for the awards were UNL faculty members Douglas Seefeldt and Pat Crews, and Alan Kolok from University of Nebraska at Omaha, all of whom serve on the center's publication committee. Previous Luebke award winner Kathy Bahr of Chadron State College also served as judge for the Luebke award.

            Richard Edwards is director of the center, Robert F. Diffendal Jr. is editor of Great Plains Research and Charles A. Braithwaite is editor of Great Plains Quarterly. For more information, contact the center at 402-472-3082.

Writer:  Linda Ratcliffe, Center for Great Plains Studies, 402-472-3965