The J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award: Max Yoho,
         District 1, for The Revival —visit book's web site

Max Yoho’s humorous novel won the 2002 Coffin Award, which honors the best book by a Kansas Authors Club member published within the past two years. Max’s story about a boy growing up in a small Kansas town is a coming-of-age novel without the usual angst. His young hero embodies a craving for fun and adventure, a healthy dose of sibling rivalry, and just enough budding romance to keep the story interesting. Max has captured his small-town setting with its rival revivals perfectly. “Tongue firmly in cheek,” he gets the Kansas language right. Max lives in Topeka, where he pursues his second career as a writer. Max has recently published a second book, Tales from Comanche County.

The Ferguson History Book Award: Ellen May Stanley,
         District 7, for Golden Age, Great Depression,
         and Dust Bowl

Ellen May Stanley’s newest book completes a three-volume series of Lane County history compiled by the author. This book covers 1914 through 1939. Early Lane County History, 12,000 B.C.–A.D. 1884, published in 1993, and Early Lane County Development, published in 1999, narrate the history of the county up to World War I. Ellen May is a lifetime Lane County resident who attended one-room schools. Much later she received a Masters degree in History from Fort Hays State University. She also wrote Cowboy Josh: Adventures of a Real Cowboy in 1996.

The Nelson Poetry Book Award: Laurence Harshbarger,
         District 4, for Sixty Years of Poetry 1941-2000

Encompasses a wide variety of moods, ideas, and verse forms. Laurence’s poems are like Kansas weather–if you don’t like it today, just wait and it will change, or just turn the page. Laurence’s comments throughout the book and his "Happy Reading" lend a very personal air to the more than a hundred poems that chronicle his life from 1941 to 2000. A retired Professor of English at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, Larry lives in Junction City where he writes academic, fiction and poetry. He has lectured the district on writing sonnets. He can and does recite his poetry on demand.

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