The following awards were announced at the Western History Association Conference in Las Vegas in October 2004.

Arrington-Prucha Prize, given for the best essay of the year on the history of religion in the West: Rolf Swensen for the essay “Pilgrims at the Golden Gate: Christian Scientists on the Pacific Coast, 1880–1915,” in Pacific Historical Review (May 2003).

The Robert G. Athearn Book Award, given biennially for a published book on the twentieth-century American West: Karen Merrill for Public Lands and Political Meaning: Ranchers, the Government, and the Property Between Them (University of California Press, 2002).

Award of Merit, annual award recognizing an individual for outstanding contributions to western history, and especially to the Western History Association: Marvin Kaiser.

Ray Allen Billington Award, annual award for the best journal article in western history not published in the Western Historical Quarterly: Katherine Benton-Cohen for “Docile Children and Dangerous Revolutionaries: The Racial Hierarchy of Manliness and the Bisbee Deportation of 1917,” in Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies (2003).

Bolton-Kinnaird Award, for the best article on Spanish Borderlands history: Eric V. Meeks for “The Tohono O’odham, Wage Labor, and Resistant Adaptation, 1900–1930,” in The Western Historical Quarterly (Winter 2003).

Caughey-Western History Association Prize, for the best book of the year in western history: Colin G. Calloway for One Vast Winter Count: The Native American West Before Lewis and Clark (University of Nebraska Press, 2003).

John C. Ewers Award, given biennially for the best book on North American Indian Ethnohistory: Colin G. Calloway for One Vast Winter Count: The Native American West Before Lewis and Clark (University of Nebraska Press, 2003).

Bert M. Fireman Award, for the best student essay published in the Western Historical Quarterly:  James Feldman for the essay “The View from Sand Island: Reconsidering the Peripheral Economy, 1880–1940,” (Autumn 2004).

Arrell M. Gibson Award, for the best essay of the year on the history of Native Americans: Pekka Hämäläinen for “The Rise and Fall of Plains Indian Horse Cultures,” in Journal of American History (December 2003).

Honorary Life Membership, awarded by the Western History Association president: Anne Butler and Margaret Connell-Szasz.

Huntington Library-Western History Association-Martin Ridge Fellowship, one-month fellowship to the Huntington Library for study in western history: Lawrence Culver for his research titled “The Island, the Oasis, and the City: Santa Catalina, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and Southern California’s Shaping of American Life and Leisure.”

Sara Jackson Award, to support graduate student research: Stella Mancillas, University of California, Davis, for work on her dissertation “The Indian-White Marriage of Lucy and John Hite: Race, Gender, and Class in the Post Years of the California Gold Rush.”

Michael P. Malone Award, for the best article, essay, or commentary on state, provincial, or territorial history in North America: Keith Tolman for “Tea Kettle on a Raft: A History of Navigation on the Upper Red River,” in Chronicles of Oklahoma (Winter 2003–2004).

Walter Rundell Graduate Student Award, to support dissertation research on a topic in western history: Christine G. Bye, University of Calgary, for work on her dissertation “Grassroots Connections: A Cross-Border Study of Northern Great Plains Families during the Great Depression.”

Dwight L. Smith (ABC-CLIO) Award, biennial award for best bibliography or research tool: to Vine Deloria, Jr., Editor and University of Oklahoma Press for The Indian Reorganization Act: Congresses and Bills (University of Oklahoma Press, 2001).

Robert M. Utley Award, annual award for the best book published on the military history of the frontier and western North America: Jerome A. Greene for Morning Star Dawn: The Powder River Expedition and the Northern Cheyennes, 1876 (University of Oklahoma Press, 2003). 

Oscar O. Winther Award, for the best article published in the Western Historical Quarterly: Eric V. Meeks for “The Tohono O’odham, Wage Labor, and Resistant Adaptation, 1900–1930,” (Winter 2003). 

Indian Student Conference Scholarship to support Indian student attendees at the WHA conference. The 2004 recipients were Jeffrey Means (University of Oklahoma) and Rosalyn Rae LaPier (University of Montana). 

Graduate Student Conference Scholarship to support graduate student attendees at the WHA conference. The 2004 recipients were Rachel Sailor (University of Iowa) and Matthew Sutton (University of California - Santa Barbara).