JACKSON, Wyo. — On Wednesday, Jan. 16, the Wyoming Arts Council (WAC) announced the 2025 recipients of the Frank Nelson Doubleday and Neltje Blanchan Memorial Writing Awards: Max Owens of Lander and Buckrail’s own Leigh Reagan Smith of Jackson.
Both awards are designed to bring attention to writers in Wyoming who have not yet received wide recognition for their work, who have published no more than one book in each genre and who are not full-time students or faculty members.
According to a WAC press release, Owens received the Neltje Blanchan Memorial Writing Award Inspired by Nature for his entry “River’s Season,” an award given annually for the best poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction or script informed by a relationship with the natural world. Reagan Smith received the Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Writing Award for the entry “The Legend of 399,” an award is given for the best poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction or script written by a woman writer.
“Her story can help us to understand our relationship with this apex predator.”
Leigh Reagan Smith
“As a Wyoming community, we all have been impacted by the life of Grizzly 399,” Reagan Smith tells Buckrail. “By talking with the biologists and photographers who watched and studied 399, I hope this book will share a glimpse into her miraculous life that spanned 28 years and 22 cubs and grandcubs. Her story can help us to understand our relationship with this apex predator.”
Coexistence with predators like grizzly bears is at the forefront of Wyoming conservation and management work. Aaron Bott, a wolf biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, previously told Buckrail that large carnivores are consistently interpreted as more than just biological entities, as cultural and emotional symbols, and need to be talked about through those lenses too.
Reagan Smith will continue her work as a journalist in addition to writing her book on the iconic matriarch.
