
The University of New Mexico
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Carolyn Gonzales 277-5920, cgonzal@unm.edu
Sept. 11, 2007
NMHR, Hutton, Receive Award for Best Western History Article
University of New Mexico History Professor Paul Andrew Hutton’s article, “Silver Screen Desperado: Billy the Kid in the Movies,” published in the spring 2007 issue of the New Mexico Historical Review, is the winner of the Ray Allen Billington Prize. The prize is awarded annually to the author and publisher of the best article in the field of Western History.
“This is the first time the NMHR has won the prize, and on behalf of the NMHR staff, I want to thank Professor Hutton for publishing this superb article with the Review,” said Durwood Ball, NMHR editor and UNM associate professor of history.
Hutton said, “I’m very pleased with this award, especially in the nice recognition it brings to the NMHR and its fine staff. Billington, for whom the award is named, was a founder of the Western History Association and its first president.”
Hutton said that as a kid, he was interested in Billy the Kid, but it wasn’t until he moved to New Mexico in 1985 that he became “hooked.”
“My interest, however, has focused on his incredible legend and how it has grown to such international proportions—particularly in film, with 60 movies to his credit,” Hutton said.
“Silver Screen Desperado” grew out of the exhibit Hutton curated for the Albuquerque Museum—“Dreamscape Desperado: Billy the Kid and the Outlaw in America,” which drew record visitation to the museum over this last summer.
“The NMHR staff did a great job editing the essay, laying it out, and lavishly illustrating it. I could not be more pleased,” Hutton said.
The Organization of American Historians also has a Billington Prize, which is for the best book in western history. Hutton won that prize in 1986 for his biography of Philip Sheridan.
“Billington was my intellectual grandfather, as he was my mentor’s mentor--so this is pretty sweet,” Hutton said.
The award comes with a cash prize for the author and a $100 award and certificate for the publisher, to be awarded during the annual awards luncheon next month at the Western History Association conference in Oklahoma City.
The WHA will display the award-winning publications at the conference.
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