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Awards and Prizes

Dave Rust: A Life in the Canyon is Recipient of thte 2007 Evans Biography Award

Dave Rust: A Life in the Canyons, by Frederick H. Swanson, has been selected as the winner of the Evans biography Award for books published in 2007. This recognition for the best biography of a person who played a role in the history of the Interior West and/or Mormonism carries a $10,000 prize for the author, made possible through an endowment created by the family of David W. and Beatrice C. Evans of Salt Lake City and administered by the mountain West Center for Regional Studies at Utah State University. The University of Utah Press will receive a wall plaque recognizing the award.

Eight distinguished reviewers selected the book from a filed of fifteen nominees, making the point that the book was “stunningly written.” The jurors further commented that the book was “well researched, footnoted, and photographed.” One of the jurors wrote, “I have a special liking for the life history form, in which and individual life story—usually of someone who it notably not famous—serves as a vehicle for exploring or understanding something larger than a single life. Dave Rust’s life as a backcountry guide serves as that vehicle for exploring the splendors and history of canyon country. I very much appreciate Swanson’s travels. I also like the skillful way in which he draws many other people into the story, from the early explorers, geologists, and archaeologists to other notables such as John Muir. In the end, he gives us a biography of place as well as person, and as I read the final chapter I did feel that I’d had a memorable guided tour.”

This is the third consecutive year in which a University of Utah publication has received an Evans Award. Past recipients include David O’McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism by Gregory A. Prince and Wm. Robert Wright (2005), and Scottish Shepherd: The Life and Times of John Murray Murdoch, Utah  Pioneer (2006). The Evans Biography Award and the Handcart Award are designed to encourage fine writing about the people who have helped shape the growth and character of an important part of America.