Great Plains Research presents two annual awards for the best articles published during a volume year: The Charles E. Bessey Award for natural science and the Leslie Hewes Award for social science. The awards are announced at the annual Fellows Luncheon of the Center for Great Plains Studies and include a cash stipend of $250. The Bessey Award was announced in 2000 with first award presented in spring 2000. The Hewes Award was announced in 1997 with first award presented in spring 1998.

CHARLES E. BESSEY AWARD
2020 Stephanie Kennedy and Mark Burbach
Great Plains Ranchers Managing for Vegetation Heterogeneity: A Multiple Case Study
Volume 30, Number 2, Fall 2020
2019 Andrew J. Caven, Emma M. Brinley Buckley, Joshua D. Wiese, Bill Taddicken, Brice Krohn, Timothy J. Smith, Andrew Pierson
Appeal for a Comprehensive Assessment of the potential Ecological Impacts of the Proposed Platte-Republican Diversion Project
Volume 29, Number 2, Fall 2019
2018 Larkin Powell, Kelly Powell, Richard Edwards, Katie Nieland
Geography of Ecotourism Potential in the Great Plains: Incentives for Conservation
Volume 28, Number 1, Spring 2018
2017 Dan Licht
Bison Conservation in Northern Great Plains National Parks: No Need to Panic
Volume 27, Number 2, Fall 2017
2016 Alexander J. Smart, Lora B. Perkins, Tara N. Schramm, Matthew J. Nelson, Peter J. Bauman, Sharon A. Clay, and David E. Clay
The Effects of Patch-Burn Grazing on Vegetation Structural Heterogeneity in the Northern Tallgrass Prairie of South Dakota
Volume 26, Spring 2016
2016 Alexander J. Smart, Lora B. Perkins, Tara N. Schramm, Matthew J. Nelson, Peter J. Bauman, Sharon A. Clay, and David E. Clay
The Effects of Patch-Burn Grazing on Vegetation Structural Heterogeneity in the Northern Tallgrass Prairie of South Dakota
Volume 26, Spring 2016
2015 Kevin Gallo and Eric Wood
Historical Drought Events of the Great Plains Recorded by Native Americans
Fall 2015, Volume 25, No. 2
2014 Craig Corpstein, Joseph Arruda, Cynthia Ford, and Ananda Jayawardhana
An Assessment of Prairie Restoration at Fort Scott National Historic Site
Spring 2014, Volume 24, No. 1
2013 Rebecca A. Puta, Paul R. Hanson, Aaron R. Young
Late Holocene Activation History of the Stanton Dunes, Northeastern Nebraska
Spring 2013, Vol. 23, No. 1:11-23
2012 Sharon N. Kahara and Steven R. Chipps,
Wetland Hydrodynamics and Long-Term Use of Spring Migration Areas by Lesser Scaup in Eastern South Dakota.
Spring 2012, Vol. 22, No. 1:69-78
2011 Alexander J. Smart, Matthew J. Nelson, and Gary E. Larson
Effects of Herbicides and Grazing on Floristic Quality of Native Tallgrass Pastures in Eastern South Dakota and Southwestern Minnesota
2011 Vol. 21, No. 2:181-90
2010 Michael J. Keables
A Soil Water Climiatology for Kansas.
2010 Vol. 20, No. 2:229-48
2009 Mark P. Vrtiska and Susan Sullivan
Abundance and Distribution of Lesser Snow and Ross's Geese in the Rainwater Basin and Central Platte River Valley of Nebraska
2009 Vol. 19, No. 1: 147-55
2008 Hugh H. Genoways and Brett C. Ratcliffe
Engineer Cantonement, Missouri Territory, 1819-1820; America's First Biodiversity Inventory
2008 Vol. 18, No. 1: 3-31
2007 Stephen A. Wolfe, Chris H. Hugenholz, Christopher P. Evans, D.J. Huntley, and Jeff Ollerhead
Potential Aboriginal-Occupation-Induced Dune Activity, Elbow Sand Hills, Northern Great Plains, Canada
2007 Vol. 17, No. 2: 173-92
2006 Mark E. Burbach and R. Matthew Joeckel
A Delicate Balance: Rainfall and Groundwater in Nebraska during the 2000-2005 Drought
2006 Vol. 16, No. 1: 5-16
2005 Barbara J. Nicholson and James B. Swinehart
Evidence of Holocene Climate Change in a Nebraska Sandhills Wetland
2005 Vol. 15, No. 1: 45-67
2004 Mark P. Vrtiska and Nick Lyman
Wintering Canada Geese along the Platte Rivers of Nebraska, 1960-2000
2004 Vol. 14 No. 1: 115-28
2003 Craig A. Davis
Habitat Use and Migration Patterns of Sandhill Cranes along the Platte River, 1998-2001
2003 Vol. 13 No. 2: 199-216
2002 Dallas Virchow and Scott Hyngstrom
Distribution and Abundance of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs in the Great Plains: A Historical Perspective
2002 Vol. 12 No. 2: 197-218
2001 R. Mark Larson, Lawrence C. Todd, Eugene F. Kelly, and Jeffrey M. Welker
Carbon Stable Isotopic Analysis of Bison Dentition
2001 Vol. 11 No. 1: 25-64
2000 David B. Loope and James B. Swinehart
Thinking Like a Dune Field: Geologic History in the Nebraska Sand Hills
2000 Vol. 10 No. 1: 5-35
1999 Carolyn Hull Sieg, Curtis H. Flather, and Stephen McCanny
Recent Biodiversity Patterns in the Great Plains: Implications for Restoration and Management
1999 Vol. 9 No. 2: 277-313
LESLIE HEWES AWARD
2020 Matthew R. Sanderson
People Pipelines: Channeling and Immigrant Integration in a Great Plains New Destination Region
Volume 30, Number 2, Fall 2020
2019 Vanessa Hamilton, Carlton LeCount, Nicole Parker Cariaga, and Kristine Sudbeck
Research On vs. Research With: 21st Century Cross Cultural Collaboration and American Indian Education
Volume 29, Number 1, Spring 2019
2018 Joshua T. Fergen, Jeffrey B. Jacquet, Bishal Kasu, Matthew Barnett, Anne Junod, and Sandeep Kumar
Out where the West Begins: Measuring Land Use Preferences and Environmental Attitudes across the Great Plains Transition Zone
Volume 28, Number 2, Fall 2018
2017 Joan M. Blauwkamp
Free Exercise and the Fashion Police: Nebraska’s Ban on Religious Dress
Volume 27, Number 1, Spring 2017
2016 Terry Huffman
Native American Educators and Their Leadership Roles on Reservations in the Northern Great Plains
Volume 26, Spring 2016
2015 Christina Dando
Virtually Constructing a Great Plains: Booster Impacts on Plains Viewing
Fall 2015, Volume 25, No. 2
2014 Miguel Ceballos and Oksana Yakushko
Attitudes toward Immigrants in Nebraska
Fall 2014, Volume 24, No. 2
2013 William R. England, Edmund T. Hamann
Segregation, Inequality, Demographic Change, and School Consolidation: A Micropolitan Case
Fall 2013, Vol. 23, No. 2:171-183
2012 Robert Pahre
Reconsidering National Park Interpretation of the Great Plains and Trans-Mississippi West
Fall 2012, Vol. 22, No. 2:99-122
2011 Peter J. Longo and Joan M. Blauwkamp
Workplace Religious Accommodation for Muslims and the Promise of State Constitutionalism
2011 Vol. 21, No. 1:3-16
2010 Richard Edwards and Eric Thompson
The Role of Conservation Research and Education Centers in Growing Nature-Based Tourism
2010 Vol. 20, No. 1:51-70
2009 Peter Bleed and Douglas D. Scott
Archeological Interpretation of the Frontier Battle at Mud Springs, Nebraska
2009 Vol. 19, No. 1: 12-25
2008 Dean A. Bangsund and F. Larry Leistritz
Producer Responses to Carbon Sequestration Incentives in the Northern Great Plains
2008 Vol. 18, No. 2: 165-76
2007 Suzanne Walker-Pacheco, Susan Dollar, and Ravindra G. Amonker
Population Characteristics and Health Service Use by Latino Immigrants to Southwest Missouri
2007 Vol. 17, No. 1: 87-100
2006 Susan Hautaniemi Leonard and Myron P. Gutmann
Land Use and Transfer Plans in the U.S. Great Plains
2006 Vol. 16, No. 2: 181-93
2005 Ana-Maria Gonzalez Wahl, Steven E. Gunkel, and Bennie Shobe, Jr.
Becoming Neighbors or Remaining Strangers? Latinos and Residential Segregation in the Heartland
2005 Vol. 15, No. 2: 297-327
2004 Mary S. Willis and Constance J. Fernald
A View of Sudanese Refugee Resettlement through Nebraska’s Print Media
2004 Vol. 14 No. 2: 271-92
2003 Alexander C. Vias and Charles O. Collins
Differential Population and Income Migration in the Great Plains, 1995-1998
2003 Vol. 13 No. 2: 321-52
2002 Bruce B. Johnson and John D. Cole
Was Old Jules Right?: Soil Stewardship on Leased Land
2002 Vol. 12 No. 2: 339-51
2001 Joe Truett, Michael Phillips, Kyran Kunkel, and Russell Miller
Managing Bison to Restore Biodiversity
2001 Vol. 11 No. 1: 123-44
2000 Ana-María Wahl, Steven E. Gunkel, and Thomas W. Sanchez
Death and Disability in the Heartland: Corporate (Mis)Conduct, Regulatory Responses, and the Plight of Latino Workers in the Meatpacking Industry
2000 Vol. 10 No. 2: 329-57
1999 Larry R. Peterson
Is the Family Disappearing? Northern Great Plains vs. National Trends in Family Structure
1999 Vol. 9 No. 1: 143-63
1998 Jane H. Bock and Carl E. Bock
Tallgrass Prairie: Remnants and Relicts
1998 Vol. 8 No. 2: 213-30
1997 Russel Lawrence Barsh, Michelle Fraser, Faye Morning Bull, Toby Provost, and Kirby Smith
The Prairie Indian Vote in Canadian Politics, 1965-1993: A Critical Case Study from Alberta
1997 Vol. 7 No. 1: 3-26