PRCA Year-End Award nominations are out -- balloting continues through Oct. 31

Posted Friday, October 5, 2007

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Cheyenne, Wyo., San Antonio, Deadwood, S.D. and Estes Park, Colo. -- all of which were voted Rodeo Committee of the Year in their categories a year ago -- are back among the 2007 nominees announced Friday to determine the best of the best in ProRodeo.

The top 100 contestants in each event, as well as contract personnel and rodeo committees have until Oct. 31 to turn in their ballots for the 2007 Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association Year-End Awards. The winner in each of the 11 categories will be announced on Dec. 5 in Las Vegas at the Annual PRCA Awards Banquet.

Cheyenne Frontier Days has been the Large Outdoor Rodeo Committee of the Year eight times since 1993, including the last three years in succession. It faces stiff competition from fellow nominees at the Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up and the Reno (Nev.) Rodeo -- also past winners of the award -- plus the Caldwell (Idaho) Night Rodeo and the La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Rodeo in Tucson, Ariz.

The two-time and reigning Indoor Rodeo Committee of the Year from the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo is nominated again with nine-time winner of the award Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, as well as the National Western Rodeo in Denver, the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo in Rapid City, S.D., and the Southwestern Exposition & Livestock Show in Fort Worth, Texas.

Since the creation of the Medium Rodeo Committee of the Year Award in 2004, the Deadwood Days of '76 Rodeo has won it all three times and is nominated again along with the Kitsap County Fair & Stampede in Bremerton, Wash., the Black Hills Round-Up in Belle Fourche, S.D., the Gladewater (Texas) Round-Up Rodeo and the Dixie National Roundup in Jackson, Miss.

The Rooftop Rodeo of Estes Park, which won the Small Rodeo Committee of the Year Award in 2003 and again last year, is on the ballot with fellow two-time winner Steamboat Springs (Colo.) ProRodeo Series, the Crystal Springs Ranch Rodeo in Clear Lake, S.D., the Mesquite (Texas) Championship Rodeo and the Helotes (Texas) Festival Association Rodeo.

Announcer of the Year will be one of the most hotly contested categories, with multiple award winners Bob Tallman, Randy Corley and Hadley Barrett on the ballot along with 2005 winner Wayne Brooks and 12-year NFR veteran Boyd Polhamus.

The complete list of nominees:

Announcers
Hadley Barrett
Wayne Brooks
Randy Corley
Boyd Polhamus
Bob Tallman

Secretary of the Year
Linda Alsbaugh
Sunni Deb Backstrom
Mildred Farris
Edie Longfellow
Haley Schneeberger

Stock Contractor of the Year
Sammy Andrews
Bennie Beutler
Ike Sankey
Stace Smith
Harry Vold

Bullfighter of the Year
Travis Adams
Joe Baumgartner
Darrell Diefenbach
Seth "Shorty" Gorham
Cory Wall

Clown of the Year
Rudy Burns
Lecile Harris
Robbie Hodges
Keith Isley
Troy Lerwill

Dress Act of the Year
Vince Bruce
Tomas Garcilazo
Tommy Lucia
Mike Matt - member Rodeo Attitude
John Payne - member Rodeo Attitude

Comedy Act of the Year
Lecile Harris
John Harrison
Keith Isley
Troy Lerwill
Mark Swingler

Small Rodeo of the Year
Clear Lake, S.D.
Estes Park, Colo.
Helotes, Texas
Mesquite, Texas
Steamboat Springs, Colo.

Medium Rodeo of the Year
Belle Fourche, S.D.
Bremerton, Wash.
Deadwood, S.D.
Gladewater, Texas
Jackson, Miss.

Large Outdoor Rodeo of the Year
Caldwell, Idaho
Cheyenne, Wyo.
Pendleton, Ore.
Reno, Nev.
Tucson, Ariz.

Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year
Denver, Colo.
Forth Worth, Texas
Houston, Texas
Rapid City, S.D.
San Antonio, Texas