A Wild West Magazine article, Frederick J. Chiaventone’s “Taking Stock of the Pony Express,” which ran in the April 2010 issue, is this year’s winner of the coveted Western Heritage Award (Wrangler) in the Magazine category (“a nonfiction article or essay, on a Western theme, published in a commercial or literary North American publication”) .
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum will give out bronze Wrangler statues to Fred and to a WIld West representative at its Western Heritage Awards Golden Anniversary Banquet in Oklahoma City on April 16, 2011.
Fred Chiaventone, a former Army officer who frequently writes for Weider’s Armchair General magazine, won a Wrangler earlier for his novel Moon of Bitter Cold. His Wild West article was written to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the short-lived but legendary Pony Express horseback mail service.
Wild West editor Gregory Lalire noted this is the fourth Wrangler that has been awarded to the magazine. Back issues of the April 2010 issue can be purchased by calling 800-358-6327.