The Heritage Award recipient for 2009 was Apache Adams.

Apache is shown here with last year’s recipients Betty Tanksley, Nelson Sager and Bill Brooks, and Joel Nelson (master of ceremonies).

Apache will be on hand this year to present the award to this year’s recipient.

Special News Bulletin

The Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering Committee is extremely proud to announce that Joel Nelson was awarded an NEA National Heritage Fellowship 2009 by the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 1982 the National Endowment for the Arts established the NEA National Heritage Awards as a way of honoring American folk artists for their contributions to our national cultural mosaic.

Joel Nelson
Photo by Barbera Richerson