Marc Acito of Portland won the Ken Kesey Award for the Novel for his book "How I Paid For College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater." It is the story of a young man who finds himself cut off from the good life and must find a way of financing his college years. The finalists included Michael Strelow of Salem for his "The Greening of Ben Brown."

Laton Carter of Eugene was awarded the Stafford/ Hall Award for Poetry for his collection entitled "Leaving." His focus is work and how it defines human beings.

Barry Lopez of Finn Rock took the H.L. Davis Award for Short Fiction for his collection "Resistance." Lopez is nationally known for his nature writing, both fiction and essays.

James C. Mohr of Eugene won the Frances Fuller Victor Award for General Nonfiction for his book "Plague and Fire." It is a chronicle of the little-known story of a plague that hit Honolulu in 1900 and of the U.S. government's response to it, which included the destruction of the immigrant section of the city.

Kathleen Dean Moore of Corvallis was given the Sarah Winnemucca Award for Creative Nonfiction for her collection of essays "The Pine Mountain Paradox." The work focuses on the connections between body, mind, soul and nature.

Henry Sayre of Bend won the Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children's Literature. His book "Cave Paintings to Picasso" is an illustrated chronicle of artists and the times in which they lived.

Linda Crew of Corvallis was given the Leslie Bradshaw Award for Young Adult Literature for her novel "A Heart for Any Fate." Based on diaries and letters, the novel fictionalizes the story of a family that came to the Northwest on the Oregon Trail. Descendants of that family still live in the Corvallis area.

Barbara LaMorticella of Portland was given the Stewart H. Holbrook Award for Outstanding Contributions to Oregon's Literary Life. She is the host of KBOO radio's "The Talking Earth, a poetry program. She has edited poetry contributions to online magazines and the Portland Alliance newspaper, as well as editing three anthologies of Portland poets. She has produced a number of literary events for Northwest writers.

Carol Brown of Corvallis received the Walt Morey Special Award for Contributions to Young Readers' Literature. A retired public schoolteacher, Brown works with the Oregon Reading Association, the Oregon Council of Teachers of English, the Mid-Valley Reading Council, First Book and the International Reading Association. She is an adjunct instructor of reading and language arts at Oregon State University.

The event was hosted by writer Pam Houston, the author of "Cowboys are My Weakness," "Waltzing the Cat," "A Little More About Me" and "Sight Hound."

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