Years indicate when annual TIL meetings took place. Until 1955, eligible books were published between August 1 of the meeting year and the previous August 1.
1939
Book of the Year (Nonfiction): Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver (Little, Brown, 1939), by J. Frank Dobie.
1940
Book of the Year (Nonfiction): Captain Lee Hall of Texas (University of Oklahoma Press, 1941), by Dora Neil Raymond.
1941
Book of the Year (Novel): Hold Autumn in Your Hand (Viking, 1941), by George Sessions Perry
1942
Book of the Year (Novel): Thunder in the Earth (Harcourt, Brace)
Special $25 award for Best Poem by a Member of the Armed Services in Texas: “If This be Courage,” by Sgt. Albert Kerr of Camp Bowie, Fort Worth.
1943
Book of the Year (Nonfiction): Kendall of the Picayune (University of Oklahoma Press, 1943), by Fayette Copeland.
1944
Book of the Year (novel): The Magic of Limping John (Farrar & Rinehart, 1944), by Frank Goodwyn.
1945
Book of the Year (Nonfiction): A Texan in England (Little, Brown, 1945), by J. Frank Dobie.
Dadaelian Poetry Award, (TSCW): Sing With Me Now (Kaleidograph, 1945), by David Russell.
1946
Carr P. Collins Prose Book Award ($1,000):: San Antonio, City in the Sun (McGraw-Hill)1946), by Green Peyton (Wertenbaker).
Dadaelian Poetry Award: Joseph’s Coat (Kaleidograph, 1945), by Whitney Montgomery.
1947
Carr P. Collins Prose Book Award ($1,000): Adventures of a Ballad Hunter
Special Prose Award: Wetback (Coward-McCann, 1947), by Claude Garner.
Dadaelian Poetry Award: Of the Strong and the Fleet (Kaleidogaph, 1947), by Arthur
1948
Carr P. Collins Prose Book Award ($1,000): Anson Jones: the Last President of Texas (Doubleday, 1948), by Herbert Gambrell.
Special Prose Award (Dallas Morning News, $500): Heaven’s Tableland (Farrar Straus, 1947), by Vance Johnson.
D McMurray Bookshop Award for Best First Novel $250): Summer on the Water (Macmillan, 1948), by David Westheimer.
Dadaelian Poetry Award ($100): Hail for Rain (Kaleidograph, 1947), by Vaida Montgomery.
1949
Carr P. Collins Prose Book Award ($1,000): The Brave Bulls (Little, Brown, 1949), by Tom Lea.
McMurray Bookshop Award for Best First Novel $250): Hound-Dog Man (Harper, 1949), by Fred Gipson.
Special Prose Award (Dallas Morning News, $500): Oil! Titan of the Southwest (University of Oklahoma, 1949), by Carl Rister.
Dadaelian Poetry Award: Time at the Window (Kaleidograph, 1948), by Frances Alexander.
Cokesbury Bookstore Award for Best Children’s Book ($50): Sonny-Boy Jim (Rand- McNally, 1948), by Elizabeth Baker.
