2014 Paumanok Poetry Award from the Visiting Writers Program at Farmingdale State College, New York.

"Door-to-Door” selected by Narrative Magazine as one of “Top Five Poems” published by Narrative in 2013. 

2013 Manchester Poetry Prize, Short-List Honors.  Manchester Writing School, Manchester Metropolitan University, Mancheser, UK.  2013.

Normal Prize in Poetry, for poem, “Kablooey is the Sound You Hear.”  The Normal School. 2013. 

Wachtmeister Award for Excellence in the Arts, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.  2013.

North Dakota Humanities Council, invited traveling residency to gather cultural and environmental impact stories in the North Dakota “Oil Patch.  “Our People.  Our Places.  Our Stories.” November, 2013.

David B. Saunders Award for Creative Nonfiction from Cream City Review for essay, "Ephemera.”  Selected by nonfiction judge, Margaret MacInnis.  2012.

Black Earth Institute Fellow.  Black Earth Institute, Black Earth, Wisconsin. 2011.

Iowa Author's Award, Des Moines Public Library Foundation, Des Moines, IA.  2009.

The Horizontal World Selected as the "2009 Common Reader" Text, Dakota College, Bottinueau, North Dakota.  2009-2010.

Louis B. Thompson Distinguished Undergraduate Introductory Teaching Award, Iowa State University, for Outstanding Teaching.  2008-2009.

National Endowment for the Arts, Prose Fellowship, 2008.

PEN USA, 2007 Creative Nonfiction Award, for The Horizontal World: Growing Up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere.

Society of Midland Authors, Finalist, Creative Nonfiction Award, for The Horizontal World: Growing Up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere.

"Editors' Choice" recommendation, New York Times Book Review, 8 August 2006, for The Horizontal World: Growing Up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere.

Elle Magazine, "Elles Lettres" Award, August 2006 Pick for The Horizontal World: Growing up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere.

Elle Magazine, Honorable Mention, "Grand Prix, 2006" Award for The Horizontal World: Growing UP Wild in the Middle of Nowhere.

Pushcart Prize Nomination, “To the Woman who Tore the Word Husband from the Oxford English Dictionary.” Nominated by Vince Gotera, Editor, North American Review. 2005.

Joseph S. Height Award, for “The Most Famous Person from North Dakota, reprinted in The Heritage Review. Germans-from-Russia Heritage Society. Awarded at GRHS Convention, Portland, Oregon. 12-16 July, 2006.

Mid-American Review, Nonfiction Award, for “Agricultural Mysticism: Twenty-One Fragments on Desire.” 2003.

Shelby Foote Prize for the Essay. William Faulkner Creative Writing Competition. The Pirate’s Alley, Faulkner Society, New Orleans, LA. 2003.

John Guyon Literary Nonfiction Award for “Pilgrim Soul.” Crab Orchard Review, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL. 2003.

Lush Triumphant Nonfiction Award for “How to Enjoy a Nice Life in the Country.” SubTerrain Magazine, Anvil Press, Vancouver, Canada. 2003.

Personal Essay Award for “Sustainable Agriculture.” Writers’ Digest, F & W Publications, Cincinnati, OH. 2003.

Pushcart Prize Nomination for essay, “Between Earth & Sky.” New Letters, 2002.

Early Achievement in Research Award, Iowa State University. 2002-2003.

Walter E. Dakin Fiction Fellowship. Sewanee Writers Conference. University of the South, Sewanee, TN. 17 – 19, July 2001.

Citation in “Notable Essays of 2001,” Best American Essays, for “Things Not Seen in a Rear View Mirror.”

2001 Pulitzer Prize Nomination, New Rivers Press, for The Hunger Bone: Rock & Roll Stories.

2001 Pushcart Prize, for “Things Not Seen in a Rear View Mirror.”

2000 Pearl Poetry Award, Pearl Editions, for poetry collection, “From Sweetness.”

2000 Pushcart Prize Nomination, New Letters, for “Things Not Seen in a Rear View Mirror.”

Citation in “Notable Essays of 1999,” Best American Essays, for “On Lost & Crazy Sisters.”

1999 Nonfiction Award, New Letters, for “Things Not Seen in a Rear View Mirror.” 1999.

Headwaters Prize, New Rivers Press, for short fiction collection, The Hunger Bone: Rock & Roll Stories. 1999.

Citation in “Notable Essays of 1998,” Best American Essays, for “Failures of the Heart.” 1999.

University Early Achievement in Teaching Award, Iowa State University. 1998-1999.

ISU Women Award. Faculty Women’s Network. 1998-1999.

1998 Nonfiction Award, New Letters, for “On Lost & Crazy Sisters.”

1998 Capricorn Fiction Award, The Writers’ Voice, Westside YMCA, New York, NY, for short fiction collection, The Hunger Bone: Rock & Roll Stories.

1998 Pushcart Prize Nomination, Kalliope, for "Other Knowledge." 1997.

Pushcart Prize Nomination, Flyway Literary Review, for “To Kill a Deer." 1997.

Robert Penn Warren Poetry Award, Third Place, Cumberland Poetry Review, for "My Catholic Tongue." 1997.

Sue Saniel Elkind Poetry Award, Kalliope: Journal of Women’s Art, for "Other Knowledge." 1997. Selected by Joy Harjo.

Dorothy Churchill Cappon Essay Award, New Letters, for "The Most Famous Person from North Dakota." 1996.

Chekhov Award for Short Fiction, 1996, Second Place, The Crescent Review, for "Santiago's Dead."

Pushcart Prize Nomination, by Josip Novakovich, Contributing Editor, Pushcart Anthology, for "The Most Famous Person from North Dakota." 1996.

Pushcart Prize Nomination, Selected Poems from Everything's a Verb, nomination by Bill Truesdale, Publisher, New Rivers Press. 1996.

GCC Poetry Award, First Place. Gloucester County College Poetry Center, Sewell, New Jersey, for “When the Names Still Fit the Faces.” 1994.

13th Annual Minnesota Voices Project Award, New Rivers Press, for Everything's a Verb, 1993.
Guy Owen Poetry Prize, Southern Poetry Review, for "Somewhere in a House Where You are Not," 1993. Poem selected by Charles Simic.

River City Annual Fiction Award, Second Place, River City, for "Naming the Beast," 1992. Story selected by David Leavitt.

Robert Penn Warren Poetry Award, Third Place, Cumberland Poetry Review, for "Speaking the Language," 1991.

Pushcart Prize Nomination, by William Borden, Fiction Editor, North Dakota Quarterly, for “The Moon.” 1991.

Dorothy Churchill Cappon Essay Award, New Letters, for "Through the Beaded Curtain." 1989. Essay selected by Philip Lopate.