The Prairie Star Award is given out every other year and it recognizes an individual artist whose body of work has made a significant contribution to the arts over an extended period of time, who has been recognized by their artistic peers, and who has best exemplified the highest quality of work in the SMAC region. In recognizing these individuals publicly, the awards will raise the profile of the arts in their communities and throughout the SMAC region. The public is invited to join SMAC in publicly honoring Brent Olson at our Annual Celebration of the arts and artists in our southwest Minnesota region.
After the nominations were evaluated and scored by the SMAC Board of Directors it was determined that Brent Olson had the highest score for the Prairie Star Award. Brent’s nominator Judy Beckman and supporters planned a private surprise presentation of the award with friends and family at the OMG offices in Ortonville on June 19th. SMAC Executive Director, Nicole DeBoer, presented Brent with the check and letters of support for the nomination.
In her nomination, Beckman wrote, “As a columnist, author, essayist, and blogger, Brent Olson has spent 25 years entertaining, enlightening, challenging and prodding his readers to think more globally while also giving residents of southwestern Minnesota the words to express pride in living rural.” Olson has served as a Big Stone County Commissioner for nearly 20 years. Over those many years he has served on a multitude of committee assignments. Not the least of those has been his work with the arts. He served on the Southwest Minnesota Arts and Humanities Council (as SMAC was called at the time) and made the motion to approve their very first grant request.
Brent Olson has taught writing classes in nine states and six countries. He is a Bush Foundation Fellow, and the keynote speaker for the National Association of Rural Mental Health Professionals College Theological Convocation in Portland, OR. He has also been the keynote speaker for many other organizations and events, including the Saskatchewan Pork Producers.
Additional to the nominator’s support of Brent Olson receiving the Prairie Star award, he also had 10 letters of support from community members! One was from Janelle Atyeo who said, “As Regional Editor of publications that serve much of the area that encompasses the 18 counties of Southwest Minnesota, I can attest to the impact Brent Olson’s ‘Independently Speaking’ column has on this broad community…His words reach nearly 8,000 Minnesota subscribers and nearly 24, 600 reads across our coverage area”. Cheri Zagurski, Editor of the DTN/The Progressive Farmer wrote, “He writes about farm work, government work, family work and other work in a friendly, entertaining and, often, sneakily educational way. He has written about topics near and dear to all of our hearts without stirring up too many tempers and without becoming maudlin…Brent’s column is also moving. So many times after editing it I have responded to him, ‘OK, you made me cry; again.’ His insights are balm for the soul…He’s the reason I want to visit Ortonville.”
ABOUT BRENT OLSON:
Brent Olson’s biggest, boldest, and best book yet is a stunning work of alternative history. Olson has achieved an entirely new script for the world by moving the path of one arrow one inch. Brent Olson, a journalist for a quarter of a century, has published seven books and filed thousands of articles from over twenty countries on six continents. Throughout this time, he couldn’t help but wonder, “Could we have done better?” Not fully content with his world, he decided to create a new one.
