Nevada Press Association The best in Nevada journalism since 1924
from RANGE magazine:
National recognition for western publisher
Caroline “CJ” Hadley, publisher of RANGE magazine, has been nominated to the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. Her acceptance as a candidate is the first step in the painstaking process of selecting the four or five women who will be honored at the 40th annual induction event in Texas. The final selection of the 2015 inductees will be announced later this summer, and will be made from a field of approximately 500 women.
“We have received your nomination file from Mr. [Jameson] Parker and find it both impressive and complete,” according to Diana Vela, Ph.D., associate executive director of exhibits and education. “You are one of only a select few whose file was chosen for retention.” Vela explained that the nomination will be retained in the association’s archives and will be open to the public and available for research.
Jameson Parker submitted Hadley’s name after extensive interviews and research into her background. Parker is an author/writer/blogger and is best known for his starring role of AJ in the detective drama, “Simon & Simon,” which aired from 1981-1995 on NBC.
“To be nominated to the Cowgirl Hall of Fame is a perfect treat and a beautiful surprise when I think of my early years in the coal and steel town of Birmingham, England—and to be among such incredible women is both humbling and inspiring. I have been constantly amazed by the ingenuity, determination and resourcefulness of ranching women and their families over the past 25 years. Their integrity and inner strength keeps me going when those 80-hour workweeks start to wear me down.”
Parker asked Hadley what she would most like the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame to know about her and RANGE. She vowed: “I want them to know that there is nothing I care about more than cowboys and ranchers. They are food producers and there is nothing in the world more important than that. In RANGE’s early years, I was shocked to discover that these good people, instead of being praised and acclaimed, are attacked and reviled by the government, by environmentalists and by ‘innocents’ who have no idea where their food comes from. I will fight for them as long as I can.”
During this nomination process, Hadley says she has grown to know and respect Jameson Parker (whom she has never met) as “an amazing, talented, non-Hollywood human being, and a great writer.”
According to Parker, Hadley is deserving of the nomination, and more: “No one, absolutely no one, has fought harder, more tenaciously, or to better effect, to tell the truth about the West and its people than C.J. Hadley. If it should seem strange to you that a transplanted British lady should be the one to champion this most American part of America and these most truly American of American people, remember that much of the West was settled by immigrants. Some, like John Tunstall of the Lincoln County Wars’ fame, were wealthy and privileged. Most, like C.J. Hadley, came with nothing more than empty hands, hopeful hearts, and capable heads.”
Hadley has taken those capabilities and produced an award-winning quarterly magazine that is no stranger to controversy. Based in western Nevada, RANGE is the outspoken advocate for the protection of land, wildlife and the people who produce food and clothing for America and the world. The publication covers tough issues producers face and recently received a second consecutive Freedom of the Press award for coverage of global warming. The first Freedom of the Press award dealt with trial coverage of the precedent-setting case, Hage v. United States.
In a recent Nevada journalism competition (where RANGE picked up 17 awards), judges from the Montana Press Association remarked: “Never heard of RANGE magazine before but they take wide swings at big, fascinating, important subjects with thorough investigation, put-me-there drama and unflinching portrayal of the facts, regardless of politics, personal beliefs or religion. This is the kind of reporting that makes us important and relevant in an age when everything else is becoming more like a sound bite.”
RANGE follows the politics affecting America’s food supply—chronic overregulation, the heavy hand of the EPA, political manipulation of endangered species, climate change and Agenda 21. With America’s cattle herd at its lowest level in 60 years, droughts decimating grazing land and water supplies, subsidized ethanol producers driving up corn prices, and seemingly limitless new rules from unelected bureaucrats, impending Washington policies and positions are more onerous to western rural life and western rural productivity than ever before.
Bureaucrats may view such issues to be of marginal importance, but this has and will always be unacceptable to RANGE. The public has the right to know how they will be affected, including higher prices and spot shortages at the supermarket, and restrictions on their freedom to choose where they can enjoy outdoor recreation.
The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is the only museum in the world dedicated to honoring women of the American West who have displayed extraordinary courage in their trailblazing efforts, according to its Web site. It further explains that the Hall of Fame’s purpose is twofold: to preserve the history and impact of western women living from the mid-1800s to the present day, and to foster an appreciation for their ideals and spirit of self-reliance. These women are the legacy of legends—artists and writers, champions and competitive performers, entertainers, ranchers (stewards of land and livestock), trailblazers and pioneers. The museum is considered an invaluable national educational resource for its exhibits, research library, rare photograph collection, and award-winning distance-learning programs for grades K-12 and adults.
In the Hall of Fame notification letter to Hadley, Diana Vela explained that candidates who have been successfully nominated “often maintain nominee status for years as we currently have over 500 successful nominees for the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame; only four or five are selected as honorees each year.” Past Nevada inductees include cowboy poet/rancher Georgie Sicking in 1989, and Velma B. “Wild Horse Annie” Johnston in 2008.
“Congratulations on your successful nomination,” Vela wrote. “We salute you for your accomplishments and are deeply honored to permanently house your application in our archives.”
CAROLINE JOY (CJ) HADLEY BIO:
In October 2014, Hadley and RANGE were awarded two prestigious Will Rogers Gold Medallions in Fort Worth for “Brushstrokes & Balladeers”—RANGE magazine’s critically acclaimed tribute to painters and poets of the American West. The two gold medallions, the book’s third and fourth literary honors, were for “Best Poetry Book of the Year” and “Outstanding Merit/Excellence in Printing and Publication.” C.J. Hadley, RANGE publisher, was recognized for her role as editor and publisher of “Brushstrokes & Balladeers.”
The 144-page hardbound edition was previously honored in April 2014 with the prestigious Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, and again in September with a third place award for Special Projects from the Nevada Press Association’s annual competition, which recognizes journalism excellence.
Hadley was managing editor for Car & Driver in New York City, a professional rodeo photographer, and publisher/editor of Nevada Magazine in Carson City before launching RANGE 25 years ago.
She is the recipient of the Paladin Award from the Paragon Foundation for her “fight for justice and recognition on behalf of ranchers and farmers.”
The 50,000-member American Agri-Women (AAW) organization recognized Hadley with its Veritas Award, which is presented to one who has “given witness to the pursuit of truth.” AAW said the tribute was for “writing and speaking the truth in the media with intellect, integrity, tenacity and heart on behalf of people who live and work on the land.”
She has produced 90 quarterly issues of RANGE and 11 hardback books on ranchers and ranching in the American West with very little help. One of her bosses in New York called her “driven”—which is probably why RANGE has subscribers in all 50 states plus 22 foreign countries and is distributed on select newsstands nationwide. The RANGE website rangemagazine.com receives about two million hits each year.