The Golden Boot Awards was founded in the early 1980s by Pat Buttram, William Campbell, and Caruth Byrd, and organized by the Motion Picture and Television (MPTV) Fund in an effort to honor the “Best of teh West” every August in sunny Southern California. To date, no Western award has been able to light a candle to the coveted “Golden Boot”. Past honorees include Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Robery Urich, Dale Evans, Fess Parker, Clint Eastwood, Buddy Ebsen, Lee Majors, Monte Hale, Burt Reynolds, Clayton Moore, Tom Selleck, and Jane Fonda. Special thanks goes to Michael Emerson — not only the man that ensures that the Golden Boot Awards ceremony is dignified and entertaining each year, but who also has given WW his undivided attention, full cooperation, and generous portions of kindness, courtesy, and professionalism. If not for Michael, the behind-the-scenes photographs at two recent Golden Boots, as shown here, would not have been possible.