Osage citizen James Weigant is the winner of the 2025 Richard W. Helbock Prize for his article, “The Osage, Gray Horse, and Killers of the Flower Moon,” written and published in La Posta: The Journal of American Postal History.
In a news release, La Posta Publications Publisher Peter Martin announced this year’s winners of the Helbock Prize, awarded to the best postal history articles appearing in the previous year’s La Posta issues, which are published quarterly.
Weigant of Bartlesville won the 2025 Helbock Prize for the first time. “The Osage, Gray Horse, and Killers of the Flower Moon” describes the history of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma and the postal history of Gray Horse, interwoven with the real-life story told in the movie “Killers of the Flower Moon.” The article appeared in the Winter 2024 La Posta issue.
Weigant’s honored work received a cash prize in a contest where the other two runner-up writers’ respective articles touched on topics such as The War of 1812, postage rates, and the history of the Texarkana Post Office, which is located in two states. According to the same announcement, Weigant also placed 4th for his respective article, “Clifton House: An Oasis of Civilization on the Santa Fe Trail,” which was published in the third quarter issue.
“It was quite the honor to be included in the special 300th edition of La Posta,” Weigant said in a statement. “Later, finding out that I won 1st and 4th in the competition for the Helbock Prize was amazing. I am humbled that the esteemed readers of my journal thought so highly of my work.”
Weigant’s article takes readers through the history of the Osage and the establishment of the post office in the Nation’s communities, including mentions of a Gray Horse post office and postmasters working during the Reign of Terror era. The article research also includes copies of documents, maps and other postal markings.
“This comprehensive showing of the postal markings of Gray Horse is the result of tireless searching to create the most comprehensive and complete collection of Osage postal history in Oklahoma ever assembled,” Weigant said in the article’s closing.
The selections were based on voting by the La Posta editorial staff and the subscribers of La Posta, the release said. The Helbock Prize is named in honor of the founding editor of La Posta (est. 1969), who died in 2011.
La Posta: The Journal of American Postal History is published four times per year. It is the leading journal devoted to American postal history and is now in its 57th year of publication.
For more information, visit the La Posta website at www.lapostapub.com
