Class Winners

The Charles J. Jordan Award

Best Wingbone Sound

Named after the famous Louisiana turkey hunter and writer Charles L. Jordan, this award recognizes the best wingbone call maker in the Grand National Custom Callmaking Competition. Jordan was among the first generation of call makers in the 1800s. Both Jordan’s productions and articles in Forest and Stream magazine about wingbone yelpers helped make the wingbone a viable tool that still benefits modern callmakers and modern hunters. While Jordan did not invent the wingbone call (archaeologists discovered wingbone calls dating back to 6,500 BC at the Eva archaic site in Benton County, Tennessee, in 1940), Jordan is known to have popularized the production of these calls on a large scale, as well as their popularity through his writing and his reputation as a call maker.

2005 - Don Bald (Lebanon, IL)

2006 - Jud Westbrook (Trion, GA)

2007 - Alan Sentell (Summerville, GA)

2008 - Bobby Smith Jr. (Mt. Pleasant, NC)

2009 - Ralph Permar (Old Zionsville, PA)

2010 - Steve Lumma (Wentzville, MO)

2011 - Mike Almond (Albemarle, NC)

2012 - D. Marlin Watkins (Summitville, OH)

2013 - Steve Lumma (Wentzville, MO)

2014 - Austin Bott (Jim Thorpe, PA)

2015 - Steve Lumma (Wentzville, MO)

2016 - Don Bald (Lebanon, IL)

2017 - Kevin Lynch (Elmere, KY)

2018 - Michael Pauley (Buchanan, PA)

2019 - Eric Rice (Minneapolis, MN)

2020 - Kevin Lynch (Elsmere, KY)

2021 - Kevin Rouse (Dandridge, TN)

2022 - Anthony Ezolt (Kutztown, PA)

2023 - Michael Lapp (Honey Brook, PA)

2024 - Anthony Ezolt (Kutztown, PA)