Western fashion has become en vogue in recent years, and barrel racing has joined the ranks as a way to share your personal fashion sense. Each year, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame awards the Jerry Ann Taylor Best Dressed Award during the final round of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo at the Dickies Arena. This year, the award was taken home by the second-time winner and WPRA barrel racer Sissy Winn.
“Winning the Jerry Ann Taylor award last year was such an honor,” Winn commented. “I knew I wanted to try to win it again if I got the chance.”
The award is only given at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and at the Championship Round of the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. Once she knew she would be in the finals, she and her mother Melissa went to work on an outfit.
“My mom and I stayed up all night to finish this,” Winn said. This year’s outfit included a bright blue hat, a white shirt with blue and black sequin trim on the sleeves, and jeans embellished with red, white, and blue rhinestone stars and white rhinestones spelling out “Land of the free because of the brave” on the outside of the leg.
Winn and her horse Scoop also stopped the clock at the fastest time of the rodeo — at 16.24 seconds. Between her barrel racing earnings and the Jerry Ann Taylor Award, she took home a total of $19,000 last week.
Winn is not only a WPRA barrel racer who made her first appearance at the WNFR in December of 2022, she is also a former Miss Rodeo Texas Princess and Miss Rodeo Texas Teen. She was awarded $5,000 and an Outlaw Spirits custom cuff bracelet.
Cowgirl Honoree Jerry Ann Taylor was a daring trick rider who brought style, glamour, and spirit to the rodeo arena. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1986. Following her passing in February 2012, a fund was started by her husband Dutch Taylor, her mother Jo Matthews, and other donors, to reward cowgirls who carry the same sense of style. The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame has partnered with the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association and the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo for this award that is judged by a panel during the final round of the rodeo.
