The Prairie Spirit Award was established by the Fargo Film Festival in 2005 to honor movies that reflect the unique strength of character that is the legacy of the Northern Plains.

During the first Fargo Film Festival in 2001, a Pride of North Dakota Award, for excellence in the art of filmmaking by a North Dakota native, was given to Jason Allen for The Lift.

Recipients of the Prairie Spirit Award include:

2024: Greener Pastures (Samuel-Ali Mirpoorian)
2023: Big Crow (Kris Kaczor)
2022: Glob Lessons (Nicole Rodenburg)
2021: No award given
2020: Balkowitsch (Chelsy Ciavarella and Gregory DeSaye)

2019: My Country No More (Rita Baghdadi and Jeremiah Hammerling)
2018: No award given
2017: No award given
2016: Songs My Brothers Taught Me (Chloe Zhao)
2015: No award given
2014: The Buffalo King (Justin Koehler)
2013: Hjemkomst: Thirty Years Later (Eli A. Kaufman)
2012: You Don’t Know Bertha Constantine (Andrew Kightlinger)
2011: The Lutefisk Wars (David Hall and Christopher Panneck)
2010: Thicker Than Water (Bradley Rappa)

2009: When the Landscape Is Quiet Again: The Legacy of Art Link (Clay Jenkinson and David Swenson)
2008: No award given
2007: ReStoring Hope (Andy Halling, Brian Heald, Elijah Larson and Gaib Wimmer)
2006: Sweet Land (Ali Selim)
2005: The Open Road: America Looks at Aging (Nina Gilden Seavey)