• 2018High Plains Book Award, Art & Photography, for Theodore Waddell: My Montana
• 2021Western Writers of America Spur Awards — Finalist, Contemporary Nonfiction, for Cheatgrass Dreams
• 2015Governor's Arts Award, Montana Arts Council
• 2015President's Award, Artist of the Year, Yellowstone Art Museum
• 2004Honored at the White House, 40th anniversary of the U.S. Department of State Art in Embassies Program
• 1999–presentU.S. Department of State Art in Embassies Program — works placed in U.S. embassies in Zambia, Niger, Sweden, Kazakhstan, Togo, South Africa, Mongolia, Russia, Kenya and China
• 1988Distinguished Alumni Award, Professional Recognition in Arts & Sciences, Eastern Montana College
• 1971Sculpture Award and Purchase Prize, Spokane Annual, Cheney Cowles Museum
• 1970Best of Show, Flathead International, Hockaday Art Center, Kalispell, Montana
• 1969Purchase Prize, Annual Small Sculpture and Drawing Show, Western Washington State College
• 1968Cash Award, Annual Drawing and Small Sculpture Show, Ball State University
• 1967–68Graduate Professional Scholarship, Wayne State University
• 1965Best of Show, Fourth Army Art Contest, Fort Sam Houston, Texas

“Theodore Waddell exemplifies the phrase ‘Montana painter.’ He has done more than any other living painter to develop a distinctive Montana-based vision that brings Modernism into the twenty-first century.”— Robyn Peterson, Director, Yellowstone Art Museum, nominating Waddell for the Governor's Arts Award