The Bronze, Silver and Gold awards for John Reid's annual Genealogy Rock Star Awards have been announced. And as always social media is a-buzz. This year the voting was a bit different in that everyone was required to use a Google account in order to vote. That may have turned some people off of voting but not enough to skew a healthy tabulation. And the winners in each geographic country are all in that actual geographic country.
Geographically, the categories were: Ireland, England/Scotland/Wales, Australia/New Zealand, the USA and Canada. Un-linked to a specific geographic region were the Internationals and the Genetic Genealogists.
A clean sweep across three separate categories (USA, Genetic, International) was none other than Judy G. Russell. Not surprising for anyone in the genea-sphere. Judy's schedule is nothing short of manic. She's in high demand, very unassuming in her star status and incredibly gracious in so many aspects of genealogy. In spite of being busier than the Energizer Bunny, Judy is always more than willing to stop and help. When we don't understand something - Judy will take the time to explain it and explain it in a way that allows us to understand better, and not feel like we are either in her way or being patronized. Judy gets the importance of working with colleagues in the community and is helpful whenever she can be. Thank you, Judy. You are a Superstar!
Bronze and Silver in the three categories Judy rocked are also superstars. Silver was awarded to CeCe Moore and Bronze was awarded to Blaine Bettinger. Both are as renowned in the genealogy and genetic genealogy world as Judy is. Both are gracious. Both are more than willing to help others with genealogy conundrums or to understand the more complex parts of genealogy. Congratulations CeCe and Blaine! Thank you for lighting the way for others.
The three superstars who have swept the three categories remind me very much of the athletes that make sure the last fan standing gets an autograph, even if it delays the athlete's schedule. Sportsmanship in genealogy.
Here is the rest of the line up:
Ireland:
Bronze was awarded to John Grenham and Silver was awarded to Claire Santry. What incredible "runners up" Knowledgeable, eager to share their knowledge and again, so unassuming about their star status within the genealogy world. Congratulations to you both!
Gold was awarded to none other than Maurice Gleeson. I had the pleasure of watching Maurice in action this past weekend at a conference. Like any superstar, he was never without people around him, seeking help. Registrants and colleagues alike. He was never too busy to stop and assist. Maurice genuinely was interested in the questions, the conundrums, the brickwalls. Perhaps the nicest part of Maurice is how quick he is to talk about the wonderful work of his colleagues. A true gentleman as well as a true Superstar. Congratulations, Maurice!
England/Wales/Scotland:
This group is an interesting one to me. First and foremost, they feel awkward about the awards. While they truly, truly appreciate the honour that others have bestowed on them by voting, they don't work hard to promote the awards. They don't like to be seen as competing against their colleagues. And while I have explained that they can vote for all of the colleagues on the ballot, they worry about those not nominated and don't want to take anything away from the work those colleagues have contributed to the genealogy world.
Bronze for England/Wales/Scotland was awarded to Debbie Kennett. I don't know Debbie as well as I would like to but I do know that she has tremendous respect from her colleagues. That is always golden. Congratulations, Debbie!
Silver was awarded to Chris Paton. Another Superstar. Chris is always available to others for help, to answer questions, to share ideas and knowledge. Chris, too, will wait until the last person standing has had their questions answered. He has worked to bring the Scottish genealogy community together to share their expertise, to learn together and to support one another. You will always be golden in my books, Chris. Well done!
Gold for England/Wales/Scotland was awarded once again to Kirsty Gray. Congratulations, Kirsty!
Australia/New Zealand:
This produced a tie for Bronze! Bronze was awarded to both Helen V Smith of Australia and to Michelle Patient of New Zealand. Both women are well connected in the genealogy world. Unfortunately I don't know Michelle well. However I have been following Helen's recent travel to FGS, which seemed to take her most of the way across the world! Helen is part of the Unlock the Past team for both writing and genealogy cruises. I have been fortunate enough to currently be in a position of learning from Helen as she is authoring some articles for a newsletter I edit. Congratulations to you both, Ladies!
Silver was awarded to Shauna Hicks. Currently, Shauna is a fellow writer for the In-Depth Genealogist but Shauna and I have been connected for a number of years on Google + Like Judy Russell in the US, Shauna always seems to be on the go and busy giving talks, writing books and articles and sailing the seas (making most of us incredibly envious). Congratulations, Shauna!
And Aussie's Golden Girl is none other than Aussie Granny, Jill Ball. Jill will be surprised by the honour of taking gold, but she is so deserving. Jill and I have been connected on Google + since the days when we, along with Shauna and Lorine Schulze, were part of the beta testing. Jill is a wealth of knowledge and more than happy to share her knowledge in order that others may also shine. Congratulations, Jill! You really are deserving.
That brings us to the Canadian contingent. The ladies certainly shone this year in the Canadian Genealogy world. I took Bronze. I am honoured and thrilled to be sharing the podium with the silver and gold stars.
The Silver star was awarded to Lorine McGinnis Schulze. Best known to most as the face behind Olivetree Genealogy. Lorine is a teacher by heart and has worked for years to provide free genealogy resources to others who are researching their family histories. My favourite posts of Lorine's are the ones where she lets her inner teacher shine. The ones where she walks us through, step-by-step, new record releases or new databases. This past year, Lorine provided a platform for teaching, mentoring and supporting new and fellow genealogy bloggers. Congratulations, Lorine! Well deserved.
And Canada's Golden Girl is our very own Gail Dever. Gail is best known for her prolific blogging where she shares the genealogy (and historic) news of the day. Gail has also jumped into the sphere of genealogy speakers, her expertise being social media. I look forward to seeing more of what Gail is up to this coming year as demand for her speaking can only increase with this latest honour. Congratulations, Gail. Keep shining!
And perhaps the greatest star of all is John Reid. John, thank you for allowing the best of the genealogy world to be acknowledged. Thank you for providing a way for program chairs and committees to know who to contact in order to make their events a success. Thank you for providing a way for newsletter editors know who to contact for an article for their societies. John, for all of the work you put into the Rock Star awards, the nominations, the voting, the tabulating and the posting, you are our platinum award winner!
Last week was a whirlwind of announcements and congratulatory messages as the Genealogy Rock Star Award winners were announced. In addition, I was trying to get ready for the BIFHSGO conference in Ottawa. As a result, I didn't get to share the full results (for ME anyway) from the various announcements last week.
The awards are issued according to where your voters reside.
I took SILVER in the Canadian Awards
I made the top 10 list for Scotland, England and Wales, placing 9th
I made the top 10 list for the British Commonwealth, placing 6th
I feel terribly honoured by the outpouring of support by the voters. And I feel deeply humbled by being on the same lists as some of the best in the genealogy world.
Although the words seem over used, I really do mean it when I say:
This has been a week of celebration in the Genea-World. The annual Rock Star Genealogy Awards have been announced. This is a "People's Choice" of Genealogy awards, thanks to John Reid of Anglo Celtic Connections (http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.ca/). John has rounded up nominations across the genealogy globe, has hosted online voting, and most importantly, has tallied the results.
Some genies don't like the awards. They find them frivolous, not adding value to the profession, perhaps even 'tacky', But those of us who were nominated have been delighted. We have unabashedly engaged in self-promotion, have crossed our fingers, toes, eyes and waited with baited breath for the winners to be announced. What we also understand is that this "People's Choice" award, whether a nomination, a top 10 placement, or a win, adds credence to our genealogy repertoire in terms of getting speaking engagements. Attendees at such talks have spoken by their vote and have let the planning committees of the genealogy and local history societies know who is popular, who will draw a crowd to their event and who will be engaging enough to hold the audience's attention. So, thank you John, for allowing all of us this opportunity.
The categories are International, US, Canada, UK (Scotland, England, Wales), Ireland, Australia/New Zealand and DNA. The winners in each category are announced according to where their voters reside. Not where the genealogist resides or where the area of specialty for the genealogist is.
The Bronze and Silver winners were announced on Monday. Results can be found here:http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.ca/2015/09/rockstar-genealogists-2015-silver-and_14.html
Gold winners in each category were announced on Tuesday. The results of the Genealogy Super Stars can be found here:http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.ca/2015/09/superstar-rockstar-genealogists-2015.html
The genealogy world has been a buzz of congratulatory messages, accolades and thinly veiled humility from the winners ("oh my, I never thought...." "Really? Me?" "Oh gosh, thank you") Of course in reality we were all screaming "WE ROCK!!!" WE. ROCK!!
Over the rest of this week, John will share the "top ten" in each of the categories outlined above. Those nominated, but not awarded the top three coveted awards, are all hoping they placed in the top five but will take anywhere in the top 10. The placement on these lists adds a boost to their marketability.
The top 10 for Canada were announced today and the results were nothing short of disappointing:
1. Dave Obee
2. Christine Woodcock
3. Dick Eastman
4. Thomas MacEntee
5. Chris Paton
6. Lisa Louise Cooke
7. Judy G. Russell
8. Kirsty Gray
9. Gail Dever
10. Maurice Gleeson
Don't get me wrong. These are among the top genealogists in the WORLD. Not just in Canada. The genealogy elite in many respects. Those we all rush to hear when they give talks, or host webinars. We devour their written advice on blogs, in magazines, quick guides, books. If my own sense of self-worth were not so incredibly (perhaps pathologically) intact, the fact that MY name is on this list should be incredibly surreal. Little old me. From Canada. And there's the kicker. Only 30% of this list of top 10 genealogists, held in such high esteem, are actually FROM Canada. And, if you take me out of the equation (my specialty is Scotland, after all), the showing for Canada is nothing short of shameful. TWO out of 10. TWO.
How does that work? Easy peasy when you look at the big picture, and when you contrast it with the other top 10 list announced today - that of Australia and New Zealand where 70% of the top ten are actually from the area.
Canadian genealogists are not well promoted in the genealogy world. Those of us who are promoted and well known, have engaged tirelessly in self-promotion. We have not been held in esteem by our own genealogy society. The Ontario Genealogical Society is the largest in Canada. They have an annual conference. The "headliners" are rarely ever Canadian. Ok, Dave Obee might be the exception to that statement. But give Dave his due, he has been in the biz for a very long time.
This past May, the headliners for the conference were from the U.K. and the U.S. The conference for 2016 has already been announced. The headliners are, again, U.S. Why? No, really, WHY?
No offence to my U.S. or U.K. colleagues. As I said, these are the genealogy elite. Some of them, I even consider to be my friends. (The ones I don't are because they have no clue that I even exist, and to consider them friends would be unfair to them).
Why is it that the OGS doesn't spend the effort in promoting their own? The handful that have been well promoted in the past are promoted because they already worked hard to make their mark. ONLY after they have tirelessly promoted themselves to make a mark in the genealogy community, will the OGS think, "oh, maybe we should give them a try. BUT not as a headliner. We need to hedge our bets, so let's import the main speakers and fill in with our own". Making us wonder if we are really just an after thought.
Contrast the OGS conference, with the BIFHSGO conference this coming weekend. Out of 11 speakers, 6 are local. LOCAL. Sure, none of us are headlining, but some of us get equal time to those who are headlining. BIFHSGO actively promotes and supports their members. They have their own members speak at their monthly meetings. This builds confidence, allows exposure and gives back to the members. The exposure to the talent that is among the membership really IS a benefit of membership.
OGS, take a page out of BIFHSGO's book. Look to your members. The people who PAY to be in your organization. Support them. Promote them. Let them shine. When you do, they will make you shine in return. It's a win-win.
The 2017 conference is in Ottawa, for the 150th birthday of Canada. The conference theme is: Our Canada - Your Family: Building a Nation. PLEASE OGS, don't insult the intelligence of the Canadian genealogists by importing speakers. Look locally to members who excel in their knowledge of:
The LoyalistsAcadiansFrench Canadian ResearchScots ImmigrationScots-Irish ImmigrationBritish Home ChildrenEastern European Immigration
The people who are the fabric of OUR country. The people who built OUR nation. The people we proudly call our ancestors.
The Bronze and Silver medalists for the Genealogy Rock Star Awards have been announced, and to my surprise I took Silver in the Canadian Division. Fair chuffed given this was the first time I was nominated!As I said when I learned I was nominated, just being on the list with some of the best in the Biz was already a huge honour. And once again I am in fantastic company among the other Silver and Bronze medalists across the globe. Here are the other winners: http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.ca/2015/09/rockstar-genealogists-2015-silver-and_14.htmlI was delighted with some of the feedback from those who voted. And I owe a huge debt of gratitude to each and every one of you. Now we all sit with baited breath wondering who will get the coveted Gold in each category. Roll on tomorrow!
Voting for the Genealogy Rock Star Awards is now OPEN
Genealogy Rock Stars are:
".... genealogists are those who give "must attend" presentations at family history conferences or as webinars. Who, when you see a new family history article or publication by that person, makes it a must buy. Who you hang on their every word on a blog, podcast or newsgroup, or follow avidly on Facebook or Twitter?"
You can vote for as many as you like. As John Reid says, this gives Societies, Organizations, and Conference planning committees the chance to see who they might want to have speak for them - genealogy speakers that will draw a crowd AND provide valuable information on their topic of expertise.
The votes are tabluated according to the country you acknowledge you are from on the first page of voting. You don''t have to limit your vote to genealogists in the country where you reside.
Ready? Set?
VOTE: http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.ca/2015/09/rockstar-genealogists-2015-voting-now.html
You know those days when life throws absolutely every curve ball it can your way? Well yesterday was one of those days. No air conditioning on the hottest day. Moving kids to college with a million things going wrong. Deadlines that had to be met and a wee voice in my head screaming how much happier it would be if I took a day to do nothing.
After a looong day, I arrived home and retrieved my phone - yeah, it had decided charging wasn't on the agenda for yesterday either. Just as I picked it up, I received a message from my Genea-buddy, colleague and friend Kirsty Gray. I have to say, Kirsty & I haven't known each other long, and we don't chat every day, but somehow those times when we do connect seem to be the time when we are most in need of a pick-me-up, a helping hand or a comforting shoulder. Genea-intuition?
Kirsty was congratulating me on my nomination as a Genealogy Rock Star. WHAT? Then I thought she was wanting me to congratulate HER. No, she was congratulating me. She even sent me the link to John Reid's blog, Anglo-Celtic Connections: http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.ca/2015/09/rockstar-genealogist-2015-nominations.html
Kirsty had alerted me to the fact that the nominees were listed alphabetically (sort of) so I scrolled down to the bottom to make sure she wasn't pulling my leg. Sure enough! I scrolled back up and read the criteria to make the list:
Rockstar genealogists are those who give "must attend" presentations at family history conferences or as webinars. Who, when you see a new family history article or publication by that person, makes it a must buy. Who you hang on their every word on a blog, podcast or newsgroup, or follow avidly on Facebook or Twitter?
Yes! I totally rock every one of the criteria! (Did I mention few Scots have self-esteem issues?) Then I read through the list. WOW! To be on the same list as many of the genealogists nominated is a huge honour in and of itself. Truly it is.
And to see some of my good Genea-buddies on the list was a real treat. The friends I have come to know through this mad passion of ours. Friends I get to hang out with at conferences and workshops and chat with online. People I can reach out to and who will reach back. Friends that, when I am at a conference with them, I get to witness attendees coming up to them and complimenting them on their work, their talk, their helpfulness. That makes being their genea-buddy all the more enriching. We truly do share in each other's successes and enjoy when the others get the spotlight.
So, the contest is ON. The voting starts September 7. I can't wait to see the winners in each category because I know that no matter who wins, the title will be well-deserved.
Thanks to each and every one of the nominators for putting together such a fantastic list, and for including me among some of the best in the biz. I am truly honoured.
