International Society of Family History Writers and Editors 2012 Excellence-in-Writing Competition Winners

I just received word about the winners of this year’s ISFHWE Excellence-in-Writing Competition!  Unfortunately, I was not among the winners this year, but that’s what I get for waiting until the last minute (literally…oh wait, I did that last year too and still took third place!).  Even though I did not place, I’d still like to recognize this year’s winners.  Let’s give them a round of applause!

Category I – Columns

• First - A Big Game for the Big Day – Shelley Bishop
• Second - Newel King, 91^st Ohio Volunteer Infantry – Shelley Bishop
• Third - Wanted: Larger ‘Needles’ – James M. Beidler

Category II – Articles

• First - Blue Collar Breakthroughs – Sunny Morton
• Second - Academic Libraries: A Good Reason to Head Back to Campus – Mary Penner
• Third - An Identity Crisis: Using Indirect Evidence to Prove …. – Debbie Parker Wayne, CG

Category III – Original Research Story

• First - Common Ground – Courtenay O’Bryan Auger
• Second [tie] -The Long and Winding Road: The Search for the Clark Farm – Cheryl Roach
• Second [tie] - James Holmes: He Was Tickled to be Pickled – Marjorie Waterfield

Category IV – Unpublished Author

• First - The Butchers of Marshall Avenue – Carla Love Maitland

Category V – Unpublished Work by Published Author

• First - The Bones of Hobo Hollow – Paul K. Graham
• Second - Ella’s Letter – Nancy Waters Lauer
• Third - Civil War Perils of Springtime – M. Carolyn Steele

The rules for the 2013 competition will be posted at the ISFHWE website soon, but if you happen to be at the FGS Conference, you can stop by the ISFHWE booth (#628) to pick them up.

Genealogy Writing Competition – Dallas Genealogical Society (no, entries do NOT have to be about Dallas!)

Submissions for the Dallas Genealogical Society 2012 Writing Competition are due by September 30, 2012.  You do not have to be a DGS member to enter, and the articles don’t necessarily have to be about Dallas genealogy.

Articles are to be 750-5000 words in length and should fall into the following categories:

• basic and advanced methodologies and case studies (not limited by geography)
• family histories and genealogies, particularly those linked to North Texas, including those who came from or left to settle elsewhere
• transcriptions, abstracts or indexes of record groups (including family records) not yet filmed or digitized that relate to Dallas or North Texas
• ethnic, house, or military histories related to Dallas and surrounding counties

Winning articles will be published in a future DGS publication.  Monetary prizes will also be awarded.  Winners will be announced in December 2012.

Complete details, including rules and submission guidelines, can be found at the DGS website.

Need some convincing to write about your genealogy research?  See my post 4 Reasons to Convert Your Genealogy Research Into Writing.

The Family History Writing Challenge is Over…But I’m Still Going

The Family History Writing Challenge ran through the month of February and sadly ended yesterday.  I pledged to write 300 words (or more) each day during February.  And although my goal of writing vignettes shifted a little, I did manage to write at least 300 words each day, with the exception of the first five days (I was in SLC for RootsTech).  I did manage to massage one batch of writing into a blog post about my second great-grandmother, Hulda Wach.  I’ll be tweaking a few more and posting them within the next few weeks over at GenBlog.

Although the challenge is over, I’m going to keep at it, writing about 300 words a day.  That seemed to be a pretty manageable chunk and I really got a lot accomplished.

If you took the challenge, how did you do?  I’d love to hear about your accomplishments, so leave me a comment and tell me how it went.

ISFHWE 2012 Excellence in Writing Competition

It’s time for the annual Excellence in Writing Competition sponsored by the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors.  Both ISFHWE members and non-members are eligible to participate.  There are five categories for the competition, and you can enter in more than one category.  The submission deadline is June 3, 2012.

For a complete list of categories, rules, instructions, and the entry form, download the 2012 Excellence in Writing Entry Package (PDF).

Last year, I won 3rd Place in Category 5 (unpublished work by published author), which you can read more about here.

I’m Accepting the Challenge, Are You?

During the month of February, The Armchair Genealogist encourages genealogists and family historians to participate in The Family History Writing Challenge.

What is this challenge, you ask?  It’s a commitment to yourself to write about your family history each day throughout the month of February.  You simply make a pledge to write a certain number of words per day and then stick to it.  All of the details can be found here.

I must admit, I did not participate last year.  It wasn’t because I didn’t want to, I just had too many competing priorities.  But that’s all behind me and I’m ready to commit to the challenge this year!

My pledge is 300 words (at a minimum) per day.  I’m going to use this time to write vignettes of my ancestors, which I will post (at GenBlog) throughout the month of February.  This is a very ambitious goal, but one that I hope to accomplish.

So who’s going to join me?