The International Society of Family History Writers and Editors is proud to announce the winners of the 2015 Excellence-in-Writing Competition.  The winners are:

Category 1 – Columns

  • 1st Place – Ernest Thode, Ask Ernie
  • 2nd Place – James M. Beidler, Roots & Branches: Painful, poignant visit to mentor’s grave
  • 3rd Place – Maureen Wlodarczyk, Genealogy: It’s not a tree or a chart…it’s a story!
  • Honorable Mention – Michael McKeag, Where to Finish? 1 – My Family History
  • Honorable Mention – Carolyn Leonard, When the Cheering Stopped – the last years of Woodrow Wilson

Category 2 – Articles

  • 1st Place – Barbara J Starmans, PLCGS, Married to the Army
  • 2nd Place – Maureen Wlodarczyk, Grazia Fucci Lipari
  • 3rd Place – George G. Morgan, Managing Your Speaking Engagements
  • Honorable Mention – Sheri Hessick, MayDay! MayDay! Lost Behind Enemy Lines
  • Honorable Mention – Vi Parsons, Root Cellar Preserves

Category 3 – Newsletters

  • 1st Place – Michelle D. Novak, The Archivist
  • 2nd Place – Stephen Gauss, Harriman Family Newsletter
  • 3rd Place – Kathryn Manz, Penn in Hand
  • HM: Linda Vixie, Pike Peak Genealogical Society Newsletter
  • HM: James M. Beidler, Der Kurier

Category 4 – Unpublished Authors

  • 1st Place – Elyse Hill, History Lessons Learned From a Birth Certificate
  • 2nd Place – Wendy Wilson Spooner, Civil Registration and Census Development in Great Britain & America
  • 3rd Place – Catherine Smith, In a Flash
  • Honorable Mention – Louise A. Eckhardt, A Mystery within a Mystery
  • Honorable Mention – Diane Buescher, Finding Elusive Ancestors in Early German Church Records

Category 5 – Unpublished Material/Published Authors

  • 1st Place – David Harper, Corresponding Hearts
  • 2nd Place – Robyn Smith, of “Reclaiming Kin” Genealogy Blog, Minty’s Legacy: A Black Family in Slavery and Freedom
  • 3rd Place – Dave Strausfeld, Hudie Streisfeld and her life in the Austro-Hungarian Empire
  • Honorable Mention – Ruth Randall, CG, Evidence of the Parentage of a Buffalo Solder: John Martin Daniels, Company I, 125th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry
  • Honorable Mention – Carolyn Leonard, Dutch Letters

Category 6 – Poetry

  • 1st Place – Luanne Griffin, Going Home
  • 2nd Place – Casey Lin Brown, If I’d Met You
  • 3rd Place – Lisa Brahin Weinblatt, Great-Grandmother
  • Honorable Mention – Phyllis Matthews Ziller, MLIS, Finding Sarah
  • Honorable Mention – Kenneth R. Castle, PhD, They are Calling to You

Congratulations to all of the winners!!