Southern California Genealogical Society
SCGS PROJECTS - 2007 GENEii Contest Winners

2007 GENEii Family History Writers Contest Winners

By Beth Maltbie Uyehara, Contest Coordinator
GENEii Family History Writing Contest

SCGS had an exciting crop of entries in the latest GENEii Family History Writing Contest, featuring an unusually high percentage of past honorees who submitted new writings, as well as outstanding entries from newcomers to the contest. The resulting high caliber of writing made the judges’ job that much harder, but the final selections represent truly outstanding examples of family history writing.

SCGS founded this contest in 2000 to encourage genealogists to put the personal and “human” aspects of their research into writing, and to broaden their research to include the social context of their ancestors’ lives. The contest is also meant to encourage genealogists to record their own first-hand information about their own generation, via memoirs, character sketches, and accounts of family and local history incidents—information that no future generation will be able to recover unless it is recorded by those who lived it.

We hope that when you read these prize-winning stories, they will motivate you to start writing! You are the only one who can tell your own story and the stories of your contemporary family members—and if you don’t put them down in black-and-white, these priceless stories will be lost forever. So let the writers listed below be your inspiration.

And the envelopes, please ...

Category 1

  • 1st place: Willie Walker, Ringgold, Georgia, “A Boy’s First Gun”
  • 2nd place (tie): Mary Stone, Castle Rock, Washington, “Going Home”
  • 2nd place (tie): Willis White, Herndon, Virginia, “Death of a Cemetery”
  • 3rd place: Mary E. Nelson, Garden Grove, California “Eggrolls for Christmas”
  • Honorable Mention: Willie Walker, Ringgold, Georgia, “A Wild Ride on a Black Horse.”
  • Finalists:
    • Emily Pritchard Cary, Scottsdale, Arizona, “Life’s Melodies Linger On”
      Diane Diaz, Whittier, California, “Dad’s Double-Duty Cars”
      Phyllis Harris, Ames, Iowa, “Five Days Before Bunker Hill”
      Alice Rene, Woodland Hills, California, “The Camel Hair Coat”

Category 2

  • 1st place: Bonnie Copeland, Costa Mesa, California, “Chemistry for Girls”
  • 2nd place: Mary E. Nelson, Garden Grove, California, “My Dad’s Lawn”
  • 3rd place: Anne Clarke, Christchurch, New Zealand, “Our Tree”
  • Honorable Mention: Diane Diaz, Whittier, California, “Rich Red Chile Roots”

Other contest entries include:

  • Anne Clark, Prince, "The Clydesdale Horse"
  • Maria B. Murad, "The Irish Bury Their Dead"
  • Emily Pritchard Cary, "Life's Melodies Linger On"
  • Debra A. Hoffman, "One of Morgan's Men"
  • Harvey Kurzfield, "My Parents and Their Families"
  • Tammy Collier, "Searching for the Grave of William Lucas Snidow"

 


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