Rockstar Genealogists 2016 - the voting is now open

John Reid, who writes the Anglo-Celtic Connections blog, is once again organising the annual Rockstar Genealogists poll.

There have been a few changes this year to try to overcome the problem of multiple voting, and there are also changes in the way that the votes will be reported, so it will be interesting to see if there will be any surprises in store.

I'm pleased to see that so many of my fellow members of the Guild of One-Name Studies are on this list including our Chairman Paul Howes who is a very welcome first-time addition. I have fond memories of the recent Guild of One-Name Studies conference where Paul volunteered to fill a hole in the programme at the last minute and held the audience spellbound with an inspiring, unscripted and Powerpoint-free talk on some of the success stories of his one-name study.

All the respected UK genealogy speakers and writers, such as Nick Barratt, Peter Calver (who writes the Lost Cousins newsletter), Colin Chapman, Else Churchill, Audrey Collins, John Hanson, Celia Heritage, Janet Few, Michael Gandy, Emma Jolly, Chris Paton, Alec Tritton and John Titford, are included in the list. I feel very honoured to be included in such illustrious company.

Genetic genealogy is well represented with all the big names from the US receiving nominations. I'm one of four genetic genealogists flying the flag for the UK. I am in excellent company with Maurice Gleeson, Chris Pomery and Geoff Swinfield.

John Reid's intention is to provide a resource to help volunteers select speakers for their events. The nominations on the list can serve as a useful starting point but it's also a good idea to get feedback from other genealogists in each country who have worked with the individuals concerned before booking a speaker or commissioning an article or book.

Before you vote I urge you to read Janet Few's blog post on Rockstars and unsung heroes. Janet very eloquently and humorously sums up my thoughts on the contest, and says all that needs to be said.

Thank you to John Reid for organising the poll.

Make sure you cast your vote here. You can vote for as many people as you want but make sure you use your votes wisely.

Update
Thank you to everyone who voted for me. I was honoured to be placed third in the list for England. Scotland and Wales though I'm still very uncomfortable with the whole idea of holding such a poll.

Here is the full list of gold medallists: http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/rockstar-genealogists-gold-medalists.html

Here is the list of silver and bronze medallists;

http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/rockstar-genealogists-2016-silver-and.html

John Reid published a further blog post in which he published the comments received by the voters. There were some interesting comments raised some of which, if true, are a cause for concern for the genealogy community: http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/rockstar-genealogist-2016-comments.html

Kerry Scott at the Clue Wagon blog questions the validity of holding such a contest and I share her concerns: http://www.cluewagon.com/2016/09/the-rockstar-genealogist-contest-is-a-fiesta-of-awkward-lets-change-this/

Voting is now open for Rockstar Genealogists 2014

John Reid, who writes the popular Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections blog, has organised the third annual Rockstar Genealogists poll. Here is John's definition of a Rockstar Genealogist:

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?

This award seems to attract more attention every year. In 2012 the nominations were all from the US, and just 676 votes were cast. You can see a list of the 2012 winners here. Last year there were many more nominations, and the nominees were split up into separate categories for Australia and New Zealand, Canada, the UK and Ireland, and the US. Seven hundred and eighty-four people took part in the voting last year. Rather oddly, given the international nature of genealogy, only the votes of those who self-identified as living in the region in question were counted. I was somewhat surprised but honoured to find that I received the Silver Medal for the UK and Ireland last year. You can find links to all the relevant articles relating to the 2013 competition in this blog post by Randy Seaver.

This year there are 150 nominations. I am honoured that once again my name has been put forward. You can find a full list of the nominations for 2014 here.

It's good to see so many genetic genealogists on the list including: Bennett Greenspan,
Blaine Bettinger, Katherine Borges, Roberta Estes, Maurice Gleeson, CeCe Moore, Chris Pomery, Judy Russell and Megan Smolenyak and Tim Janzen. Members of the Guild of One-Name Studies are also very well-represented.

The voting has now opened so if you want to cast your vote go to:

http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/rockstar-genealogists-2014-voting-now.html

The voting will end late on Friday or Saturday with the results starting to come out late on Sunday or Monday. It's all a bit of fun but don't take the results too seriously!

Rockstar genealogists

I'm very flattered to have been awarded a silver medal in John Reid's Rockstar Genealogists poll which has been running on his Anglo-Celtic Connections blog for the last few weeks.

John's description of a rockstar genealogist is as follows:

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 is it that you hang on their every word on a blog, podcast or newsgroup, or follow avidly on Facebook or Twitter?

There was a very long list of names in the nominations which can be found here. I'm very honoured that so many people have voted for me. I'm even more surprised to find that I've been nominated ahead of big names such as Dick Eastman and Else Churchill. The full list of bronze and silver medallists can be found here. The names of the "superstar" gold medallists will be published on John's blog tomorrow.