The Genea-Bloggers Group Games are Completed

Thomas of Destination: Austin Family today posted the Closing Ceremonies of the Genea-Bloggers Group Games of 2008 (great job, by the way, Thomas!). Included in his statements was the announcement of the 2010 Genea-Blogger Group Games, hopefully to be hosted by our Canadian Genea-Blogging friends, as a tribute to the Olympic Games being held in Vancouver, British Columbia.

I earned the following medals, created by our own lovely footnoteMaven:

A platinum medal for "Citing Sources."

A diamond medal for "Organizing Research."

A gold medal for the "Write, Write, Write!" category.

A second gold medal for "Genealogical Acts of Kindness."

In addition, I received--along with Thomas and Kathryn--a lovely surprise from the participants and fans for our work administrating the Games. This, too, was designed by the footnoteMaven:

I'm honored to have received all of these medals. I'm especially pleased by the level of participation and the hard work performed by all those who joined. Kudos, too, to the fans who cheered us on despite not being able to join due to other commitments. As I read through the final tallies postings of those who "competed," I see again and again the theme of how the different events caused many of them to stretch beyond their comfort zones in technology and social networking, raise their standards of research and writing, become motivated to be more organized, and raise their awareness of the necessity of backing up their data. I'm especially pleased by how many medals were earned in the "Acts of Kindness" category--pleased, but not surprised. Genealogists, family historians--whatever term you prefer--tend to be the most helpful, kind, and sharing group of people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting!

What a wonderful way to wrap up the summer! As I head into the school year, I look forward to what the genealogical year will bring, both in my local society and in my online networks.