The Rockstar Genealogist Awards have now been running for four years and momentum has built year-on-year. Changes have been made based on feedback given by individuals across the globe and this year, a total of 2,026 people voted for their Rockstar favourites. Almost 59% of those voters were from the USA alone. So, I as delighted to see that John D. Reid published a Top Ten list for the Commonwealth as the probability of genealogists from the rest of the world featuring in the Top Ten International list was very low.
On my travels back from wonderful Wolverhampton this morning, I briefly took a break at one of the motorway service stations to stretch my legs and read my emails, Facebook messages etc. The Anglo-Celtic Connections email in my inbox caught my eye and so I scanned the list of Commonwealth winners. I was stunned enough to be listed as Gold Medal winner for England/Scotland/Wales on Tuesday but to be top of the Commonwealth list as well….. Wow! It’s interesting to compare the three Top Ten lists – Australia, Canada and England/Scotland/Wales – and the places each genealogist attained, to see how global their names are. Dave Obee, who won the Gold Medal in Canada, was lower in the list for the Commonwealth than his Silver Medal counterpart, showing a greater following for Christine Woodcock around the Commonwealth. There were no Australians in the Top Ten Commonwealth list which is very surprising, in my opinion.
Having digested the Commonwealth list of stars, I noticed another post underneath titled International Top Ten Rockstar Genealogists. Over the last three years, this has been 100% US genealogists with no other nation’s genealogists featuring. Until now….! I saw “Nine of ten on the list are from the USA” and then I saw my name! What on earth??? Of 2,026 voters, I have been ranked 9th in the entire world??? That is utter craziness!
There are seriously so many superb genealogists across the globe that I really cannot quite fathom how I have managed to attain this position. Honestly, John…. you might need to do a recount!! It’s the first time EVER that a non-US resident has featured in the International Top Ten. How can I possibly be the person to break that? Extraordinary.
It’s actually quite overwhelming. I really did not expect any accolades, let alone all this. I have – unusually for me – entered into some of the discussions on social media about the voting and how certain nations don’t appear to vote for their own genealogists. I have been educated by several people about their own personal offerings to the genealogy community and many individuals have expressed their disappointment at not being listed in the Top Tens this week. All I can say is, if you are disappointed, use that to spur you on for next year! How can you increase your visibility, your following and interactions with others, your articles, publications etc.?
The list of nominees was extremely impressive this year and I would like to congratulate all of those who were nominated. Genealogy is really going places. So, who will be going to Rootstech!?
