Announcing the iGene Awards for 2008

The Academy of Genealogy and Family History (aka The Carnival of Genealogy) has once again requested that bloggers select the best of the previous year’s articles for iGene Awards.

After careful consideration, I am pleased to announce the following winning articles from Steve’s Genealogy Blog in five categories.

i-Gene Award

iGene Award

The award for Best Picture goes to A Sixteen-Year-Old Immigrant. This studio photo of my maternal grandmother as a young girl shows a beautiful young immigrant. Helena Chmielewska’s smile reveals a happy young girl full of hope for her new life in America.

The award for Best Screen Play is awarded to Katarzyna Danko: Veterinarian, Witch, and Exile. Katarzyna’s story will touch your heart as she takes in a baby abandoned on her doorstep, only to be exiled with her adopted child to southwestern Siberia. Katarzyna will be played by Katherine Hepburn. Her daughter will be played by a young Elizabeth Taylor.

The award for Best Documentary goes to History of the Village and Parish of Dylągowa. The history of my paternal grandmother’s Roman Catholic parish in southern Poland begins in 1484 and includes excommunication, looting, pacification during World War II, the sacrifice of the parish priest, and the rebuilding of the village after complete destruction by the Ukrainian Rebel Army.

The award for Best Biography is presented to Born at the Right Time in which I describe the events that occurred during the lifetime of my fourth great grandfather, Tomasz Niedziałkowski (1750-1826). Due to war and the changing borders of central and eastern Europe, Tomasz lived in four countries during his lifetime, even though he never moved very far from where he was born.

The award for Best Comedy goes to Mrs. Katzman, Children’s Librarian . While I didn’t think so at the time, there is humor in the story of how I applied for my first library card. If you read the story all the way through, you’ll find a biography of Mrs. Katzman, the librarian, written in six words.

Written for the Carnival of Genealogy.

Copyright © 2009 by Stephen J. Danko

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