Deadline for Submission —
31 January Annually
The Family History Writing Contest is open to NGS members. Contest
judges, NGS officers, NGS Directors, NGS staff and their family members, and
former contest winners are not eligible to enter the contest. Also, the NGS
contest, like most others in the field, is not open to fellows of the American
Society of Genealogists, who are elected to that rank on the basis of extensive
and exemplary scholarship. A paper with multiple authors will be accepted if
it meets the requirements of the contest. If a winning paper has multiple authors,
the prize will be awarded to the lead author.
Prize
The person who compiles the most outstanding family history will receive an
expense-paid trip to the next NGS Annual Conference and Genealogy Expo. The
benefits include travel to and from the conference, hotel accommodations, conference
registration fee, and complimentary banquet ticket. Manuscripts meeting the
requirements will be submitted to the editors of the National Genealogical
Society Quarterly (NGSQ) for consideration and will be placed in the NGS
library. If an entry should not meet all requirements, the chairman will return
the manuscript with an explanation. All other contestants will receive comments
on their entries after a winner has been selected by the judges.
Preparation of the Contest Entry
The Family History Writing Contest is open to NGS members. Judges of the contest, past Family History Writing Contest winners, NGS officers, directors, staff and their family members may not enter. Also, the NGS contest, like most others in the field, is not open to fellows of the American Society of Genealogists, who are elected to that rank on the basis of extensive and exemplary scholarship. All other NGS members may enter the contest. A paper with multiple authors will be accepted if it meets the requirements of the contest. If a winning paper has multiple authors, the prize will be awarded to the lead author.
Requirements
- Length: 3 to 4 generations, and 4,000–10,000 words;
- Originality: not previously published and not submitted elsewhere
for publication;
- Documentation: individual, specific citations (footnote form)
for every statement of fact that is not public knowledge;
- Appearance: 11- or 12-point type, 1" margins, laser-quality
print;
- Numbering system: NGSQ.
Length
Your genealogy must cover at least three generations and not more than four.
Include the progenitor and spouse as the first generation; all of their children
with spouse(s) as the second generation; and all grandchildren with their spouse(s)
as the third generation. The only exceptions are if a descendant dies young
or remains unmarried. It is not necessary to list the children in the fourth
generation, but a contestant may do so. Failure to include all descendants is
one of the primary causes for a lower rating among the judges. The manuscript
must be between 4,000 and 10,000 words including all titles, text, and footnotes.
The only exception to this is that the title which appears on each page is counted
only on the first page.
The time period may be either early American or later-immigrant. For an early
American genealogy, the progenitor may have been born elsewhere, but he and
his descendants must have lived in colonial America and/or the United States
of America. The writer may not be included as a member of an early American
genealogy. For a later-immigrant family genealogy, first and second generation
members may have been born elsewhere, but must have immigrated and lived in
the United States of America. The writer may be included as a member of the
third generation, but not earlier.
Originality
A genealogy should not be entered in this contest if it has been submitted or
will be submitted for publication before the contest ends, or if it has been
evaluated by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG). However, a genealogy
may be submitted simultaneously to the NGS contest and the BCG provided it is
cleared with both organizations first. If the family the contestant chooses
has already been included in a published genealogy or article, it may be submitted
here only if (1) the published source contained no more than the name, spouse,
and their vital dates, or (2) the previously published work contained so many
errors, a new genealogy is required to correct the mistakes. If an article alone
would be sufficient to correct the errors, that family would not be a wise choice
for the contest. In case of doubt, contact the contest chair
Documentation
Any fact stated which is not common knowledge must be documented, preferably
from its original source. Over-use of secondary (derivative) sources, especially
if it is possible to trace the information back to its original source, will
be cause for judges to assign a lower rating. Elizabeth Shown Mills’ Evidence!
Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian is recommended.
Appearance
The manuscript should be printed or typed on a letter-quality printer with one-inch
margins all around. Use 11 or 12-point font size. The title of the genealogy
and page number must appear on each page. Notes and references should appear
as footnotes at the bottom of the page to which they apply.
Format
Use the format established by the NGSQ. Contest entrants are strongly
urged to read papers written by recent contest winners found in the December
issues of the NGSQ. The 1996 winner, "Migrants and Mill Hands: Wardrobes
of Massachusetts," by Sandra MacLean Clunies, is available here for you to read.
Basis of Evaluation
The criteria for excellence in a paper rely heavily on how you demonstrate your
research skills. You must show the ability to use and analyze a wide variety
of original documents. It should not be just the summarization of the work of
others. Tell a story, place your family in historical context, but make sure
the historical aspect is really relevant to your family and make if brief. The
emphasis should be on the original research you did to create the family history.
Mailing Instructions
Prepare a cover sheet containing your name, full address, telephone number,
and NGS membership number. Include the title of the manuscript, number of words,
and the year of the contest. This sheet will be removed by the contest chairman
before submission to the judges, so there should be an inside title page without
the personal information contained on the cover sheet. Package your entry-including
one self-addressed mailing label, the cover sheet, and the manuscript with all
pages in order. Don’t bind or staple the sheets, because they must be photocopied.
If you want to be notified that the manuscript has been received, enclose a
self-addressed postcard. As a precaution, place cardboard or poster board on
top and bottom of the entry before packaging it. To ensure safe arrival, use
a sturdy envelope.
Mail the materials to:
Carmen J. Finley, CG, Ph.D.
NGS Family History Writing Contest
4820 Rockridge Lane
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
E-mail contact information is required for all submissions.
An expanded version of the contest rules, Creating
a Winning Family History, by Carmen J. Finley, may be obtained for $5
from the NGS Bookstore.
See also:
