The following news release is from Paul Nauta, FamilySearch.

SALT LAKE CITY—Recipients of the 2010 FamilySearch Family history Software Awards were announced at the FamilySearch Developers Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. The 14 family history award recipients were recognized for their outstanding and innovative work in advancing products and technologies that integrate with FamilySearch’s emerging suite of products and services in the family history market

The annual FamilySearch Software Awards has been established to encourage and recognize software development that benefits the growing demands and needs of family history consumers. “The awards formally recognize the software achievements of those developers and companies that are making important contributions to the family history and genealogy industry,” said Gordon Clarke, FamilySearch developer services product manager.

The Best New Product awards were given to applicants in different platform categories. Products with specific features deemed important to the growth of the industry received the Best New Feature award. Community Player awards recognized individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the software developer community.

The following recipients were announced and awards presented at the FamilySearch Developers Conference:

Best New Product Awards

• The MagiKey for the “Best New Windows” product
• Arcalife for the “Best New Family History Web site”
• MobileTree for “Best New Mobile” product
• FamilyInsight for “Best New Macintosh” product

Best New Feature Awards

• OurFamilogy for “Best Research” feature
• SharingTime for “Best Collaboration” feature
• Genetree for “Best DNA” feature
• Ancestral Hunt for the “Best Geo-Mapping” feature
• FamilyPursuit for the “Best Groups” feature
• Photoloom for the “Best Media” feature
• FamilyChArtist for the “Best Print” feature
• AppleTree for the “Best Celebrity Tree” feature

Community Player Awards

• Gaylon Finlay, Incline Software, “Bug Hunter” award
• Michael Booth and Bruce Buzbee, Roots Magic, “Trailblazer” award

FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patrons can access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

arcalife at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree 2009

I just spent the past weekend at the Jamboree 09 in California - Reconnected wtih some folks, met some new great people as well. I'm getting the hang of this genealogy community!

The venue for the event was smaller compared with the NGS we attended a few months ago, but there was much more traffic, and I spent a lot more time at the booth speaking with attendees about who we are and what we do. For the most part, they were enthusiastic about our services and take those handy fliers with them to learn more about the website and the company - a good sign :)
 
As for the companies represented, most have also participated at the NGS event so I used the opportunity to follow up with them regarding conversations we’ve had since then.

It was great to chat with and meet Leland K. Meitzler (thanks for the post!), Susan Kitchens, Thomas J Kemp, Allison Stacy at Family Tree Mag, Dick again of course, Michael Oddenino and Drew Smith, Co-Host of The Genealogy Guys Podcast - Paul should be on your show!

I've come to understand that attending these events is such an important part of the process: you can talk in email until you're blue in the face, and connect online through networks and blogs, but being able to meet in person and have that "offline" connection is essential.