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.

Shortly after making the decision to create a place in my life for a child, I started to consider my own place in the world. All the usual questions about contribution to society and personal success or failure came to mind. One question stuck: what would life be like for my kid when I wasn’t around? What legacy would I leave my offspring? The obvious answers came first: I’d like for my daughter to be a good person, well educated, financially secure, and culturally aware. So I built those goals into the long term plan, made a will and was satisfied….. that I had somewhat missed the point. After that, I added all the precious items and memorabilia that I had acquired during my life and travels to my will. This improved the situation a little and my mind turned to the important business of bottles and bouncing babies. It was a short while later that my mother was diagnosed with bowel cancer, and the final piece of the puzzle dropped into view. The only things that really count are the memories, experiences and wisdom that are left behind. Typically when we think about heirlooms, we think about the tangible, but when you peel back the layers it’s the memories that you associate with these objects that bind you to them, rather than their aesthetics. We have a unique opportunity, (a moment in history if you like), to harness the power of the nascent information age, and apply it to enhancing our emotional wealth. Having access to a family Digital Estate and all the wealth of wisdom and knowledge contained in it, is a powerful asset for our children in understanding and integrating into a complex society. I, for one believe that in a world where the pace of change is so rapid knowing where you come from is as important as where you are headed. In a recent interview on the CBC Radio show Spark, I talked with Nora about how the gift we leave to future generations can be a testament to our openness and a true recognition of the importance of a richer cultural and personal life record. Sound a little cliché? Well maybe it is; but then isn’t life sometimes? with it’s mix “run of the mill” and almost unbelievable variation - the question asked by Dominic on the Spark blog is, “... are we doing a good enough job at immortalizing our lives online?” My question is, don’t future generations deserve to receive something that reflects the full range of our experiences from a unique point in our life history?