Wednesday 17 September 2014

Steven Smyrl: Ireland's gold medal Rockstar Genie

Following on from Monday's announcement that I'd won a silver medal in the Rockstar Genealogists of Ireland poll run by John D Reid on his Anglo Celtic Connections blog, the Gold Medal winner has been announced, and I'm absolutely thrilled to see Steven Smyrl step up to the podium.

He's a good friend, a great colleague in the Irish Genealogical Research Society (not to mention its chairman!) and an incredibly knowledgeable genealogist who has helped me on numerous occasions to unravel the complicated background to some stories I've covered on Irish Genealogy News.

He is also president of the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland (APGI), and a major force in the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations (CIGO). He gives lectures, he writes books, he mentors budding family historians and he supports a good many causes/events in the field. When he's not doing any of these things, he runs his business, Massey & King, one of the longest-established and most renowned firms of probate genealogists in Ireland, with his brother, Kit. They starred together in the TV series Dead Money a couple of years ago.

As those who voted in the Rockstar Genealogists poll have clearly demonstrated, Steven is a popular and very well-respected genealogist in Ireland and I'm so pleased to see him receive this recognition as a Superstar.

The Gold Medalists in other regions/categories are: Shauna Hicks (Australia & New Zealand); Dick Eastman (Canada); Janet Few (England, Scotland, Wales), Judy Russell (USA); Roberta Estes (DNA). Well done to all of them.

You can find out more about the Rockstar Genealogists poll, the bronze, silver and gold medalists and, in the next few days, the non-medal results at Anglo-Celtic-Connections.

UPDATE: Full Ireland poll result announced:

1. Steven Smyrl
2. Claire Santry
3. John Grenham
4. Fiona Fitzsimons
5. Brian Donovan
6. William Roulston

Congrats to all.