Tag Archives: t-shirt winners

Million More in May: Thank You and Results

Congratulations! We had a monumental month at BillionGraves, and it’s all thanks to you. At BillionGraves, we’re all about bigger and better goals. Even our name is an audacious goal: One Billion Graves. Some people think it’s an impossible number, but there are truly a billion headstones out there, waiting to be documented and mapped.

Our Million in May goal was one of those bigger and better goals we like to set. During May 2012, our database received hundreds of thousands of new records. We had 2,825 new users sign up with BillionGraves. Over 500 users uploaded their first picture this month. Because of all this new participation, our database will be sure to grow more quickly moving forward. We saw new cemeteries being photographed all over the world, and we added 662 new cemeteries to the database. Previously, the month with the highest number of new records was April 2012. May was 3 times more successful than that! We did in one month what we did in our first 7 months last year. Our average daily upload has increased by 300%. Wow! The amount of growth has been huge, and again, we thank all of our volunteers for your hard work!

What’s Next? BillionGraves: In a State of Growth

We love the energy and enthusiasm you BillionGravers have shown, so let’s all keep going through June! June is going to be all about the progress of states, provinces, and countries around the world. The Leaderboard will show which US state, Canadian province, or country is producing the most new data! You’ll be able to see how well your state, province, or country is doing, and you’ll also be able to check on the progress of the states, provinces, and countries you want to research! We’re excited about the growth we’ve already experienced, and we are confident that June will be another epic month.

Leaderboard

Congratulations to those who made the Leaderboard in May! Check out the results below. If you’re a winner, we will be contacting you via email soon to get you your prizes!


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September T-shirt Winners

Today’s the last day to upload photos for a September t-shirt. Here are this month’s winners:

  • Ddwertman
  • lmwillett
  • Sophie
  • mlmckenzie
  • smflatness
  • Gayle
  • sadie63
  • Jeremyeguzman
  • waynedaz
  • Simini
  • WizardAlex
  • J_and_K
  • marnweeks
  • lisabug
If you’ve crossed the 1,000 threshold (for either GPS-tagged photos or transcriptions) and you have received an email from me, send me a note at kristy.stewart @ billiongraves.com. If you have received an email from me, make sure you’ve sent me your t-shirt size and address so I can get your shirt to you.

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Growing Grave Records

The BillionGraves database of headstone photos and transcribed records just keeps growing, thanks to all of you. Starting this week, I’m going to post a list of all the countries you’ve been uploading from, along with lists of the states, provinces, and other sections within each country. This week we’ve had additions from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Sweden.

This Week’s Additions

United Kingdom

  • England
  • Wales

United States

  • Arkansas 
  • California 
  • Florida 
  • Georgia 
  • Hawaii 
  • Idaho 
  • Illinois 
  • Indiana 
  • Iowa 
  • Kentucky 
  • Louisiana 
  • Maine 
  • Maryland 
  • Massachusetts 
  • Michigan 
  • Minnesota 
  • Nebraska 
  • New York 
  • North Carolina 
  • Ohio 
  • Oklahoma 
  • Oregon 
  • Pennsylvania 
  • South Carolina 
  • South Dakota 
  • Texas
  • Utah
Sweden
  • Skåne 
  • Västra Götaland
Newest T-shirt Winners
Along with our new photos and records, we also have some new t-shirt winners. Congratulations!
  • smflatness (1697 images)
  • Gayle (1154 transcriptions)
  • sadie63 (1020 transcriptions)
  • Jeremyeguzman (1005 transcriptions)
  • Simini (1080 transcriptions)
  • waynedaz (1076 transcriptions)
Mapping Even Tomorrow
Last of all, don’t forget that tomorrow is the mapping even in Sandy, Utah, USA. If you’re in the Wasatch Front are or know someone who is, set your reminders. We’ll see you at Larkin Sunset Gardens at 9:00 a.m.!

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Event: Cemetery Mapping in Sandy, Utah

It’s been a while since the BillionGraves team last organized a cemetery-mapping event, so we’re planning one for next Saturday, September 24. You’re invited.
  • WHO: Anyone near enough to join us (photo collectors and transcribers are all welcome!).
  • WHAT: Mapping out the Memorial Gardens of the Valley / Larkin Sunset Gardens area.
  • WHEN: September 24, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. 
  • WHERE: Memorial Gardens of the Valley / Larkin Sunset Gardens in Sandy, Utah, USA. It’s on the corner of 1700 E and Dimple Dell Road (10600 S). If you go east off the 10600 S exit coming off of I-15 you have a straight shot out to the cemetery. Meet in the circular patch of cemetery marked below.

I hope to see lots of you there! We’ll plan on staying for an hour at least. Come as you can, leave early if you must. Even if you can only stop in for 15 minutes or so between your kids’ soccer games, we’d be happy to have you.

In other news, we’ve had four people earn their t-shirt this month (there are lots of other people who have crossed the 1,000 mark, but many of them have already earned their shirts).

  • Ddwertman (1413 photos)
  • lmwillet (1318 photos)
  • Sophie (1875 transcriptions)
  • mlmckenzie (1046 transcriptions)

Awesome work, you four. Thank you for your contributions!


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August’s Winners and September’s Contest

August has been a photo-, map-, and transcription-filled month, and you all have been amazing in the process. Every one of you contributing to BillionGraves has contributed to the awesome growth we’ve seen and to the growing number of complete cemetery records and photos that are now available.
Looking Back at August
There have been thousands of photos uploaded, and there have been many thousands of records transcribed. In fact, there have been so many transcriptions from dedicated individuals that even though we said this month’s promotion would only give t-shirts to those who uploaded photos from the app that we’re sending t-shirts to individuals who transcribed over 1,000 images in August. (If you’re one of these great people, check your email and please get your t-shirt size and shipping information to me as soon as possible.)
Here are this month’s winners and their totals (as of around 10:00 p.m. GMT):
Photo collectors:
  • Dswillet (10504)
  • Gableboy (2327)
  • Mitchowl (8087)
  • PapaMoose (1014)
  • ValerieC84 (1088)
  • GeneologyMaster (1151)
  • Hokie374 (9016)
  • tjalbrecht (5269)
  • ladyr0wan (1210)
  • DdraigGoch (1618)
  • crex (1159)
  • Anne Ryan (1998)
  • Bmathis (1452)
  • Rbemis01 (4127)
  • MichaelMcCormick
  • Chynna67 (1433)
  • Vickytb (1120)
  • TaraDuncan (1078)
  • waterfreak2009 (1925)
  • Chrisser (2115)
  • Joe&Murphy (1572)
  • huntingsage (1137)
  • grave_hopper (1169)
  • shelter (1737)
  • masters001 (1047)
  • dvdmovieking (1006)
  • Catirrel (1089)

Transcribers (if a transcriber already earned a t-shirt from uploading photos, he or she doesn’t get another one):
  • trishkovach (11536)
  • DdraigGoch (10961)
  • RWhisnant (10197)
  • EAC61 (6577)
  • Rbemis01 (5181)
  • SouthPawPhilly (5080)
  • Anne Ryan (3222)
  • Finnsh (3140)
  • Chynna67 (3115)
  • juicyjaffa (2429)
  • dvdmovieking (2141)
  • MollyM (2042)
  • Russell808 (1834)
  • tjalbrecht (1729)
  • grave_hopper (1425)
  • cemeteryschlep (1365)
  • foxhunt (1298)
  • sls1966 (1268)
  • deacent (1151)
  • Bmathis (1059)
  • delmonic1970 (1019)

To everyone, even those who didn’t make it into the over-1,000 club, thank you so much for your contributions to the BillionGraves project!
Looking Forward to September
Now that August is over, what are we going to do for September? For starters, we’re going to duplicate last month’s t-shirt contest: If you upload 1,000 GPS-verified* photos OR transcribe 1,000 photos, you will earn a BillionGraves t-shirt. For those of you who have already won your t-shirt, you won’t get another one if you cross the 1,000-photo threshold, but I hope you won’t let your cemetery-mapping habits falter.
Also, even if you’ve already won your t-shirt, don’t stop there! Let your spouses, friends, children, grandchildren, cousins, neighbors—even complete strangers—know about BillionGraves. The more people we have working on the project, the more cemeteries we can get mapped out, and the more ancestors we can help each other find.
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*GPS-verified photos are headstone photos that come through the free BillionGraves app for iPhone and Android.

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