At our Awards Day in July we were pleased to announce that the Bickersteth Medal has been awarded to Chris Whitten and Wikitree.com.
Paul Fox, Chairman of the Trustees, presented Chris Whitten with the medal during the awards ceremony at the close of the Boston Congress in Boston Old South Church on Friday 27th September 2024.
Wikitree is a sister website to Wikipedia. Established fifteen years ago by Chris Whitten and his colleagues, it is totally free, and supported by a volunteer community. It has 1 million members, 39 million profiles, and 12 million profiles with DNA connections. It has amazing search functionality to see if you are related to other people - famous, infamous, or just friends. Unlike other ancestry websites you can write profiles of ancestors like Wikipedia pages, with text, photographs etc. It is open content, so others can add to your work, with a high emphasis on integrity through its honour code, and correct referencing. In order to edit pre-1500 profiles it is necessary to take a series of free training courses. The establishment of this vast database is very much in accordance with the founding principles of the IHGS.
