#RootsTech 2017 Free Pass Contest

Once again I am giving away a RootsTech plus Innovator Summit 4-day pass ($299 value) to one lucky reader. (If you win and you’ve already purchased a pass, you can get a full refund.) RootsTech 2017 will be held at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, 8-11 February 2017. The pass gives you:

• Innovator Summit 2017 keynotes and classes
• Innovator Showdown
• Over 200 classes, including RootsTech classes and Getting Started classes
• Keynotes: Reading Rainbow’s LeVar Burton, The Cake Boss, Buddy Valastro, and one more soon to be announced
• Expo hall admission
• Welcome party
• Evening event: Oscar “Andy” Hammerstein III and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
• Evening event: Celebrate Your Heritage
• Closing Event: "Celebrating Life with Music—and Cake," featuring comedian Jason Hewlett, BYU men’s a cappella chorus, Vocal Point, and a cappella chorus, Noteworthy

(There are extra charges for add-ons: luncheons and lab classes. This pass does not include Family Discover Day, which requires a separate registration.)

The rules are:

• Send me an example of a darned record or a tale of serendipity. What is a darned record? See examples from my past articles. Darned records are funny, weird, unique, cool, or awesome. Extra credit is given if the example is instructional. For example, two birth certificates for the same person, each with a different date, instructs us that no record, no matter how trustworthy the class of record, is beyond examination. What are tales of serendipity ? See examples from my past articles. Tales of serendipity embody uncanny coincidences, Olympian luck, or remarkable miracles. These go beyond what hard work would accomplish or random chance would explain.
• I’ve published many funny names, so that get’s a little old. If you submit a funny name from the census, it better be really interesting. Darned records of other types might catch my interest better. 
• Write up an article about the record or the tale, ready for publication on my blog. By submitting your idea, record, article, photograph, or image, you give me permission to publish it, but it wouldn’t hurt for you to explicitly state that you are giving me permission.
• I might edit (“rewrite”) the article to match my style. (I warn you so you won’t be offended.)
• I will give you credit. Tell me if you want your name to appear a particular way.
• Attach an image of the record. If the record is online, also send the URL. For a tale of serendipity, include a photograph or image related to the tale.
• Include a citation for the record and any other sources used. Don’t worry about it being encyclopediacticly correct.
• Obtain permission from any living persons mentioned or pictured and so state in your email.
• Begin the subject line of your email with “Contest Entry: ” followed by a good title for the article.
• Submit your entry to AncestryInsider@gmail.com. I must receive it before the end of Friday the 25th, November 2016, Mountain Standard Time. The gmail timestamp will be the official time of receipt.
• If you’ve previously submitted a record or tale and I have not published it, submit it again, following all the instructions above.
• Employees of FamilySearch are ineligible.
• I will choose the winner by how awesome I think the record or tale is, how well I like your article, and how well you followed these instructions.
• I reserve the right to change the rules if a situation comes up that I didn’t foresee.

I look forward to receiving your submissions!