Saturday, February 21, 2009

2009 SPOW Awards and Convention update

For the latest on the 2009 Society of Professional Obituary Writers Awards, visit the organization's Awards page.

The tentative schedule for the 2009 Society of Professional Obituary Writers Convention, which will be held in Charlotte, N.C., April 23-25, will be announced during the first two weeks of March.

Please email program proposals, suggestions for speakers and topics, and questions to convention@obitwriters.org.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Test your Obit IQ to win an iPod Touch

Obit Magazine is offering an iPod prize to entice you to Test Your Obit IQ.

Each Thursday this month (Feb. 2009), participants can answer a list of multiple choice questions that test your knowledge of stories that appeared in Obit.

You can't backtrack. You have to answer the questions before the new ones appear on the following Thursday.

But you can still participate even if you enter late. The more weekly contests you enter, the better your chances of winning.

Monday, February 09, 2009

Eulogy with a Valentine's Day flavor

Spencer Michlin shares Janet Foote's Unusual and Poignant Eulogy for her husband, Jerry.

It was featured on the FrontBurner blog of Dallas, Texas, on Feb. 8, 2009.

Janet Foote managed to use genetics to tell a love story.

Friday, February 06, 2009

Not-dead fisherman writes his own obit

Pam Vetter shares this story - "Gutted! The fisherman caught faking his death" - which ran in the Feb. 6, 2009, edition of The Independent of London.

The professional fisherman apparently tried to fake his own death to avoid paying fines for having lied to the British government about the number of fish he caught.

I guess that's like not paying your income tax.

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Good ways of reporting bad news

The News and Observer lets readers in on the secret of advanced obituaries at:
http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/vaden/story/1389496.html

The column, by Ted Vaden, also praises the "word paintings" found in the obituaries for lesser lights of his acquaintance.

cheers
tom hawthorn