Two awards were presented at the MGS AGM on June 3:
1. The Eric Jonasson Award of Merit is the major award given by MGS. It was created in 1999 to honour Eric Jonasson for his contributions to MGS. He was one of the founding members of the Society in 1976 and was the first President, serving until 1980. Eric wrote his first genealogical guide “Tracing Your Icelandic Family Tree” in the 1970’s, followed by “The Canadian Genealogical Handbook” in 1976. In 1983, he published “Untangling Your Family Tree”. The 2017 winner is Virginia Braid from the SE/Winnipeg Branch.

2. The Florence Cox Volunteer Service Award was created in 1999 before Flo passed away in 2000. Flo was a member of MGS from 1979. She was an active volunteer in the Library and helped out in the indexing of many Manitoba cemeteries. Flo donated a new photocopier in her will to the Society, for which we were all very grateful. The Florence Cox Awards are presented in acknowledgement of exceptional service to MGS. More that one award can be made each year. The 2017 winners are Sheila Shearer and Stacey Shackel from the Southwest Branch, and Sheila Woods from the SE/Winnipeg Branch. Congratulations to all the recipients.