Developer Challenge

List of Participants

Nearly 30 developers participated in this year's developer challenge by submitting projects that demonstrated technical innovations for family history. From these, a panel of judges selected six finalists, from which three were ultimately selected to win a total of $10,000 in prizes.

Some of the challenge participants have chosen to be included in an online directory, you you can follow the development of these projects.

Designation Project Name Submitted By
Grand Prize NoteFuser Jimmy Zimmerman
2nd Prize LeafSeek Brooke Schreier Ganz
3rd Prize (tie) 20 Minute Genealogist BYU Computer Science Dept. (team)
3rd Prize (tie) Facetree Ellie Rasmus
Finalist Family Group Folders Online James Taylor
Finalist GEDCOM parser Dallan Quass
AncestorSync Dovy Paukstys
Family History Media (iOS, Android) Brian Moncur (AppTime)
Family History Notebook Brian Moncur (AppTime)
GenAssist Banai Lynn Feldstein
Genealogy in the Classroom
Genedocs Hybrid Data Entry Spreadsheet Eric Jelle
GenQuiry: Manage your family history research Helen Wright
Pedigree chart viewer Stephen C Murphy
ProgenyLink Kent William Huff
Similar-name finder for genealogy Dallan Quass
Text Enhancer Oliver Nina



Do you have an idea for a new family history service?

If you’ve been thinking, "there should be an app for that," now is your chance. Solving that problem could earn you $5,000 and the admiration of millions.

RootsTech will reward developers who introduce the most innovative new concepts to family history with cash rewards and increased visibility.

The Problem

Tens of millions of people around the world are interested in family history. These people need software solutions—whether on the desktop, online, or through mobile delivery—that help them engage and succeed in their efforts to discover, preserve, and share their family history.

The Challenge

Create an application or service that introduces a compelling new concept or innovation for family history.

Here is a sampling of the types of projects you might choose to tackle:

  • Digitally preserve and share genealogy information that has not previously been captured
  • Visualize genealogy data based on relationships, geography, or timelines
  • Help new family historians start their research and stay organized as part of the process
  • Uniquely identify or disambiguate multiple ancestors who appear to be the same person
  • Dynamically generate collaborative ancestor pages with multiple feeds or sources of information

Rules, Prizes and Deadlines