Members Celebrated at Annual Meeting for Outstanding Contributions to APG and the Genealogy Profession
16 December 2025 — The Association of Professional Genealogists has honored several members for their outstanding professional achievements, service to the association and the genealogy profession. President Suzanne L. Hoffman announced the award winners at the organization’s Annual Members’ Meeting. Congratulations to this year’s recipients:
Grahame T. Smallwood Jr. Award of Merit – Annette Burke Lyttle, CG® (Florida, USA)
The Smallwood Award recognizes an APG member for their personal commitment and outstanding service to the Association, and Annette Burke Lyttle, CG® exemplifies this commitment, serving as president from 2022-2023 and finishing a term as past president this month. She previously served as an at-large board member and was coordinator of APG’s Professional Management Conference from 2017-2019. Annette holds the Certified Genealogist® credential and is the owner of Heritage Detective, LLC. She speaks on a variety of genealogical topics at the national, state, and local levels, and is editor of The Florida Genealogist. During her tenure as president, Annette oversaw the rebuilding or reimagining of many aspects of APG operations with decisive, calm, and well-measured leadership. She helped the association navigate the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic, updated antiquated bylaws, began the process of building a new website and established the Listening and On-Ramp Committees, among other achievements.
Laura G. Prescott Award for Exemplary Service to Professional Genealogy – Jill Morelli, CG®, CGL® (Washington, USA)
The Prescott Award recognizes service to the field of professional genealogy, exemplary professionalism, and continuing encouragement to other professional genealogists. The 2025 recipient, Jill Morelli, CG®, CGL® is a writer, lecturer and genealogical researcher. After receiving her BCG certification in 2017, Jill began the Certification Discussion Group (CDG) to help demystify the process of portfolio building and the certification journey. Since its inception, over 600 attendees have participated in the CDG program. The CDG program also established a mentorship program for alumni and has paired more than 200 people with a one-on-one-mentor or assigned to an accountability group. A writer and lecturer, Jill is a past president of the Seattle Genealogical Society, program director for the Puget Sound-APG chapter, and a member of many local and national genealogical societies.
Kathleen W. Hinckley Professional Achievement Award – LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, CG®, CGL® (Washington, DC, USA)
LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, CG®, CGL®, exemplifies the Hinckley award’s criteria of exceptional professional achievement with contributions to the field of genealogy through individual excellence and ethical behavior. Following a career as a tax lawyer, LaBrenda became a Board-certified Genealogist in 2015. She has been active with the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG), where she has served as President (2019-2022), Treasurer, and as a Trustee. LaBrenda is on the editorial board of both the Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society and the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. In 2021 she was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists. Recently, she served as the Registrar General of the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage, a national lineage society that honors ancestors who were enslaved in the United States. She is also a well-known speaker at genealogical institutes and conferences.
APG Quarterly Excellence Award – Jenny Hawran (Connecticut, USA)
Jenny Hawran is being honored with the APG Quarterly Excellence Award for her September 2025 article, “When the Tree Shakes the Roots: Navigating Misattributed Paternity Discoveries with Compassion and Care.” This thoughtfully written article provided helpful strategies for professional genealogists to better understand the importance of compassionately delivering news about unexpected DNA results to clients. The current president of the Connecticut Society of Genealogists, Jenny specializes in Connecticut research and record retrieval, web design, and social media content creation for genealogy groups. She thrives on mentoring budding genealogists and volunteers in the genealogy community.
Certificates of Appreciation
These recognize outstanding, continual, or unusual contributions to APG by a member or non-member:
Professional Management Conference Committee: Sara E. Butson; Pamela Moore; Regina Roberts; Torhild Shirley, AG®; Lisa Weaver; Paula Williams, Jennifer Zinck, CG®. With a severely abbreviated schedule, the 2025 PMC Conference Committee selected presentations, prepared documentation for all events, and worked with the website committee and the APG contractor/staff team to get this year's conference live and make it a great success.