The Keeping It Personal (KIP) Awards were started in 2001 by the ICCFA’s Personalization subcommittee to encourage the sharing of ideas for personalizing services and products to better serve families.
You can learn more about our award winners and find more information below
Cemetery Category – Most personalized service, memorial, or event winners
2023
First Place & Overall Grand Prize Winner
Cave Hill Cemetery and Hosparus Join Forces to Serve Children
Cave Hill Cemetery & Arboretum – Louisville, Kentucky
Cave Hill Cemetery and its non-profit Foundation, the Cave Hill Heritage Foundation, collaborated with Hosparus Health of Louisville to address the often-overlooked needs of grieving children in their community. Through the G-Force camp, children aged 6-12 who had experienced significant loss were provided with a transformative week-long experience. The program included activities such as exploring the cemetery grounds, panel discussions with funeral directors, and a mock funeral service where children actively participated in honoring their loved ones. This innovative approach, guided by professional therapists, not only facilitated healing but also fostered a sense of connection and understanding among the participants. Feedback from families highlighted the profound impact of the program, with children expressing increased openness about their feelings and memories of their loved ones. Cave Hill Cemetery and the Cave Hill Heritage Foundation are committed to continuing this invaluable partnership with Hosparus, recognizing the importance of supporting grieving children as they navigate the journey of loss and healing.
Honorable Mention
Momentos Que Nos Unen
Señoriales Corporación de Servicio – Guatemala
In Guatemala, October and November are deeply imbued with nostalgia and love as their culture commemorates the departed, marking the start of a special season dedicated to honoring passed loved ones. Señoriales Corporación de Servicio’s “Momentos Que Nos Unen” campaign effectively emphasized the significance of this dedication through a day devoted solely to this purpose, celebrating the enduring connection between the living and the departed. At Cementerio Los Parques, families engaged in various activities fostering familial bonds and paying tribute to their departed loved ones, with highlights including workshops, storytelling, and a monumental kite symbolizing the bridge between earthly and spiritual realms. Through music, creativity, and reflection, the event underscored the importance of cherishing every moment shared and the enduring influence of those who have left indelible imprints on our lives, ultimately affirming that love and connection transcend physical existence.
2022
First Place
H2oLyfe
Green Hills Memorial Park – Rancho Palos Verdes, California
Over the last several years, Green Hills Memorial Park has seen the loss of hope by so many young people who chose to end their own lives. H2oLyfe is a movement that aims to help those affected by hopelessness to find a community in one another and utilize water activities to open their hearts and minds to the hope that life provides. H2oLyfe shares the stoke of the ocean with the young people in their community to remind them of the easy access to this calming resource. Fun skills and activities on the water to build confidence, happiness, and camaraderie. They believe having a Blue Mind, or a mildly meditative state characterized by calm, peace, and unity, can help anyone who may be experiencing mental illness, be it temporary or long term.
Honorable Mention
Jefferson Memorial Park Paints the Park Pink in Honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Jefferson Memorial Park, Funeral Home, Crematory & Arboretum – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
In August 2022, Jefferson Memorial Par, held its 10th Annual Car Cruise which raised over $2,200 in support of the American Cancer Society. To follow this event and to continue its charitable outreach with the American Cancer Society, Jefferson Memorial Park hosted its first-ever Paint the Park Pink in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and all the families we serve who have lost a loved one to cancer. Paint the Park Pink was held the first weekend in October and partnered with Relay for Life/American Cancer Society Northeast Region to provide free pink flowers to all families visiting a loved one at the cemetery to place at their graveside. Cemetery staff met with families and answered pre-planning questions, handed out maps, surveys, and assisted families navigate the cemetery grounds. The Relay for Life/American Cancer Society Northeast Region staff also met with families and discuss activities, programs, fundraising and provide more information for those seeking cancer resources.
Past Winners
Funeral Home Category – Most personalized service, memorial, or event winners
2023
First Place
Rite of Passage: Jefferson Memorial Park with Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science Students for Burial Event
Jefferson Memorial Cemetery, Funeral Home, Crematory & Arboretum – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
In November 2023, Jefferson Memorial Cemetery partnered with the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science (PIMS) to hold a bone burial event, honoring remains used for student education. PIMS, a non-profit educational institution, has trained funeral service students for over 75 years, and their collaboration with Jefferson Memorial included planning a funeral and burial for unused instructional bones. Represented by diverse religious leaders, including a Rabbi and a Catholic priest, the event involved over 50 attendees, including a bagpiper and a veteran’s honor guard. While led by PIMS, Jefferson Memorial supported the event by providing facilities and services, with their grounds crew conducting the interment. This student-led initiative aimed to provide a dignified farewell and could become a recurring tradition, inviting public participation to honor those who donated their bodies to science. Jefferson Memorial commends the PIMS students for their compassion and looks forward to future collaborations with the institute.
Honorable Mention
Eldon’s Last Ride
Pray Funeral Home – Charlotte, Michigan
Pray Funeral Home orchestrated a deeply personalized and memorable funeral for Eldon Howe, a beloved patriarch known for his dedication to family, community, and his car dealership. Through imaginative elements like a candy table reflecting Eldon’s generosity, personalized casket and vault selections, and a procession through the dealership’s service garage, the funeral celebrated Eldon’s unique life story. Guests were engaged with interactive elements, including boards showcasing fun facts and a video capturing memories, while the luncheon held in the dealership showroom provided a fitting tribute to Eldon’s lifelong passion. The event garnered community attention and heartfelt appreciation, embodying a meaningful farewell that honored Eldon’s lasting impact.
2022
First Place & Overall Grand Prize
Star Trek Memorial – Boldly Going Where No Funeral Has Gone Before
Pray Funeral Home Inc. – Charlotte, Michigan
This memorial service or celebration of life was developed to showcase the life of a young man, Rob, who had a life full of accomplishments and challenges. The family had come to Pray Funeral Home with a challenge of putting together something meaningful that was outside the traditional scripture-based funeral or memorial. They had many thoughts but weren’t‘ sure how to assemble them. Joe E Pray, the funeral director, suggested developing Rob’s memorial to include Star Trek elements. When the ideas started to flow, the family shifted from a mindset of making funeral arrangements, to one of imagining how they could showcase Rob’s life and share the lessons they had learned from him that may be helpful to others. Their grief was beginning to transform into healing. This celebration of life was built on thoughtful quotes, music, and other modern references to convey a meaningful message of hope.
Honorable Mention
Certificate of Service and Challenge Coin Initiative
Flanner Buchanan – Indianapolis, Indiana
The team at Flanner Buchanan works with J. Stewart Goodwin, Brigadier General, USAF (Ret.), to visit veterans who are in hospice care to present them with the Certificate of Military Service and conduct the Challenge Coin Ceremony. Brigadier General (Ret.) Goodwin uses his resources gathered over his 37 years of service to obtain each veteran’s military papers, such as a discharge or a DD 214. The family is invited to attend the ceremony where the veteran is presented with their certificates and the Challenge Coin, a tradition that began in WWII. A conversation between Goodwin, the veteran and their family take place; starting from the day they enlisted in military service to the present. These discussions can include everything from stories about military life, experiences outside of military services or significant moments in their life.
Past Winners
Innovative Personalized Product Category
A product that memorializes in a personal and meaningful way. The product may be physical or virtual and may include, but is not limited to, memorials, monuments, urns, art, printed material and web-based tributes. Submissions for this category are limited to Supplier Members
2023
First Place
Life’s QR
Life’s QR – Niagara Falls, Canada
Life’s QR is an innovative platform revolutionizing memory preservation, legacy sharing, and generational connections through advanced QR technology. With a commitment to honoring every individual’s unique narrative, Life’s QR offers stainless steel, weatherproof QR code signs placed on headstones, memorials, and other sites, leading visitors to interactive online tribute pages. Users can personalize memorials with extensive text, photos, videos, and even virtual guestbooks, ensuring a meaningful and respectful environment. The platform’s vision is to lead in memory preservation and legacy sharing, providing an affordable and user-friendly solution across Canada and the USA, extending opportunities to funeral homes, cemeteries, towns, and businesses. Life’s QR aims to celebrate human life and stories, transcending traditional obituaries by connecting, learning, and sharing memories in a world where cherishing loved ones is paramount.
Honorable Mention
Etern.life Memorial Map
Passages International, Inc. – Albuqurque, New Mexico
Passages addresses the challenge of scattering cremated remains by introducing The Etern.life Memorial Map, an online platform providing families with a designated space to mark the exact scattering location, create dynamic memorials, and share stories and photos of their loved ones. Unlike static obituaries, Etern.life fosters a living community where families can continuously update and personalize memorials, offering a meaningful alternative to traditional burials. With nearly half of cremation families opting to scatter, Etern.life fills the need for accessible, meaningful places to pay respects, catering to diverse reasons for scattering. Already established in 16 countries, Passages encourages families to share unique goodbye stories and celebrates the diversity of memorial practices, providing free access to the platform with every biodegradable urn and Scattering Tube purchase.
2022
First Place
KeepTrack™ – The QR Body Tracking System for Funeral Homes & Crematories
Gather – Meridian, Idaho
KeepTrack™ by Gather was built for single to multi-location funeral homes, crematories, and trade businesses who are looking for a body tracking system to keep better track of their chain of custody, prevent body or belonging mix-ups, reduce legal liability, and boost their reputation. The hardware includes tracking tags, keepsake medallions, and a cloud-based integrated software system. Funeral homes and crematories can view any case and track the location of every decedent using a digital whiteboard and build customizable workflows and task lists. Simultaneously, they can build beautiful Remember Pages for families to view and interact with to honor their loved ones for years to come. In addition to several more features, users receive a dedicated account manager and unlimited support at no extra cost.
Honorable Mention
Chronicle
Chronicle Cemetery Software – Victoria, Australia
Founded in Melbourne, Australia, Chronicle’s goal is to enhance community engagement with the cemeteries by helping digitize and maintain accurate cemetery records, making cemetery management more effective, safer, and meaningful. Over the last four years, Chronicle has helped 200+ cemeteries worldwide efficiently manage their records and elegantly share their deceased details online. Chronicle is an easy-to-use cloud-based cemetery management software that combines high-quality burial plot mapping with deceased records to create an immersive user experience. The user-friendly daily management tools and interactive mapping technology allow the public to locate the graves of their loved ones, reserve a plot for future use, and create digital memorials for the departed.
Past Winners
Pet Category – Most personalized service or memorial winners
An outstanding example of a personalized funeral for a particular pet, or a very personalized memorial.
2023
First Place
The Eterneva Diamond That Saves Hundreds of Dogs Per Year
Eterneva – Austin, Texas
Eterneva, the leading ashes-to-diamond company, specializes in creating lasting tributes for both people and pets, with over 4,000 families served since 2016. Recognizing the profound bonds people share with their pets, Eterneva ensures a meaningful experience, exemplified by Brittany Stanton’s journey to commemorate her beloved golden retriever, Ollie, who tragically passed from ingesting toxic algae. Through Ollie’s Diamond Journey, documented in a viral TikTok video, Brittany’s emotional unveiling of his amber-hued diamond not only honored Ollie but also raised awareness about the dangers of Ladybird Lake, ultimately saving lives.
Honorable Mention
An Altar Woven with the Traces of Eternal Love
Heart’s Companion Pet Memorial Center – Reno, Nevada
Señoriales Corporación de Servicio – Guatemala
In a poignant tribute held on November 1, 2023, at Los Parques Cemetery, a heartfelt altar was meticulously crafted to honor cherished pets. Nestled beneath the ancient cypress tree known as the “Tree of Life,” this altar exuded warmth and reverence, adorned with vibrant colors, fresh flowers, and photographs. Collaborative efforts from families created a mosaic of love that illuminated the space, while symbolic elements such as marigolds and timeworn toys spoke to the transient yet enduring nature of life and love. Culinary offerings personalized to each pet’s preferences added an intimate touch to the celebration, symbolizing the hope of a joyful reunion beyond the rainbow bridge. This tribute, reaching over 800 participants and garnering significant social media attention, transcended mere artistic expression to become a poignant testament to the timeless bond between humans and animals, offering solace, inspiration, and a reaffirmation of eternal love enduring in the hearts and memories of all involved.
2022
First Place
Changing the Lives of Street Dogs
Capillas Señoriales Casa de Homanejas – Merida, Mexico
In October 2022, Mambo, a golden retriever and grief therapy dog at Capillas Señoriales, was present at the Congress of the State of Michoacán for the initiative of a law that trains street dogs for emotional assistance, educational assistance, and search and rescue assistance. Mambo has supported many grieving families, including the Deputy of the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico, Ernesto Núñez. After Núñez observed Mambo’s work, Capillas Señoriales was contacted to participate in the bill to create the state canine reintegration program. Mambo helped present the bill, which was approved with a majority of votes.
Honorable Mention
Fox, Canine Hero
Capillas Señoriales – Guatemala
Fox, a border collie and trained search and rescue dog, carried out many successful missions with his trainer for the Asociación Nacional De Bomberos Municipales Departamentales in Guatemala. Unfortunately, during a training session to receive an international search and rescue certification, Fox’s life was cut short. Capillas Señoriales conducted a beautiful celebration of Fox’s life for his trainer, members of the ASONBOMD, family members and their pets, as well as people who were rescued by Fox. The service included a video tribute, violin music, a white doves release, and a tree planting ceremony on Fox’s resting place.