The International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association Names the 2025 “Keeping It Personal” (KIP) Award Winners
STERLING, Va. (February 16, 2026) – The International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association (ICCFA) proudly announces the winners of the 2025 Keeping It Personal (KIP) Awards, celebrating excellence in personalization within the cemetery, funeral, and memorialization profession.
Established by the ICCFA Personalization Committee in 2001, the KIP Award program recognizes outstanding achievements across four categories: Most Personalized Service/Memorial for Cemetery, Most Personalized Service/Memorial for Funeral Home, Innovative Personalized Product and Most Personalized Pet Service.
This year, the contest received entries from ICCFA members in Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States, which were judged by professionals from outside the deathcare field. The 2025 KIP winners and honorable mentions will be celebrated during the Annual Board Report & Awards on Thursday, April 30, starting at 1:45 PM CT, as part of the 2026 ICCFA Experience in Fort Worth, Texas, from April 29 to May 1, 2026. Full descriptions of each winning entry and honorable mention can be found at iccfa.com/awards/kip, and a future issue of ICCFA’s Memento Mori magazine will highlight this year’s results.
“This year’s KIP Award recipients show that true innovation in our profession begins with compassion,” said Bob Gordon, Jr., CCE, ICCFA President and Chair of the Personalization Committee. “From deeply personalized tributes to community-centered initiatives and creative new tools, these honorees are redefining what it means to serve families with intention, dignity, and care. Their work reflects the heart of memorialization and the future of our profession.”
The winners and honorable mentions are as follows:
Most Personalized Service/Memorial for Cemetery
- First Place and Overall Grand Prize Winner: “You Can Always Talk to Possum at Life Forest” from Life Forest in Manchester, New Hampshire
A children’s book, workbook, and community program that provides age-appropriate grief tools through storytelling and guided activities, helping young people process loss and stay connected to loved ones beyond the graveside.
“This entry carries a significant number of resources, both tangible and in the form of support,” said a 2025 KIP Awards judge. “Recognizing the need for appropriate resources for children experiencing grief and loss, Life Forest has implemented a program to help children work through their feelings both at the time of loved ones passing and beyond.”
- Honorable Mention: Sanctuary of the Sea: A Tribute of Life That Gives Life from Capillas Señoriales Casa de Homenajes in Mérida, Yucatán, México
An innovative memorial concept that transforms cremated remains into ecological reef structures, combining personalized ceremonies with environmental restoration to create a living legacy in the sea.
Most Personalized Service/Memorial for Funeral Home
- First Place: Tribute to Luis Roberto “Chowi” Gutierrez Soria – Guatemala City “Flying Beyond Goodbye” from Capillas Señoriales Casa de Homenajes in Guatemala
An immersive, highly personalized tribute honoring a champion hang gliding athlete, featuring a full glider installation and curated life display that transformed farewell into a powerful celebration of identity and legacy.
- Honorable Mention: Lanterns of Love from Jefferson Memorial Cemetery & Funeral Home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
A community remembrance event supporting pregnancy and infant loss, inviting families to create memorial lanterns and gather in shared acknowledgment, healing, and compassion.
Innovative Personalized Product
- First Place: Tending App – Nine Stones at Pilot Knob: Lisa Nicole Collins Family Cemetery Restoration from Tending App by All Funeral Services in New York, New York
A technology-enabled cemetery restoration project that combines nationwide local care with verified photo documentation, allowing a historic family cemetery to be preserved remotely and shared across generations.
- Honorable Mention: Tombstone Jack from Tombstone Jack. Inc. in Bringham City, Utah
A portable monument lifting system that empowers individuals and volunteer groups to safely restore gravestones without heavy machinery, preserving dignity and history at scale.
Most Personalized Pet Service
- First Place: Keeper Find Me, Remember Me from Keeper Memorials USA Inc. in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
A digital memorial platform that preserves a pet’s story through a QR code that transitions from life to remembrance, ensuring continuity, identity, and lasting connection.
- Honorable Mention: Max: A Dignified and Loving Conclusion to the Mission of an Extraordinary Being from Señoriales Corporación de servicio in Guatemala
A compassionate, ritual-centered farewell honoring a therapy dog’s life of service, redefining pet end-of-life care through ceremony, presence, and ecological return.
The ICCFA congratulates all the winners of the 2025 Keeping It Personal (KIP) Awards. These outstanding innovators continue to set new standards of excellence, inspiring the profession to create meaningful and memorable experiences for the families they serve.
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Founded in 1887, the International Cemetery, Cremation, and Funeral Association is the only international trade association representing all segments of the cemetery, cremation, funeral, and memorialization profession. The association is comprised of more than 10,000 members in the cemetery, funeral home, and crematory industries, as well as supplier and related businesses worldwide.
