The International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association (ICCFA) KIP Awards recognize the best in personalization in the cemetery and memorialization profession.

Created by the ICCFA Personalization Committee in 2001, the KIP Award program honors recipients in four categories: Most Personalized Service/Memorial for Funeral Home, Most Personalized Service/Memorial for Cemetery, Most Personalized Pet Service, and Innovative Personalized Product.

This year’s contest attracted entries from ICCFA members in Brazil, Canada, Guatemala, The Philippines, and the United States. Professionals from outside the deathcare profession judged the entries. The 2023 KIP winners and honorable mentions will be recognized during the President’s Banquet at the 2024 ICCFA Annual Convention & Exposition. Descriptions of each winning entry and honorable mention are available at iccfa.com/awards.

Jefferson Memorial was awarded first-place in the Most Personalized Service/Memorial for Funeral Homes for the Rite of Passage program collaboration with the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science Students (PIMS). Over the years, PIMS accumulated several sets of unidentified human bones; no longer being used as instructional material, the students, under the directions of their instructors, planned a funeral from start to finish to honor the services these bones had provided to future funeral directors and death care professionals.

The student-planned-and-led event was a meaningful experience to all involved. These bones provided a Final Lesson, may they now rest in peace.

Read the full ICCFA press release on the winner here! To learn more about ICCFA and the KIP Awards, please visit their website at iccfa.com/awards.