2026 NFDA Innovation Award

Sponsored by: 

The Impression Vault

The Almorial

Andy Rhodes, Founder and CEO:  “We're humbled.  An industry we feel lucky to serve just told us we're worth watching. It's exciting, too, because it means more funeral homes will hear about the Almorial™. That's the real prize: more families may be given the option to keep a hand to hold onto, long after the day they said goodbye.”

What we created is new to the profession. Rather than a flat print or a cast, we carve a loved one’s hand into a solid piece of wood, distinctive enough that we hold a patent pending on our full-hand carvings. Funeral professionals told us the old way of preserving a hand, a physical mold, was slow, messy, and often did not turn out well. We built the opposite. The capture takes about ninety seconds and runs on a cell phone or tablet the funeral home already owns. There is no mold, no setting time, and nothing to clean up, and because it is a scan rather than a cast, the result is consistent and beautiful every time. From that scan we hand-finish the keepsake in solid wood, capturing the palm of the loved one’s hand in a warm, lasting form. The quality lives in both the object and the ease of getting it. The family decides nothing in the moment; the scan is simply preserved, stored securely, and held until they are ready. Part of the innovation is the business model, shaped by funeral professionals. A funeral home invests no money and no inventory, only a short, natural conversation, offering the scan when the team takes fingerprints. We handle everything in the follow-up and we offer samples and informational brochures to every partner at no cost, so a home has everything it needs.

Chptr

Chptr Local Media Distribution Network

Rehan Choudhry, Founder & CEO:“When we started Chptr, we knocked on the doors of 125 funeral homes—and seven agreed to pilot with us. To go from those early days to being named an NFDA Innovation Award finalist is a truly meaningful moment for our team, and one for which we are deeply grateful.”

Chptr is the first platform that enables funeral homes to distribute obituary and memorial content across local television, radio, digital news, streaming, and community media through a single workflow. Chptr modernizes this process by connecting funeral homes directly with trusted local media organizations, allowing families to share death notices, service information, memorial videos, and life stories where their communities are already paying attention. Funeral homes submit information once, and Chptr formats, schedules, and distributes content across a growing network of more than 200 local media outlets nationwide. Funeral directors can operate the platform with minimal training, while families benefit from broader community awareness, increased attendance at services, and greater opportunities for remembrance and support. By combining automation, scalability, and local relevance, Chptr transforms obituary distribution from a fragmented, newspaper-centric process into a modern community communications network. Historically, funeral homes had two primary options for obituary distribution: publish on their own website or place a notice in a newspaper. The innovation extends beyond software. Chptr built the infrastructure that allows two industries—funeral service and local media—to work together at scale for the first time.

WellTold

WellTold Films

Andy Russell, Founder: “WellTold exists to bring real documentary filmmaking to the way families honor the people they love, not a slideshow or a tribute video, but a film that becomes an heirloom. This recognition, from the profession itself, tells us that conviction is shared, and that means everything to us”.

WellTold Films produces cinema-quality documentary films about people's lives — not tribute slideshows, not memorial videos, but actual films. The kind a family gathers to watch together for generations. Every production element reflects an uncompromising standard. Cinema-grade cameras, prime lenses, and shallow depth of field create the visual language of professional documentary filmmaking. An on-set makeup artist, deliberate cinematic composition, and documentary interview technique draw out the stories that make a person irreplaceable rather than the polished statements families rehearse for eulogies. Post-production matches that standard: professional color grade, theatrical audio mix, motion-designed title cards, and a musical score built for that specific film. No templates. No reuse. Every film is constructed from the truth of the person it honors. The client experience is designed with equal care — a physical welcome package before production, a personal video message from the director at first cut delivery, and a private screening event where the finished film premieres for the people who loved them most. Physical deliverables are designed to function as heirlooms, not products. The result is something the funeral industry has never offered at this level: a permanent, cinematic record of who someone actually was.

Tukios

Heardstone

Curtis Funk, Founder & CEO:“ Wow! We are so excited and honored to be selected as a finalist for the Innovation Award! With the advancements in technology happening right now, the bar is set very high so we are grateful to be considered and it only motivates us more to create more innovative solutions for funeral homes.”

Heardstone is a groundbreaking, AI-powered digital assistant purpose-built exclusively for the unique workflow of funeral directors. By automating the administrative burden of manual note-taking, Heardstone allows directors to step out from behind the screen and focus entirely on what matters most: comforting grieving families. The app features an intuitive, secure design that transforms arrangement conferences into seamless digital workflows:

Intelligent Capture: The app records the conversation with flawless accuracy, allowing directors to maintain eye contact and genuine presence.

Smart Processing: Heardstone scans and synthesizes information from different inputs; including first call sheets, handwritten notes, military discharge papers, audio clips, etc. Automated Output: Within moments of concluding a meeting, it generates a comprehensive meeting summary, task lists, tailored personalization ideas, and a beautifully drafted obituary.

Seamless Integration: Heardstone connects directly into the Tukios platform. All captured data flows to where it needs to go, eliminating tedious copying and pasting.

Backed by one of the most innovative technology teams in deathcare, Heardstone combines an elegant design with elite functionality. It sets a new standard for funeral software, proving that cutting-edge technology can coexist with deep human empathy.