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Eva Brettler with student artist Taylor Ota
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Natan and Fela Gipsman with student filmmaker Kimberely Sanchez
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Engelina Billauer with student filmmaker Nicholas Franklyn
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» Annual Holocaust Art & Writing Contest
View winning entries from the
25th Annual Holocaust Art & Writing Contest
and all previous years on our Previous Contests page.
25th Annual Holocaust Art & Writing Contest
Answering the Call of Memory: Choosing to Act
Participating schools may submit a total of three entries (one entry per student) in any combination of the following categories: art, film, poetry, or prose.
Students will be eligible to win a first prize award of $400 in each category. Educators and schools will also be eligible to win a first prize of $200 each.
First-place student winners in the United States, their parents/
guardians, and teachers will be invited to participate in an expense-paid study trip June 24-28, 2024, to visit the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, the Japanese American National Museum, and other sites in Los Angeles, as well as to meet with members of The 1939 Society, a community of Holocaust survivors, descendants, and friends.
Funding permitting, this year’s U.S. winning participants will be joined by first-place students living outside of the United States. In addition, first-place student entries will be posted on Chapman University’s contest website.
Students awarded second prize in each category will receive $200 and their sponsoring educator and school will receive $100 each.
Inspiration
For many survivors of the Holocaust, speaking of their experiences was exceedingly difficult, even gut-wrenching. It meant reliving their own suffering and even more painfully, experiencing anew the loss of those they loved. After the war, most survivors were determined to focus on the present and the future, not on the past. If they had children, they often felt it would be wrong to burden them with the painful memories of their own youth. The past couldn’t be changed—although Holocaust deniers would try to do so—but the future could.
In time, as survivors thought about the future, they realized that their memories could play a role in shaping the future. Perhaps their memories could educate people to the danger of remaining silent in the face of bigotry, racism, and antisemitism. Perhaps sharing the stories of the courageous few who had chosen to stand with those persecuted would inspire people now to do the same. Perhaps their memories could teach people that standing up for justice and human rights is what we should expect of ourselves and others, rather than be the exception.
When Miep Gies was asked why she risked her life to hide the Otto Frank family in the secret attic in Amsterdam, she replied that she only did what any other good Dutch person would do. She didn’t see anything remarkable or heroic about her actions. Some people became rescuers as a result of a spontaneous decision. Others surprised even themselves by their actions. Oskar Schindler was a Nazi businessman who sought to make his fortune from the misfortune of Jews in Poland. Yet, over time, he came to see his Jewish workers as individuals whose well-being was entrusted to him. What might have once been unthinkable to him—spending his entire fortune to save his 1200 Jewish workers—became what he expected of himself.
Survivors also shared memories of how they helped one another, refusing to allow the inhumanity of their persecutors to dehumanize them. They told of words and actions that brought hope in the most desperate of times. They came to see that sharing their memories could give them strength and help them heal from trauma and do even more—their memories could inspire us today to engage in acts of tikkun olam, healing the world not by grand gestures but by even the smallest of actions wherever we see need and know we can make a difference. As the words of the Talmud inscribed on the ring given to Oskar Schindler by his workers said, “whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.”
How will Holocaust memory inspire you to act?
Prompt
- Chapman University’s Holocaust Art & Writing Contest website, featuring video testimonies from the collection of the USC Shoah Foundation — The Institute for Visual History and Education at Chapman.edu/contest-testimonies
- South Carolina Council on the Holocaust website at scholocaustcouncil.org/survivor.php
- The 1939 Society website at the1939society.org
- USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education’s YouTube channel at Youtube.com/uscshoahfoundation (“Full-Length Testimonies” playlists only)
- USC Shoah Foundation's iWitness site at iwitness.usc.edu
* Lists of testimonies that are one to two hours in length are available on the last page of the Educator Guide.
2. As you listen to the survivor’s or rescuer's testimony about their experiences, choose one specific memory that inspires you to action as a witness to a witness. How does this memory move you to answer the call of memory?
Please note the timestamp from the video testimony where the specific word, phrase, or sentence occurs.
3. Write down a specific word, phrase, or sentence from the memory you have chosen that is the catalyst for your reflection and action.
Through your creativity in art, poetry, prose, or film, explore this word, phrase, or sentence as central to both the survivor's or rescuer's specific Holocaust memory and to the action you will take as a itness to a witness in answering this call of memory.
We encourage teachers to consult the Educator Guide for rubrics, specific criteria and other information.
General Criteria
- Regardless of delivery method (digital or hard copy), all entrants must complete the online submission form
- Entries must reflect genuine engagement with the survivor's testimony in its historical context and constitute a thoughtful and creative response.
- Entries must be based on a survivor's testimony available from one of the following sources:
- Chapman University’s Holocaust Art & Writing Contest website, featuring video testimonies from the collection of the USC Shoah Foundation — The Institute for Visual History and Education at Chapman.edu/contest-testimonies
- South Carolina Council on the Holocaust website at scholocaustcouncil.org/survivor.php
- The 1939 Society website at the1939society.org
- USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education’s YouTube channel at Youtube.com/uscshoahfoundation (“Full-Length Testimonies” playlists only)
- USC Foundation's iWitness site at iwitness.usc.edu
- Entries must include a time stamp (timecode) from the video testimony. This is the moment in the testimony that the student chooses that references the theme of the contest prompt.
- Entries that do not follow the criteria will be disqualified.
Art Criteria
- Regardless of delivery method (digital or hard copy), all entrants must complete the online submission form
- Entries must be submitted with the artist’s statement that includes
- Title of the work
- Name of survivor to whose testimony this work is a response
- Statement of how the work addresses the prompt
- Statement must not include student or school name and must not exceed 100 words.
- Acknowledgement of sources – to protect copyright holders, proper citation of all sources is required. Permission for sources that are not public domain must be obtained in writing from copyright holder and submitted with entry.
- Please do not staple, tape, or otherwise attach the artist statement to the artwork
- Submissions must be two-dimensional only, on medium no thicker than ¾”, and must not exceed 12” x 18.”
- Artwork must not be matted or framed.
- Fixative spray must be applied to charcoal, pencil, pastel, and chalk art.
- Submissions can include photography and computer-generated images.
- Artists can use charcoal, pencil, pastel, chalk, watercolors, acrylics, or oils.
- Renderings of another’s work will be disqualified.
- Please note that AI-generated works are not permitted. All images, whether created by hand or digitally, must be the original creation of the student artist.
- Entries that do not follow the criteria will be disqualified.
Film Criteria
- Regardless of delivery method (digital or hard copy), all entrants must complete the online submission form
- Entries must be submitted with the filmmaker’s statement including:
- Title of the work
- Name of survivor to whose testimony this work is a response
- Statement of how the work addresses the prompt
- Statement must not include student or school name and must not exceed 100 words.
- Acknowledgement of sources – to protect copyright holders, proper citation of all sources is required. Permission for sources that are not public domain must be obtained in writing from copyright holder and submitted with entry.
- Content viewing time (without credits) may be no longer than three (3) minutes.
- File size must not exceed 600 MB.
- Films are to be submitted without credits for blind judging. A completed film with credits should be prepared in the event the film is selected for screening.
- Films may be submitted using WeTransfer.com, Google Drive, or other free file transfer websites.
- To ensure compatibility with MAC and PC, please use either QuickTime or MPEG format.
- Entries that do not follow the criteria will be disqualified.
Poetry Criteria
- Regardless of delivery method (digital or hard copy), all entrants must complete the online submission form
- Entries must be titled.
- Entries must be typed.
- Entries must not include graphics, drawings, or other images. It must be clear that the entry is a poem and not artwork.
- Entries must be created by students. AI-generated works are not permitted.
- Entries must not include reference to student or school name.
- Students should include the name of the survivor about whom the entry is written. If the name doesn’t appear in the work, it should appear under the title.
- Entries may be no more than 30 lines.
- Entries that do not follow the criteria will be disqualified.
Prose Criteria
- Regardless of delivery method (digital or hard copy), all entrants must complete the online submission form
- Entries must be titled.
- Entries must be typed.
- Entries must be created by students. AI-generated works are not permitted.
- Entries must not include reference to student or school name.
- Students should include the name of the survivor about whom the entry is written. If the name doesn’t appear in the work, it should appear under the title.
- Entries may be no more than 500 words.
- Entries that do not follow the criteria will be disqualified.
The Holocaust Art & Writing Contest
Sponsored by
Chapman University
The 1939 Society
The Irving and Nancy Chase Endowment for Holocaust Education
The Samueli Foundation
Yossie and Dana Hollander
With support from
USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education
The Isidore and Penny Myers Foundation
The Jerry and Sally Schwartz Endowment for Holocaust Education
The Liner Family Foundation
In partnership with
Catholic Schools, Diocese of Orange
David Labkovski Project
Echoes & Reflections
Facing History and Ourselves
Holocaust Museum Los Angeles
Orange County Department of Education
South Carolina Council on the Holocaust
In collaboration with
Museum of Tolerance
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Chapman University
International Partners
Forum for Dialogue, Poland
Foundation for Genocide Education, Canada
Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre, South Africa
Memoria Viva Fundación, Chile
Museo del Holocausto, Guatemala
Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Centre, Canada
Important Dates
Educator Workshops
VIRTUAL
December 5 @ 4:00 PM
Register
Entry Postmark Date:
February 2, 2024
Digital Submission due date:
February 5, 2024
Awards Ceremony
March 15, 2024
Music for Films!
We are grateful to the Orange County Klezmers for making available at no cost to registered participants musical selections from their album Echoes of Vilna. These tracks may only be used for projects created for the Holocaust Art and Writing Contest.