Jewish council seeks entries to Holocaust Writing Contest

YOUNGSTOWN

Students in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, and in Western Pennsylvania, are invited to enter a Holocaust Writing Contest, sponsored annually by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation.

The theme this year is “Justice and Accountability in the Face of Genocide: What have We Learned?”

Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, to be commemorated this year on May 1, is an internationally recognized day set aside for remembering victims of the Holocaust and for reminding society what can happen to civilized people when bigotry, hatred and indifference reign.

In keeping with the national theme set by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., the 65th anniversary of the verdicts at the first Nuremberg trial, and the 50th anniversary of the trial of Adolph Eichmann, this year’s contest topic addresses how the rule of law rather than vengeance better serves humanity.

Students in grades seven through 12 in public and private middle and high schools, and all college students in the region, are invited to submit an original piece of poetry and/or narrative composition on the theme in four categories: grades seven and eight, grades nine and 10; grades 11 and 12, and collegiate.

Each category will receive one award for poetry and one for narrative writing. Honorable Mention awards will be given in each category.

All entries must by typed or printed, double-spaced on one side of numbered pages, up to 1,500 words. Each entry will be judged on originality, content, appearance and adherence to the theme, and must be accompanied by a title page containing the following information: student’s name, home address and telephone number, student’s school address and telephone number; teacher’s name, and grade.

The deadline is April 4. Although submissions may be mailed, students are encouraged to submit entries via e-mail in the Microsoft Word format. Writings may be sent to the Jewish Community Relations Council, 505 Gypsy Lane, Youngstown, OH 44504-1314 or e-mailed to jcrc@jewishyoungstown.org.

Presentation of awards will be made during the Community Yom Hashoah Commemoration Ceremony at the Mahoning County Courthouse, 120 Market St., Youngstown, at noon May 3. Winners and their teachers will be contacted in advance of the event.

For more information about the writing contest, call the Jewish Community Relations Council at 330-746-3251.