Students invited to enter Holocaust writing contest

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

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

This year’s theme is “Confronting the Holocaust: American Responses.”

Students in seventh through 12th grades in public and private schools, and all college students in the region are invited to submit an original piece of poetry and/or narrative composition on this theme in four categories: grades 7-8; grades 9-10; grades 11-12; 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.

Deadline is April 2. Although submissions may be mailed, students are encouraged to submit entries via email in the Microsoft Word format. Writings may be sent to the Jewish Community Relations Council, 505 Gypsy Lane, Youngstown, OH 44504-1314, or emailed to jcrc@jewishyoungstown.org.

Presentation of awards will be made at noon April 29 during the community Yom Hashoah Commemoration Ceremony at Mahoning County Courthouse, 120 Market St.

Winners and their teachers will be contacted in advance of the event.

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

Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, on April 27 is an internationally recognized day set aside for remembering all victims of the Holocaust and for reminding society of 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, this year’s theme allows questions to be raised about the responses of the United States to the widespread persecution and mass murder of Jews in Europe.

This year marks the anniversaries of two events in Holocaust history — American action and inaction in the face of the refugee crisis in the spring of 1939, and the deportation of Hungarian Jews five years later.