CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY 25th ANNUAL HOLOCAUST ART & WRITING CONTEST

Submissions are now being accepted for the 25th Annual Chapman Holocaust Art and Writing Contest, this year's theme is "What Do You Bring When You Don't Know Where You Are Going". If you are interested in participating, you can join our Google Classroom, which has all the information you will need - Classroom Code: dxiyp3e.

Contest Inspiration

What do you bring when you don't know where you're going?

Decorative: Contest PosterParticipating schools may submit a total of 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 23-27, 2025, to visit the Museum of Tolerance 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.

The Nazi rise to power in 1933 brought changes to every facet of German society. While some initially benefited, others, especially Jews and Roma, immediately experienced restrictions as they were moved to the fringes of society and subsequently forced from society altogether. These changes accelerated and expanded as German forces annexed or occupied other countries where they implemented their racist and antisemitic ideology.

As persecution increased, those targeted faced the difficult decision of whether to stay or leave—although many people lacked either the necessary financial resources or a country that would accept them. Departure often meant leaving behind much that mattered—family, friends, career, school, home, business. Some who fled discovered that putting down roots in another European country was not necessarily a guarantee of safety.

Otto Frank and his family left Germany for the Netherlands soon after Hitler became Germany’s political leader, never imagining that only a few years later Germany would be at war and the Netherlands would be occupied. As the threat of an attack drew closer, Otto did what he could. He created a secret hiding place in his business and moved his wife and daughters into the annex in July 1942. To avoid suspicion, the family could bring little with them, but knowing how much it meant to her, Otto allowed Anne to bring her treasured album filled with photos and postcards. Gluing magazine photos of her favorite Hollywood stars on the wall made the room she shared feel more like her own, as she wrote, it was “much more cheerful.” After the Franks’ secret hiding place was discovered, their next move was a much more sudden and traumatic one. This time the photos, along with Anne’s beloved diary, her most prized possession, had to be left behind.

The Holocaust brought unpredictable and sudden transitions. On a moment’s notice or less, one could be ordered to depart for an unknown location—ghetto, camp or into hiding. Sometimes one had only a few minutes to decide what to include in the one small suitcase one was allowed to bring. Should a mother pack a cooking pot in the hope that wherever she ended up she could still cook for her family or instead, should she pack an extra blanket for her child?
Arrival at a camp like Auschwitz meant that one was stripped of all a person had with them, including their clothes. After that, one could only carry what was intangible, something within oneself. Separated from his mother in the Plaszow concentration camp, young Leon Leyson treasured the memory of the time his mother had made him a special breakfast “for being such a good boy.” Remembering a parent’s words of praise or the promise, “you will survive,” became a lifeline of hope that one would someday be reunited with those one loved.

Sometimes what a person chose to carry sustained more than oneself. In his memoir , Elie Wiesel tells the story of Juliek, his companion on the death march from Auschwitz to Buchenwald, who somehow managed to bring his violin with him. Late at night, surrounded by starving and freezing men close to death, Juliek miraculously found the strength to play a movement from a Beethoven concerto, a haunting testimony to beauty in the midst of overwhelming inhumanity.

In December 1942, artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis was ordered to the ghetto concentration camp of Terezin. Instead of bringing clothes or personal items, Friedl instead brought paints and brushes so she could teach drawing and painting to the camp’s children. Thanks to what she chose to carry, over the next two years, the children created nearly 5,000 drawings which Friedl packed into two suitcases and hid before she and the children were deported to their deaths in Auschwitz.

Every person caught in the net of the Holocaust carried with them something of personal value whether it was carried in one’s hand or one’s heart. What each person chose tells us something about them as individuals, about what mattered to them, and perhaps about what they thought might be a source of strength for survival. Their choices also challenge us to think about who we are and about what matters to us.

The PROMPT:

1. Select and view one full-length survivor or rescuer testimony from any of the following:

Chapman University’s Holocaust Art and Writing Contest website featuring video testimonies from the collection of the USC Shoah Foundation — The Institute for Visual History and Education
The 1939 Society
USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education’s YouTube channel (“Full-Length Testimonies” playlists only)

2. As you listen to the survivor's or rescuer's testimony, and as you reflect on the stories they tell, write down a specific word, phrase, or sentence that speaks to the inner strength of this individual and the role of connectedness in sustaining strength.

3. As the person now entrusted with this individual's memory, through your creativity in art, poetry, prose, or film, explore this word, phrase, or sentence as central to the survivor's or rescuer's story, your understanding of the Holocaust, and your own search for inner and shared strength during the Covid-19 pandemic.

**Lists of testimonies that are one to two hours in length are listed on the last page of the Educator's Guide.

ART CRITERIA

Entries must be submitted with an official cover sheet.
- Please do not staple, tape or otherwise attach the cover sheet to the artwork.
Entries must reflect genuine engagement with the survivor ’s or rescuer's testimony in its historical context and constitute a thoughtful and creative response.
Entries must be based on a survivor’s or rescuer’s testimony available from one of the following sources:
- The 1939 Society
- Chapman University’s Holocaust Art and Writing Contest website featuring video testimonies from the collection of the USC Shoah Foundation — The Institute for Visual History and Education
- USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education’s YouTube channel (“Full-Length Testimonies” playlists only)
Entries must be submitted with the artist’s statement that includes:
- Title of the work
- Name of survivor or rescuer 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.
- Acknowledgment 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.
May be only two-dimensional image on medium no thicker than ¾” and submission 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.
May include photography, computer-generated images, or may be in charcoal, pencil, pastel, chalk, watercolors, acrylics, or oils. Please note that all images, whether computer, artist, or photo-generated are considered property of the original artist.
Renderings of another’s work will be disqualified.
Entries that do not follow the criteria will be disqualified.

FILM CRITERIA

Entries may be submitted using the online submission form.

Entries must reflect genuine engagement with the survivor’s or rescuer's testimony in its historical context and constitute a thoughtful and creative response.
Entries must be based on a survivor’s or rescuer’s testimony available from one of the following sources:
- The 1939 Society
- Chapman University’s Holocaust Art and Writing Contest website featuring video testimonies from the collection of the USC Shoah Foundation — The Institute for Visual History and Education
- USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education’s YouTube channel (“Full-Length Testimonies” playlists only)
Entries must be submitted with the filmmaker’s statement including: Content viewing time may be no longer than three (3) minutes.
- - Title of the work
  - Name of survivor or rescuer 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.
  - Acknowledgment 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.
Final file size must not exceed 600 MB.
Submit film without credits for blind judging. A completed film with credits should be prepared in the event the film is selected for screening.
Final films may be submitted using WeTransfer.com, a free file transfer website.
To ensure compatibility with MAC and PC, please use either QuickTime or MPEG format.
Entries that do not follow the criteria will be disqualified.

We are grateful to the Orange County Klezmers for making available to registered participants musical selections from their album Echoes of Vilna. To preview or to request tracks for use in a film entry, please email Jessica MyLymuk, [email protected].

Students wishing to use music, photos, video, or other artwork in their films should be aware that these may be protected by U.S. copyright law and therefore require permission from the artists to use them. Purchasing or downloading materials from a website is generally intended for personal and home use only and does not grant the purchaser the right to reproduce, perform, or display copyrighted works publicly. For any copyrighted works appearing in the film, permission must be obtained from the copyright holders and submitted with the entry.

POETRY CRITERIA

Entries may be submitted using the online submission form.

Entries must reflect genuine engagement with the survivor’s or rescuer's testimony in its historical context and constitute a thoughtful and creative response.
Entries must be based on a survivor’s or rescuer’s testimony available from one of the following sources: Entries that do not follow the criteria will be disqualified.
- The 1939 Society
- Chapman University’s Holocaust Art and Writing Contest website featuring video testimonies from the collection of the USC Shoah Foundation — The Institute for Visual History and Education
- USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education’s YouTube channel (“Full-Length Testimonies” playlists only)

Entries must be titled.
Entries must be word-processed.
Entries must not include graphics, drawings or other images. It must be clear that the entry is a poem and not an artwork.
Entries must not include reference to student or school name.
Students should include the name of the survivor or rescuer about whom the entry is written.
Entries may be no more than 30 lines.
Entries that do not follow the criteria will be disqualified.

PROSE CRITERIA

Entries may be submitted using the online submission form.
Entries must reflect genuine engagement with the survivor’s or rescuer's testimony in its historical context and constitute a thoughtful and creative response.
Entries must be based on a survivor’s or rescuer’s testimony available from one of the following sources: Entries that do not follow the criteria will be disqualified.
- The 1939 Society
- Chapman University’s Holocaust Art and Writing Contest website featuring video testimonies from the collection of the USC Shoah Foundation — The Institute for Visual History and Education
- USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education’s YouTube channel (“Full-Length Testimonies” playlists only)

Entries must be titled.
Entries must be word-processed.
Entries must not include reference to student or school name.
Students should include the name of the survivor or rescuer about whom the entry is written.
Entries may be no more than 500 words.
Entries that do not follow the criteria will be disqualified.