ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS (March 18, 2019) — The Ida Kramer Children of The Holocaust Essay Contest Winners:
1st Place: Kayla Santiago, "Prospecting through Anguish: The Story of Eva Schloss", 10th Grade, Home Schooled — Sponsoring Teacher: Shavos Ramos
2nd Place: Taylor A. Puglisi, "Finding Strength in Literature: The Harrowing Story of Dita Kraus", 11th Grade, Moline High School
3rd Place: Mary K Rolfstad, "Hidden Children-The Story of Edith Schwalb", 8th Grade, John F Kennedy Catholic School, Davenport
Honorable Mention: Maya Baker, "Meeting Marguerite: The Story of Marguerite Mishkin", 12th Grade, Bettendorf High School
Honorable Mention Laman Hanifayeva, "Doris Warschawski: Germany to Shanghai, Then to the Land of Freedom", 12th Grade, Mercer County High School, Aledo, Illinois
The Meyer And Frances Schnurman Holocaust Visual Arts Contest Winners:
1st Place: Veronica Macias, "Hands of Holocaust", 8th Grade, Creative Arts Academy, Davenport — Nominating teacher: Heidi Hernandez
2nd Place: Lamam Hanifayeva, "DON'T", 12th Grade, Mercer County High School, Aledo, Illinois — Nominating teacher: Tara Guidinger
3rd Place: Marley Nees, "Humans Not Numbers", 8th Grade, Sudlow Intermediate School, Davenport — Nominating teacher: Heidi Hernandez
Honorable Mention:
Kayla Santiago, "Portrait of Auschwitz Children Survivors", 10th Grade, Home Schooled
Jacqueline Vernon, "Villainy", 8th Grade, Sudlow Intermediate School, Davenport
Anna Stivers, "The Identity through Her Eyes", 9th Grade, Morning Star Academy, Long Grove, Iowa
Abigail Stivers, "A Second Generation Survivor", 11th Grade, Morning Star Academy, Long Grove, Iowa
For both contests: First prize is $500, and if there is a sponsoring teacher, then he/she will receive a gift-card of $100 to support classroom needs. Second prize is $200 and third prize is $100, and if there is a sponsoring teacher, he/she will receive $50 gift-cards for classroom needs. Honorable-mention students will receive a $25 gift card. In addition, all students who entered the contests will receive a letter of thanks for their entry.
This year there were 5 essay entries and 25 visual art entries.
**In addition, this year in the Visual Arts Contest there was a video entry consisting of 4 dancers from the Creative Arts Academy 7th Grade Dance Enrichment performing a dance to the song "Human". The 4 dancers were Mackenzie Besgrove, Laney Chandler, Claire Gillespie and Aidan Sammon. The visual arts evaluators recommended that this video be placed in a separate category with a separate prize. The dancer group will received $300 and their nominating teacher, Bridget Jessen, will receive a $50 gift card.
****The winning essay will be read during the annual Yom Hashoah — Holocaust Remembrance Service, which will be held on Sunday, May 5, 2019, 6:30 pm- at Temple Emanuel, 1115 Mississippi Avenue, Davenport, Iowa.
****The visual art entries will be displayed at the Moline Public Library from March 20-April 15, then at Rutabaga Art Studio in Geneseo, Illinois, from April 16-May 1, and then will be displayed at the annual Yom Hashoah — Holocaust Remembrance Service, which will be held on Sunday, May 5, 2019, 6:30 pm, at Temple Emanuel, 1115 Mississippi Avenue, Davenport, Iowa.
The essay contest is sponsored by the Yom Hashoah Committee and the Holocaust Education Committee of the Quad Cities. The visual art contest is sponsored by the Yom Hashoah Committee and Quad City Arts.
Yom Hashoah is observed as a day of commemoration for the six-million Jews (nearly 11-million people total) that perished during the Holocaust. It began in 1953 with the signing of an Israeli law by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi.
The essay contest bears the name of the late Ida Kramer, former Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities and a long-time Holocaust educator.
The visual-arts contest bears the names of the late Meyer and Frances Shnurman from Iowa who were both Holocaust survivors of the Nazi extermination camps.
Quad City Arts (www.quadcityarts.com) is a nonprofit local arts agency dedicated to the growth and vitality of the Quad City region through the presentation, development, and celebration of the arts and humanities.
The Jewish Federation of the Quad Cites (www.jfqc.org) is a non-profit, 501c(3) Illinois corporation founded in 1980. Its mission is preserving, protecting, enriching, and enhancing Jewish communal-life and the well-being of Jews locally, in Israel, and throughout the rest of the world, through the principles of Torah (Jewish learning), Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), Tzedakah (charity and justice), and Chesed (caring and compassion).
For additional information, please visit the Holocaust Education Committee of the Quad Cities' web site at www.hecqc.org or the Jewish Federation web site at www.jfqc.org.
