Each winter the Dayton Holocaust Resource Center sponsors two contests for students in grades 5 through 12. Click on the links below for complete details about the contests, including this year’s themes and deadlines. Contact rfrydman25 @ gmail.com with any further questions.
The 2026 Lydia May Writing and Max May Holocaust Art Contests have as their theme:
Heroes of the Holocaust
Always remember, Never forget!
“זכור לנצח, לעולם אל תשכח”
Write or create an art piece about someone that you view as a hero from the Holocaust. Teachers, please strongly discourage the use of AI! This hero could be a Resister, a Rescuer, a Liberator, a Survivor or another role model. Please encourage your students to look for a lesser known hero (some, like Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel, have already been covered extensively). The person’s efforts may have been world-changing or very humble. As the Talmud says, “If you save one life, you save the world.”
Here is a list of resources to help get you started.
Entries must be submitted by the week of March 2-6, 2026. Click on the links below for full information on each contest, including how to submit.
Lydia May Memorial Holocaust Writing Contest
Click here to see a booklet of some past winning entries.
Max May Memorial Holocaust Art Contest
2026 Contest Resources
First, we encourage you to look at “Faces of the Holocaust,” our interviews with local survivors, rescuers and camp liberators.
Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@DaytonHolocaust
Curriculum guide: https://daytonholocaust.org/resourcesexhibits/education/faces-of-the-holocaust-using-the-interviews-in-the-classroom/
Also check out our research links on the DHRC website
Rescuers
Thousands of Europeans (Jews and non-Jews alike) in Nazi-occupied areas risked their lives to save Jews and others who would, if captured, have died in the camps.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (UK)
Stories of Women Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust (from Yad Vashem)
Non-Jewish Rescuers in the Holocaust (from Jewish Virtual Library)
Discover Compassion: Stories of Rescue (from Jewish Foundation for the Righteous)
Rescue in the Holocaust (from Institute for the Study of Rescue and Altruism in the Holocaust)
Rescuers (from USC Shoah Foundation)
Survivors
You can find a great number of survivor interviews on Youtube, but we hope you will consider helping us to perpetuate the memory of our local survivors at the DHRC Youtube channel. Most survivors still living today were children during the war.
Survivor Reflections and Testimonies (from the USHMM)
USHMM’s Database of Holocaust Survivor and Victim Names
There are many survivors in Canada, too – see Survivors’ Stories from Montréal Holocaust Museum
Survivors in the UK, from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust
Liberators
The usual term for soldiers who took part in liberating camps near the end of the war. Most available interviews are with Americans or British veterans, but Russians were the most numerous liberators.
Excellent collection of 142 video interviews with liberators (from USHMM)
Liberation virtual tour and podcast (from Dachau’s official website)
Liberators’ stories (from the Florida Center for Instructional Technology)
The Liberators (from JewishGen)
Liberator accounts from the Warfare History Network
The Dayton Art Institute has a virtual tour of the 2021 art on exhibit there:
www.daytonartinstitute.org/exh
In 2002 we published a booklet containing some of the best contest entries from the past decade. Contact us if you would like copies, or view the entire booklet here. (large PDF file)
In 2003 and 2004, a selection of Art Contest entries were exhibited at the Webster Street Market, the Dayton Art Institute, and Sinclair Community College. Click here for the complete exhibit catalogue – thanks to Jill Wysong of the DAI.
Since 2004, selected Art Contest entries have been exhibited at the Dayton Art Institute. Some of these are pictured on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/DaytonHRC