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 2024 Lydia May Writing and Max May Holocaust Art Contests have as their theme:
Eighty years after the Holocaust, the Second Generation shares the history of their families.
Never again, Never forget!
לְדוֹר וָדוֹר
As the survivors of the Holocaust gradually leave us, their children and grandchildren are stepping up to preserve their memories and to help educate the students of today and tomorrow about the dangers of prejudice, racism and bullying. The Holocaust is in the past but the hatred and anti-semitism that produced it are, unfortunately, still with us. The suffering of Holocaust victims – and of other victims – can affect their children and grandchildren. The Hebrew saying just above means “from generation to generation.”
For this year’s contests, we ask students to look at second-generation survivors – either an individual, or at the study of transmission of trauma from one generation to the next – a phenomenon that is currently under study by many psychologists and sociologists, and is often a long-lasting legacy of persecution and bullying.
On each page (for the art and writing contests( you will see a list of resources.
Entries must be submitted by the week of March 23-28, 2025. 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
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