2017 SPOKANE COMMUNITY OBSERVANCE OF THE HOLOCAUST
3rd ANNUAL ART CONTEST
“AND THE WORLD WATCHED”
THE THEME:
The Holocaust was the most extensive premeditated genocide in recorded history. Between 1933, when the Nazi
Party of Germany came to power, and 1945, when WWII ended, the Nazis and their collaborators exterminated
six million Jews and five million others whom they had deemed unsuitable for life, including the Roma, Jehovah’s
Witnesses, homosexuals, and people with disabilities. There is plenty of evidence to indicate that world leaders
knew about the mass killings but chose not to act. Why they ignored the atrocities and how they justified their
inaction has remained an enigma to this day.
SUGGESTED SOURCES:
9 min video overview of the Holocaust and why we need to remember it:
https://www.ushmm.org/remember/days-of-remembrance/why-we-remember
Article that explains why the Nazis targeted the Jews:
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007457
Article about the Evian Conference on settling Jews escaping from Germany:
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005520
17 min video about America’s response to the Holocaust:
https://www.ushmm.org/remember/days-of-remembrance/past-days-of-remembrance/2014-days-ofremembrance/confronting-the-holocaust-american-responses
Article that examines the Latin American response to the Holocaust:
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007824
77 min PBS Video "America and the Holocaust: Deceit and Indifference."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V0gw7q-rN0
ART PROMPT:
Art has the potential to evoke action because imagery affects us on an emotional level. Based on what you have
learned from using the sources above and others:
(1) design a piece of art that you feel might have motivated world leaders and their citizenry to intervene
in the Holocaust.
(2) compose a statement of up to 100 words in Microsoft Word format that describes your piece and what
inspired you to create it.
THE RULES:
(1) The contest is open to all high school and middle school students.
(2) All general media accepted (painting, sculpture, drawings, etc). Fixatives should be used on charcoal,
graphite, and pastels. Please frame or mount your piece to make it ready for display. Include mounting
hardware. Electronic presentations are NOT permitted. In deference to those affected by the Holocaust,
any use of swastikas must be limited to a very minor part of your submission.
(3) At the top of your Microsoft Word statement include the title of your piece and on a separate cover page
record your name, phone number, email address, school name, grade level, and teacher. Email both
documents as an attachment to [email protected].
(4) Deliver your art on Sunday, March 19th between 12 - 4pm to Room 202A, Hemmingson Center, Gonzaga
University. Questions? Call or text Mary Kay at 509-939-8714.
(5) Submissions will be judged by the Spokane Community Observance of the Holocaust Planning Committee
based on originality, evidence that you have used the sources, and accuracy of information.
(6) Winners will be selected and notified by Sunday, April 9th.
THE AWARDS:
(1) All the art will be exhibited at the GU Hemmingson Center, March 22—April 19 and then during the Holocaust
Observance, Sunday evening, April 23rd, 2017, at Temple Beth Shalom on Spokane’s South Hill.
(2) At the Observance the winners will receive the following scholarship awards:
1st Place High School Division: $400.
1st Place Middle School Division: $250.
nd
2 Place High School Division: $250.
2nd Place Middle School Division: $150.
3rd Place High School Division: $100.
3rd Place Middle School Division: $75.
(3) First prize in each division will be featured in The Spokesman-Review.