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YOUNGSTOWN -- Winners have been announced for the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation's student Holocaust writing, art and multi-media contest.
The council held the contest as part of its 27th annual Community Holocaust Commemoration for Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance).
Students in grades seven to 12 were invited to submit an original piece of poetry, narrative composition, art, or multi-media piece. Winners were announced at the annual Community Yom Hashoah Commemoration Ceremony held virtually this year last month.
Yom Hashoah is an internationally recognized day set aside for remembering all victims of the Holocaust and for reminding society what can happen to civilized people when bigotry, hatred and indifference reign.
The theme for this year's contest was "Torn From Home," a reflection on how the enforced loss of a safe place to call "home" is part of the trauma faced by victims of genocide and persecution, and the difficulties survivors face as they try to find new homes and build new lives.
In keeping with historical themes and discussions held throughout the world, this year's contest topic notes that in any campaign of genocide there are great losses, racial hatred has resurfaced again and again in the decades since the Holocaust, and that action must be taken to prevent atrocities and seek justice for victims of inhumane acts of hatred.
Winners are:
Poetry
Grades 7-8 -- Jerome Straughter, Akiva Academy, first place; Rachel Spalding, Austintown Middle School, second; Hoda Mahone, Akiva Academy, honorable mention
Grades 11-12 -- Lainey Beichner, Boardman High School, first; Amelia Sapienza, Boardman High School, second.
Essay
Grades 7-8 -- Jordan Billups, Akiva Academy, first
Grades 9-10 -- William Oyler, Boardman High School, first; Dylan Barrett, Boardman High School, second.
Grades 11-12 -- Daniel Chiaberta, Boardman High School, first
Art:
Grades 7-8 -- Selah Sargent, Akiva Academy, first; Addison Silverman, Akiva Academy, second; Cameron Silverman, Akiva Academy, honorable mention
Grades 9-10 -- Bianca Gancarz, Jackson Milton, first
Grades 11-12 -- Hayley Ho, Boardman High School, first; Louis Weiss, Great Rivers Connections Academy, second
Media
Grades 11-12 -- Tyler Richards, Boardman High School
The JCRC, the public affairs department of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation, represents the Jewish communities of Mahoning and Trumbull counties and of the Shenango Valley.