Each year, over 400 students from a wide range of backgrounds participate in the Mordechai Anielewicz Creative Arts Competition, submitting original, creative responses to their Holocaust studies in the form of poetry, prose, painting, sculpture, music, dance and video.
Named in memory of the heroic young leader who organized Jewish resistance and gave his life fighting in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943, the Mordechai Anielewicz Creative Arts Competition invites students, grades 7 through 12, to learn about the Holocaust and respond by means of creative expression. Students eligible for this competition live or attend school in the 5-county Greater Philadelphia Region: Bucks County, Chester County, Delaware County, Montgomery County and the city of Philadelphia.
Contact For General Information: Beth Razin at 215.832.0536 or brazin@jewishphilly.org
Contact For Holocaust Education Consultation: Josey G. Fisher at Jfisher@jewishphilly.org
Ms. Fisher is available to support your curriculum, answer questions and recommend age-appropriate resources and materials for your classes.
ENTRY DETAILS
All entries due Friday, April 1, 2022
- All entries are judged for both form and content. Please note that winning entries often come from classrooms where teachers help students submit their best work.
- Students using research materials for any type of entry should include citation information for their sources.
- Entries should be titled to reflect one of the themes listed below. These themes will encourage students to view the Holocaust through a broad perspective, reflecting upon its lessons in terms of their relevance to contemporary social and political issues.
- Resources for educators and students are available on our website
- If the submitted work is part of a collaborative effort, EACH student must submit an entry form on-line listing the other student’s names.
- For all entries, please fill out the online entry form and make sure to click on the submit button at the bottom to electronically submit your entry.
GENERAL GUIDELINES
- All entries are judged for both form and content. Please note that winning entries often come from classrooms where teachers help students submit their best work.
- Students using research materials for any type of entry should include citation information for their sources.
- Entries should be titled to reflect one of the themes listed below. These themes will encourage students to view the Holocaust through a broad perspective, reflecting upon its lessons in terms of their relevance to contemporary social and political issues.
- Resources for educators and students are available on our website
- If the submitted work is part of a collaborative effort, EACH student must submit an entry form on-line listing the other student’s names.
- For all entries, please fill out the online entry form and make sure to click on the submit button at the bottom to electronically submit your entry.
THEMES
- Cultural Resistance: Art, Music, Poetry and Education
- Cultural Resistance: Art, Music, Poetry and Education
- The Experiences of Children
- Life and Resistance in the Ghetto
- Life and Resistance in the Concentration Camps
- Communities of Conscience: Rescue During the Holocaust
- The World Watched in Silence
- Liberation and its Aftermath
- Are You Your Brother’s Keeper?
JUDGING AND PRIZES
- Prizes are awarded to winners in three grade groupings: 7th/8th, 9th/10th and 11th/12th, within each of the following categories: prose; poetry; two-dimensional (2D) visual art; three-dimensional (3D) visual art; music, dance and film/video entries.
- Special awards are sometimes presented for work that does not fit neatly into the categories listed above.
- Winners will be notified by email by the end of May and through their teachers.
- All entrants receive a certificate honoring their participation.
- 2D and 3D art entries are eligible for inclusion in an online Exhibition.
- Winning writing entries will be published in an online booklet.
Entry information is listed below by type of submission
2D AND 3D ART ENTRIES
- Students may submit work in any media including sculpture, painting, printing, photography, etc.
- No artwork needs to be physically mailed or delivered to the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia due to COVID-19 restrictions.
- Please upload a photo of your 2D entry for judging purposes. 3D entries should include a 360-degree video of the artwork.
- If you are submitting a 360 video of your 3D entry, please follow the instructions to upload the video using YouTube (unlisted to protect your privacy).
- The entry form requires description of the artwork’s dimensions (in inches), materials (such as pastels, watercolors, canvas, paper, etc.) and techniques (such as brushwork, collage, etc).
- The student’s name should NOT appear on the entry.
- For all artwork entries, 2D and 3D, please fill out the online entry form and make sure to click on the submit button at the bottom to electronically submit your entry.
- Visual Arts participants should be made aware that a number of images associated with the Holocaust, such as the swastika, barbed wire and images from the death camps, still carry potent and brutal racist connotations. Students should be advised to use such images judiciously, if at all, in their compositions.
CREATIVE WRITING ENTRIES
- Students may submit an essay, short story, poem or dramatic script.
- All writing entries must be uploaded on-line in Word format with an entry form.
- Entries should not include a header or footer as part of the document.
- Please number all pages at the bottom; the title should be included on the first page.
- Students using researched material must include citation information for their sources.
- Please do not upload historical photos as part of your entry.
MUSIC ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
- An original vocal or instrumental work written for solo, ensemble, band or orchestral presentation may be submitted and must be accompanied by one explanatory paragraph about the entry of no more than 100 words.
- Music entries should be uploaded via YouTube (unlisted to protect your privacy). Copy and paste the URL in the text box provided in the entry form.
- If there are lyrics, please upload text of lyrics with entry form.
- Students using research material should include citation information for their sources.
DANCE ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
- Students may perform solo or in a group.
- Presentations will be judged on the ability of the dancer(s) to express the selected theme. Entries must be accompanied by one explanatory paragraph about the entry of no more than 100 words.
- For dance entries, please upload your entry via YouTube (unlisted to protect your privacy). Copy and paste the URL in the text box provided.
- Students using researched material must include citation information for their sources. Upload the bibliography in the lyrics upload option.
- Students using research material should include citation information for their sources.
- Please include all lyrics to music used in your presentation, if any.
FILM/VIDEO ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
- For film/video entries, please upload your entry via YouTube (unlisted to protect your privacy). Copy and paste the URL in the text box provided.
- Film/video entries should be accompanied by one explanatory paragraph about the entry of no more than 100 words.
- Students using researched material must include citation information for their sources.
- Please include all lyrics to music used in your presentation if any.
How to Enter
Submit your entry here. All entries due Friday, April 1, 2022.