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HOLOCAUST-RELATED CONTESTS

ROCK ISLAND, IL – The Quad Cities Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance) Committee announces a call for entries for the “Ida Kramer Children and the Holocaust Essay Contest” and the “Meyer and Frances Shnurman Holocaust Visual Arts Contest” which are open to all Quad City Area students in grades 6-12. The deadline for entries is March 1, 2022.

 Both contests offer cash prizes as follows: 

First Prize:     $500, with a $100 gift card to the teacher who provided guidance

Second Prize: $200, with a $50 gift card to the teacher who provided guidance

Third Prize:   $100, with a $50 gift card to the teacher who provided guidance

 ****Details and applications for both contests are available online at www.hecqc.org. For more information, contact the office of the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cites at (309) 793-1300 or aross@jfqc.org.   

 The Quad Cites Yom Hashoah Committee is the sponsor of both contests, with Quad City Arts co-sponsoring the Visual Arts Contest.

 ****Essay entries (Essay and Entry Form) must be submitted electronically as an email attachment to aross@jfqc.org with “Yom Hashoah Essay” in the subject line.

 Visual Art entries (Artwork, Artist Statement, and Entry Form) should be delivered to Quad City Arts (1715 2nd Avenue, Rock Island, Illinois, 61201) for check in by March 1, 2022. (Quad City Arts is open 10-5 Monday-Friday and Saturdays 11-5).

 ● The Artist’s Statement and Entry Form must be typed so it is easily readable.

● The Visual Art entries may be displayed in schools, libraries, etc. during March, April and/or May 2022.  

 ● Yom Hashoah, or Days of Remembrance, is observed as a day of commemoration each year for the six million Jews that perished during the Holocaust. While it is primarily observed by Jews, it is by no means an exclusive commemoration, as witnessed by the community-wide event held here in the Quad Cities. 

● The Quad Cities Yom Hashoah Committee is made up of community leaders of various faiths and organizations, and is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities, Temple Emanuel, Tri-City Jewish Center, Churches United, Augustana College, St. Ambrose University, Black Hawk College, and Scott Community College. The Committee helps us all remember the Holocaust not simply because it is a Jewish tragedy, but because we believe the world must not be allowed to forget that twelve million innocent human beings, six million of them Jews, were murdered by the Nazis. Yom Hashoah seeks to ensure that a crime of such proportions will never be allowed to happen again. We keep the memory of the Holocaust alive to guard against the wanton destruction of any people.

 ● The essay contest bears the name of Ida Kramer (above), former Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities and a longtime Holocaust educator.

● The visual arts contest bears the name of Meyer and Frances Shnurman (above) who were both survivors of Nazi extermination camps. 

 ● Quad City Arts (www.quadcityarts.com) is a nonprofit local arts agency dedicated to the growth and vitality of the Quad City region through the presentation, development and celebration of the arts and humanities.

 ● The Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities(www.jfqc.org) is a non-profit, 501 c (3) Illinois corporation whose mission is: Preserving, protecting, enriching and enhancing Jewish communal life and the well-being of Jews locally, in Israel and throughout the rest of the world, through the principles of Torah (Jewish learning), Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), Tzedakah (charity and justice), and Chesed (caring and compassion).