Imagining the Holocaust

What is Commemorative Poetry?

Poetry to deepen our collective understanding of the past. As stated by Poet Jane Clarke in her comments on a commissioned poem for a film in the Strokestown poetry festival, “The stories of individual people in our history, held in their letters, diaries, and memoirs as well as in public documents, can capture the imagination and create an emotional response in both the writer and the reader. Commemorative poems help us to unpack historic events and to understand the humanity of the people involved.” Clarke further describes the role of the poet as an outsider, "a sensitive, observant, compassionate outsider …  drawing on their emotional, intellectual, and imaginative response to archival material to write poetry of and out of these lives.”

General Contest Guidelines

• Available to middle and high school students (Grades 6-8 & 9-12)
• One entry per student per category. Students may enter in more than one category.
• Deadline for receipt of entries: February 20 each year

Commemorative Poetry Contest Guidelines

• Must be typed
• Must deal with the Holocaust of World War II
• One to three poems are considered one entry, one poem per page
• No restrictions with respect to form

How to Enter

• Submit an Entry Form
• Email contest entry as an attachment to imagining@jsu.edu
• Include the following on the subject line of the email: grade level (middle or high school), category of entry, and the title
• DO NOT include name or any identifying information on the entry attached for the email submission
• Please do not submit Google Docs that require requesting access to the file
• If submitting more than one poem, include all titles on the subject line
• If participating in more than one category, submit entries for each category in separate emails.
• If participating in more than one category, submit separate entry forms for each.

What is Creative Nonfiction?

A genre of writing that uses elements of creative writing to present factual, true stories about real people and events in a vivid way. Literary techniques that are usually reserved for writing fiction can be used in creative nonfiction, such as the inclusion of dialogue, description of the setting, narration, imagery, and other literary elements. Creative nonfiction can be applied to many nonfiction genres, including, but not limited to, biography, memoir, literary journalism, travel writing, or personal essay.

General Contest Guidelines

• Available to middle and high school students (Grades 6-8 & 9-12)
• One entry per student per category. Students may enter in more than one category.
• Deadline for receipt of entries: February 20 each year

Creative Nonfiction Contest Guidelines

• Must be typed
• Must deal with the Holocaust of World War II
• Maximum: 750 words, double-spaced

How to Enter

• Submit an Entry Form 
• Email contest entry as an attachment to imagining@jsu.edu
• Include the following on the subject line of the email: grade level (middle or high school), category of entry, and the title
• DO NOT include name or any identifying information on the entry attached for the email submission
• Please do not submit Google Docs that require requesting access to the file
• If participating in more than one category, submit entries for each category in separate emails.
• If participating in more than one category, submit separate entry forms for each.

What is Multimodal Composition?

Writing that uses text, as traditional writing requires, in combination with other modes of communication, including digital and non-digital media. Examples of digital multimodal compositions include, but are not limited to, web pages, photo and video essays, and podcasts. Examples of non-digital multimodal compositions include, but are not limited to, posters, collages, and comic books.

General Contest Guidelines

• Available to middle and high school students (Grades 6-8 & 9-12)
• One entry per student per category. Students may enter in more than one category.
• Deadline for receipt of entries: February 20 each year

Multimodal Composition Contest Guidelines

• Must deal with the Holocaust of World War II
• Submit digital files for digital multimodal compositions; submit non-digital multimodal compositions through files or high-quality images. 
• Limit videos to 5 minutes maximum; upload video to You Tube and include link as submission

How to Enter

• Submit an Entry Form 
• Email contest entry as an attachment to imagining@jsu.edu
• Include the following on the subject line of the email: grade level (middle or high school), category of entry, and the title
• DO NOT include name or any identifying information on the entry attached for the email submission
• Please do not submit Google Docs that require requesting access to the file
• If participating in more than one category, submit entries for each category in separate emails.
• If participating in more than one category, submit separate entry forms for each.

Students may seek inspiration for their own original writing from books about the Holocaust, such as

• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
• The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
• Mapping the Bones by Jane Yolen
• The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe
• And many others

Students may also seek inspiration for their own original writing from viewing one of the many archived video recordings of Holocaust survivors telling their stories or viewing archived photos, artwork, or exhibits:

• Alabama (Birmingham) Holocaust Education Center (AHEC/BHEC)
• USC Shoah Foundation
• Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center
• Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Yale University Library Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
• Florida Holocaust Museum

Contact April Mattox of the JSU English Department with general questions: admattox@jsu.edu 

Please Note: The email imagining@jsu.edu is for contest entries and grant proposals only; please do not send general inquiries to this email address.

Classroom Grants to Teach the Holocaust and its Literature

Middle and high school teachers are encouraged to apply for classroom grants to provide them with the resources they need to teach the Holocaust, which may include, but is not limited to, the purchase of classroom materials, funds for educational field trips for students, participation in conferences, or enrollment in educational programs. Teachers will use the grant as they wish to better enable them to teach the Holocaust and its literature. If awarded a grant, teachers will guarantee their students’ participation in the Imagining the Holocaust writing contest. These grants may only be used for tangible materials. The number of classroom grants to be awarded is to be determined by the number of proposals received, the amounts requested, and our yearly classroom grant budget of $1600.

Proposal Guidelines

Each proposal should include the following information:

• Name, discipline, and school
• Student learning outcomes & benefits
• A description of how the funds will be directed toward teaching the Holocaust and encouraging students to produce entries for the Imagining the Holocaust writing contest in one or more categories
• The requested amount: Level 1 ($401-$600); Level 2 ($201-$400); Level 3 ($1-$200)
• A line-item budget of how the funds will be used

Proposal Deadline

Deadline for classroom and teaching circle grant proposals is February 20 each year.

Submit a Classroom Grant Proposal

Teaching Circle Grants to Teach the Holocaust and its Literature

To encourage interdisciplinary collaboration among teachers and active learning approaches to teaching the Holocaust, we are offering one yearly teaching circle grant of $1500. The circle must consist of at least three and no more than five teachers. Teachers will use their grants as they wish to better enable them to teach Holocaust history. If awarded the grant, all participating teachers will guarantee their students’ participation in the Imagining the Holocaust writing contest the following year. The total grant will be split among members of the circle as requested. If not indicated, the grant will be split equally among each member of the circle. This grant may only be used for tangible materials.

Proposal Guidelines

Each proposal should include the following information:

•  Names of members of the circle, discipline and grade level of each, and the name of the school
• Student learning outcomes & benefits
• A description of how the funds will be directed toward encouraging students to produce entries for the Holocaust writing contest in one or more categories
• A line-item budget of how the funds will be used and how the funds will be dispersed among the members of the circle.

Proposal Deadline

Deadline for classroom and teaching circle grant proposals is February 20 each year.

Submit a Teaching Circle Grant Proposal