Burra Family Community Room

Messengers of Memory: A 25-Year Retrospective of the Annual Chapman University Holocaust Art & Writing Contest

April 17, 2024 – July 31, 2024

This special curated exhibition highlights 25 years of prize-winning entries in the Holocaust Art & Writing Contest, co-sponsored by the Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education at Chapman University and The 1939 Society. It will features 75 pieces, including artworks, excerpts of written works and short films honoring Holocaust survivors and the enduring significance of their memories for a new generation. The exhibit includes student works that were awarded first place in the annual competition, which launched in 1999 and is open to high school and middle school students from around the world.

This extraordinary exhibition includes winning entries from students attending 84 middle and high schools in 52 cities and 11 states in the U.S. and two other countries. Visitors can view student artworks and excerpts of submitted prose and poetry, and watch up to 12 student films on a video loop. In its 25-year history, the annual contest has reached some 150,000 students and 2,000 educators in the U.S. and 24 other countries.

The 25th edition of the Chapman University Annual Holocaust Art & Writing Contest asked students to submit works under the theme “Answering the Call of Memory: Choosing to Act.” A March 15 awards ceremony featured Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad, a Chapman University Presidential Fellow who survived genocide and sexual enslavement at the hands of ISIS.