Holocaust writing contest awards top high school, middle school essayists

From staff reports

Area high school and middle school students were prompted to write about “The Dangers of Indifference: the U.S. and the Holocaust” as part of the 17th-annual Eva Lassman Memorial Writing Contest.

Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and author and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was a prisoner in the Nazi death camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald as a teenager. He said in a 1999 speech at the White House: “Indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor – never his victim.” Contest participants were encouraged to consider Wiesel’s words, learn about the Holocaust and the U.S. response to the event and then write an essay or poem.

Taking first place in the high school division was Lorelai Taylor, followed by (second place) Sicily Hawks and (third place) Laina Harless.

In the middle school division, Bella Buckner took the top award, while Marin Rogers placed second and Vanessa Zacapantzi third.

Runners-up can be found online at spokesman.com.