Waldman 2025-2026 - Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh

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How does it work?
This Year’s Theme
Awards and Prizes
Key Dates
Frequently Asked Questions

How does it work?

The Waldman Arts and Writing Competition invites middle and high school students to submit their themed arts and writing pieces to get recognition and win cash prizes! This year’s theme theme is “Preserving Humanity: Stories of Local Survivors.” There are four categories: 2-D art, 3-D art, poetry, and essay (high school only).

Each school has one “teacher sponsor,” a representative who oversees the school’s first round competition, submits the school’s finalists, and communicates with the Holocaust Center. We invite all middle and high school teachers in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, and Northern West Virginia to sign their schools up by January 10th!

Sponsors can sign their school up here to participate for free. A public-facing list is made available to show which schools are participating.

For complete next steps, rules, and instructions, visit our hubs for students and teachers!

Teacher Hub

Student Hub

This Year’s Theme

Established in 1980, the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh was created as a living memorial to honor Holocaust survivors who came to Pittsburgh to rebuild their lives. In an act of resilience against antisemitism, local survivors and their children undertook a mission to build an organization that would be a home for them—to talk about their stories and experiences, to gather in community, and to serve as a comprehensive resource center that would help people learn about the Holocaust. As of 2022, it is now part of The Tree of Life.

The creation of the Holocaust Center was the result of individuals coming together, just as many people did during the Holocaust. Even as mass atrocities were being perpetrated, human connections never ceased. Many people helped others survive, preserved humanity and compassion, and acted selflessly in the most inhumane circumstances.

This year’s theme is centered on the preservation of humanity during the Holocaust, inspired by the words of local survivor Albert Farhy: “Life is not just about living but living with people.”

This theme grants students the opportunity to commemorate, honor, and connect with survivors who settled in our own community, while recognizing the importance of human connection and altruism during the Holocaust.

Awards and Prizes

Key Dates

November 2, 2025: Teachers at schools in Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and West Virginia can begin registering as “Teacher Sponsors” by using the form found here.

January 10, 2026: Final day to sign up as a Teacher Sponsor.

February 1, 2026: Sponsors can begin submitting the winning entries of their school’s in-school judging for consideration in Round 2. Instructions on how to submit will be sent to Sponsors via email.

April 1, 2026: Final day for Sponsors to submit their school’s finalists for Round 2 consideration. Submissions must be submitted by 5:30 pm.

April 2026: Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh judging period.

April 2026: Up to seven Round 2 winners will be announced as part of the Holocaust Center’s Genocide Awareness Month programming.

May 7, 2026: Winning students from all three rounds of judging are invited to a celebratory event in May 2026, where they will be honored with winners from around the region and the grand prize winner will be announced.

Frequently Asked Questions

What geographic area is eligible for participating in the competition?

For the 2025-2026 competition, we will accept submissions from schools located in Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and West Virginia.

Do students have to be “sponsored” by a school or can they enter the contest on their own?

Student work must be submitted via a registered teacher sponsor, who can be a teacher or administrator. Works submitted without a school/teacher sponsorship will not be eligible for awards.

Are students who attend a home school, alternative school, or other nontraditional education center eligible to participate?

Yes, all educational facilities that serve grades 6 – 12 are eligible to participate in the contest.

Can a student use images from the Internet in their project?

Written permission from the copyright holder is required for images and film clips that do not belong to the student or are not in the public domain.

For how long is the window for teachers to register as teacher sponsors?

January 1o, 2026 is the final day for teachers to sign up as Teacher Sponsors.

Can one student submit work in multiple categories?

We can only accept up to one entry per student for Round 2 judging.

However, since Round 1 judging is to be run as the teacher sponsor sees fit, they may allow students to submit in more than one category for in-school judging, so long as a single student isn't submitted to the Holocaust Center as a Round 1 winner for multiple categories.

Can multiple teachers be teacher sponsors?

Yes, but we ask that you designate a single point-of-contact for your correspondence/work with the Center. There will only be one $50 sponsor prize allotted to each school, disbursed to this point-of-contact, regardless of the number of participating teachers.

I am an educator who signed up to be a teacher sponsor, but I can no longer do it. What should I do?

Another teacher must sign up to be the teacher sponsor, or we will be unable to consider submissions from your school. It is your responsibility to find a substitute.

Can work be submitted after the deadline?

We are unable to accept any submissions after the deadline, April 1, 2026 at 5:30 pm.