Next Steps

Step 1 – Check the list of registered schools/teacher sponsors to see if your school is already registered to participate in the competition. If so, skip ahead to step 3. If not, proceed to step 2.

Step 2 – Click here to register your school and become the “Sponsor” of your school’s Waldman Arts and Writing Competition (registration closes December 20, 2024). Please note, only teachers (or administrators) may register to be a “Sponsor.” Each participating Teacher Sponsor will receive a $50 stipend at the end of the competition. One school may have multiple teacher sponsors, 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.

Step 3 – Review the information for teacher sponsors below for details on conducting Round 1 competition and submitting work for Round 2. We also recommend reviewing the resources available in the Teacher Toolkit on Google Drive.

Step 4 – Use the Google Slides Presentation to introduce the competition to your students.

Step 5 – Review and share the Waldman Competition Resources with your students. They are available on the Student Hub webpage, and in PDF format in both the Teacher and Student Toolkits.

Suggested Contest Timeline

• ASAP: Register yourself and your school with the Holocaust Center as participants in the competition using this Google Form; establish submission deadline. The deadline to register is December 20th.
• Any time between now and January: Share information about the competition with your classroom/ school using the teacher toolkit; select a group of teachers and/or students to act as a panel of judges.
• December or January: In-school submission deadline; assemble your panelists and hold judging. It’s up to you to decide how you want to format your in-school judging.
• No later than February 13, 5:30 pm: Submit your winners in the writing categories using the google drive folder provided by the Holocaust Center. Pieces in the 2-D and 3-D art categories must be submitted to the Holocaust Center in-person, unless it is digital art or photography. Please use the guidelines below to ensure all necessary information is provided. 
• January-April: Celebrate your students! Feel free to celebrate and/or publicly announce the in-school winners of the competition to honor the achievements of your students!

Submitting to the Holocaust Center

Submissions to the Holocaust Center open December 2024 for Round 2 and Round 3 consideration. After registering as a Sponsor, you will receive a personalized Google Folder to upload the titles and creators of each winning piece per category, plus poems, essays, and any art 2-D art pieces that are created digitally. Please note again: physical 2-D and 3-D art entries must be delivered to the Holocaust Center by Thursday, February 13 at 5:30 pm.

Award Categories:

• Middle School, grades 6-8 (3 categories total): Poetry; 2-D Art; 3-D Art
• High School, grades 9-12 (4 categories total): Poetry; 2-D Art; 3-D Art; Essay

Submitting Writing

Teacher Sponsors must submit their student “Round 1” Poetry and Essay winners’ work in PDF format to the provided Google Drive folder, along with  the following information: 

• On a SEPARATE PAGE(s)* from the work, please include:
  • Student name, grade, and contact information (student and parent emails are recommended)
  • Student’s artist statement, if required for that category
  • MLA-style bibliography

Submitting Art

Teacher Sponsors must submit all physical 2-D and 3-D art pieces in-person before the deadline. Please contact the Holocaust Center to coordinate drop off. Digitally created 2-D art (including photography) may be submitted via Google Drive.

• On a SEPARATE PAGE(s)* from the work, please include:
  • Student name, grade, and contact information (student and parent emails are recommended)
  • Student’s artist statement, if required for that category
  • MLA-style bibliography

*It is required that this information is submitted on a separate page so that judging can take place anonymously. It is ok to submit within the same PDF file, as long as the pages are separate.

Questions? Email Waldman Coordinator Julia Gaetano (jgaetano@hcpgh.org)