Dripping Springs students win $250 state prize in art contest

Sophia Johnson, a student at Sycamore Springs Middle School has been named a winner of the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission (THGC) 2021 Friends of THGC Student Contests in Poetry & Visual Arts. Johnson submitted an original visual art piece (and poem), titled Only Five, in the Holocaust category and her top scores earned her a $250 prize.

This year’s contest theme was Sites of Memory and was open to Texas students enrolled in 6th-12th grades. The contest charged students with choosing a place/event in Holocaust or genocide history to research. They could select an event that happened during the

Holocaust or during the Armenian genocide, Cambodian genocide, Rwandan/Burundian genocide, Bosnian genocide, Darfur genocide, or Iraqi/Syrian genocide. Students then created a memorial in the form of an original poem, drawing, or 3-D model that they imagined could be placed at the chosen location to commemorate the event that occurred there.

Unlike previous contests, this year students were allowed to either work alone or with a fellow Texan in the same grade level. In addition, students were required to submit a video in which they explained how the memorial they created serves to commemorate the event/place they researched. Students who chose to submit an original poem also had to send a video with the poem being recited.

The annual Friends of THGC Student Contests in Poetry & Visual Arts are generously funded by the Friends of Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission 501(c)3 non-profit.

The Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission is a state commission that was established to bring awareness of the Holocaust and other genocides to Texas students, educators, and the general public by ensuring availability of resources.