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Annual Composition Prize
Paul Seideman Annual Composition Prize
Background
Paul Seideman is a Holocaust survivor. Paul established a competition for Year 10 and Year 11-13 students at New Zealand secondary schools where the Holocaust is part of the curriculum.
As a young Jewish boy in then Czechoslovakia, Paul suffered enormously but managed to survive for several years in the Nazi German concentration and labour camps during World War II. After liberation, Paul emigrated to Australia and then New Zealand. He now lives in a Wellington retirement home.
To commemorate the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by the Soviet Army on 27 January 1945, Paul funded an annual competition.
Background
Paul Seideman is a Holocaust survivor. Paul established a competition for Year 10 and Year 11-13 students at New Zealand secondary schools where the Holocaust is part of the curriculum.
As a young Jewish boy in then Czechoslovakia, Paul suffered enormously but managed to survive for several years in the Nazi German concentration and labour camps during World War II. After liberation, Paul emigrated to Australia and then New Zealand. He now lives in a Wellington retirement home.
To commemorate the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by the Soviet Army on 27 January 1945, Paul funded an annual competition.
2019 Winners
Year 7-8
Rosetta Tanner, Year 8, Somerville Intermediate School, Auckland
Rosetta Tanner, Year 8, Somerville Intermediate School, Auckland
Year 9 - 10
Orlando Ye, Year 9, Botany Downs Secondary College, Auckland
Orlando Ye, Year 9, Botany Downs Secondary College, Auckland
Year 11-13
Sophey Jenkins, Year 12, Tararua College, Pahiatua
Sophey Jenkins, Year 12, Tararua College, Pahiatua
We would like to thank all students who submitted work and to acknowledge the high standard of research and composition - Chris Harris, CEO, HCNZ.
The winner of the inaugural Year 7-8 age category Rosetta Tanner, in Year 8 at Somerville Intermediate School in Auckland, wrote about Irena Sendler, the Polish nurse and social worker who smuggled more than 2,000 children out of the Warsaw ghetto. Rosetta said that researching Irena’s story “made me realise it is simple courageous acts that make someone a hero.”
Orlando Ye, a Year 9 student at Botany Downs Secondary College in Auckland, won the Year 9-10 category, writing about how Holocaust survivors “found it very hard to return home” and that many chose to immigrate to countries around the world, including New Zealand.
In her well researched consideration of life after liberation, Sophey Jenkins, Year 12, Tararua College, Pahiatua, noted that “as the numbers of Holocaust survivors dwindle, it is more important than ever to learn and pass on their stories to future generations.”
Chris Harris, CEO of the HCNZ, has visited all three winners at their respective schools breaking the good news to them.
Rosetta, Orlando and Sophey will attend the United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, at Makara Cemetery in Wellington, on 27 January 2020 and will read their winning compositions before an audience of distinguished guests at the Parliamentary reception that afternoon. Essays will then be shared here.
Congratulations and well done Rosetta, Orland and Sophey.
The winner of the inaugural Year 7-8 age category Rosetta Tanner, in Year 8 at Somerville Intermediate School in Auckland, wrote about Irena Sendler, the Polish nurse and social worker who smuggled more than 2,000 children out of the Warsaw ghetto. Rosetta said that researching Irena’s story “made me realise it is simple courageous acts that make someone a hero.”
Orlando Ye, a Year 9 student at Botany Downs Secondary College in Auckland, won the Year 9-10 category, writing about how Holocaust survivors “found it very hard to return home” and that many chose to immigrate to countries around the world, including New Zealand.
In her well researched consideration of life after liberation, Sophey Jenkins, Year 12, Tararua College, Pahiatua, noted that “as the numbers of Holocaust survivors dwindle, it is more important than ever to learn and pass on their stories to future generations.”
Chris Harris, CEO of the HCNZ, has visited all three winners at their respective schools breaking the good news to them.
Rosetta, Orlando and Sophey will attend the United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, at Makara Cemetery in Wellington, on 27 January 2020 and will read their winning compositions before an audience of distinguished guests at the Parliamentary reception that afternoon. Essays will then be shared here.
Congratulations and well done Rosetta, Orland and Sophey.
2018 Winners
Mark Seddon & Georgia Wong with Paul Seideman and Ginny Andersen MP
at the United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day Parliament reception 27 January 2019.
Photography by Woolf
at the United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day Parliament reception 27 January 2019.
Photography by Woolf
