Student Contests

Over 300 high school students from throughout the state of Illinois participated in the 2018 Leo & Antonia Gershanov Memorial Student Essay Contest.

Please join us on Sunday, May 6 at 2:00pm, as we recognize the twelve students whose essays addressing the theme The Power of Memory:  Lessons for Today received the highest marks from our panel of judges.

The awards ceremony will include greetings from Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen, and a message from contest sponsors, the Gershanov family.  A reception will follow.

Antonia Gershanov and her sons survived the Holocaust. Reunited with her husband Leo, they settled in Chicago following World War II and devoted time and resources in the fight against discrimination and prejudice. This legacy was passed on to their children and grandchildren, who have graciously sponsored this contest in their memory.  For the past thirty years, the Gershanov Family has provided funding to provide Illinois students the opportunity to respond to the subject of Holocaust and modern genocide through creative forms of expression.

The 2018 Essay Contest serves as the culmination of this tradition.