The JRI Presents Awards to the Winners of the First Jasenovac Memorial Art Contest for Students in Republika Srpska, in Bosnia

The awards ceremony for the first annual Jasenovac Commemorative Art Contest for students in Republika Srpska was held today in Donja Gradina at the Gradina Memorial Park. Hundreds of students, teachers, and reporters from the media attended along with representatives from educational institutions in Republika Srpska and from the Jasenovac Research Institute. The contest was sponsored by the Jasenovac Research Institute in collaboration with the Institute for Culture and Education in Republika Srpska and the Gradina Memorial Park.

The contest drew entries from over 800 students in the Republika Srpska. The original exhibition of these entries was held in May in Banja Luka at the same time as the Jasenovac Commeorative Essay Competition also sponsored by the JRI. The contest is designed to strengthen Holocaust education and commemoration around the world and integrate it into the regular curriculum of students by focusing on the Holocaust in Yugoslavia during World War II. The contest is dedicated to the memory of the victims and to learning the lessons of that history.

The attendees and speakers were welcomed and introduced by the long time Gradina Memorial Park Curator, Simo Brdar.

Representing and speaking on behalf of the Jasenovac Research Institute were JRI Directors Darko Trifunovic, an author and lecturer at Belgrade University, and Aleksandar Mosic, a Survivor and Partisan fighter during World War II. Also speaking at the event was Prof. Milicevic, the Director of the Institute for Culture and Education for Republika Srpska who played a central role in organizing the contest.

A first place award of $200 US and second and third place prizes of $100 each were awarded by JRI Directors Mosic and Trifunovic to the top three students in this contest. The names of the winners and photographs of their works will be published in a follow up report shortly. In the near future there will be a full catalogue of works submitted displayed on the JRI website (www.jasenovac.org).

JRI Directors Trifunovic and Mosic took advantage of the opportunity to meet with, talk with and congratulate the students for their outstanding work, and then gave interviews to the media before returning to Belgrade courtesy of the R.S. Ministry of the Interiror which kindly provided transportation for JRI participants.