LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- The Julius and Dorothy Koppelman Holocaust/Genocide Resource Center at Rider University is sponsoring the fifth-annual Joan Lavine Keats Memorial Essay Contest for high school students through April 1, 1997.

Two categories are offered for the contest, with one first-place prize of $100 and four second-place prizes of $40 awarded in each category. The first category asks writers to look at events at the local, national, or world level and write and essay on the topic "Lessons of the Holocaust for Today -- 1997." Illustrations and references should be used to support any position taken. The second category is for short stories based on a real or imagined event in which awareness of the Holocaust had an impact on someone's life, or led to an important event.

Each entry should be an independent effort of 600-750 words, typewritten, and double-spaced. Only one entry per student will be accepted and essays become the property of the Center, which has the right to publish them. All submissions must include a separate cover sheet including the name and address of the student, social security number, title of the paper, and the name of the student's teacher and school.

Entries should be mailed to:

The Julius and Dorothy Koppelman
Holocaust/Genocide Resource Center
Rider University
2083 Lawrenceville Road
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648

The contest is named in honor of Joan Lavine Keats, the Holocaust/Genocide Center's founding advisory board member, who passed away in 1991.