Local Student Wins Best In Show At International Art Competition

Press release from the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes:

June 14, 2021

A local student was just awarded Middle School Best in Show, and $2,000-- for the international ArtEffect Project Competition which focuses on unsung heroes. The award was given to a Jacksonville, Florida, LaVilla School for the Arts 8th grader-- Naomi Alcantara-- who clinched the Middle School's prize. Through “A Terezin Diary,” Alcantara’s mixed media creation represented Pavel Weiner, a Holocaust survivor who spent his childhood in the Terezin ghetto. He wrote articles for a magazine secretly distributed throughout the ghetto that reflected his hope, patriotism, maturity and belief in the victory of truth.

Here is an excerpt from their essay, which was submitted along with the award-winning artwork: "I decided to create this artwork as a recreation of his diary to give a more personal feel to it and share some of the relatable and historical information he had disclosed in his diary. A diary usually gives the viewer more personal and specific ideas on how the writer felt writing it, so I thought restoring and remaking a version of it would be effective."

This press release was produced by the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes. The views expressed here are the author's own.