Genocide Commemoration Essay Contest Results Announced

NEW YORK–Shanelle Russell, a Montclair, N.J. High School senior and AP European history student, recently won first place in the Armenian Genocide Commemoration Essay Contest. Carley Weinstein from Hauppauge High School in New York won second place, while Sarah Torosyan from Hall High School in W. Hartford, Conn. won third place.

Co-sponsored by the Knights and Daughters of Vartan (www.knightsofvartan.org) and Facing History and Ourselves (www.facinghistory.org), the contest was open to all high school students in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. The question to be addressed in the contest was: “Why is it important for you and the world to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide?”

The winners will receive their awards and be recognized at the 94th anniversary commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, to be held in Times Square (43rd and Broadway) on Sun., April 26, from 2-4 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

At the Armenian Genocide Commemoration (in its 24th year), thousands of American Armenians and their supporters will gather to pay tribute to the 1.5 million Armenians who were massacred by the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire. The commemoration will also celebrate the survival spirit of the Armenian people, their rich heritage, and their contributions. Speakers will include Armenian and non-Armenian elected officials and humanitarian, cultural, religious, educational, and community leaders and students.

The last paragraph in Russell’s essay summarized her motivations in addressing and bringing attention to the Armenian Genocide. She wrote: “The world has led crusades and jihads for love and peace and often times has been victorious. However there were no pins, no ribbons, nor billboards for Armenia, a place that had so desperately needed and desired peace. The world has seen genocides in Germany, in Armenia, in Rwanda, in Cambodia, and throughout the entire globe. Today, the world sees genocide in Sudan. Is there to be no end to this cycle of hate and pain? This cycle has not yet been broken, for the world has not yet been able to learn from history. By dismissing and forgetting the Armenian Genocide, a significant part of history, the world is dismissing knowledge and the history of a nation. Moreover, the world is dismissing a chance for it to one day be a world of peace and love. The world is in need of justice, of honesty, of balance, of love and peace and the first step towards that kind of world is knowledge and the acknowledgment of history.”