On the occasion of the first ever retrospective of the Expressionist Fritz Ascher (Berlin, 1893-1970) at the Grey Art Gallery of New York University from January 9 until April 6, 2019, High School students were invited to respond to the life or work of Fritz Ascher with an essay, a poem or an artwork. Submissions came from schools in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Illinois. We were blown away by the deep and thoughtful responses, the creativity and the high skill level of the work. See for yourself below!

On May 1, 2019 we celebrated all participants and especially the winners of the competition in an award ceremony at the German Academy in New York. The event was opened by Katja Wiesbrock Donovan of the German Academy New York and Rachel Stern of the Fritz Ascher Society, followed by Andrea Pfeil of Goethe-Institut New York, who spoke about the Fritz Ascher language program. The awards were presented by Ori Z. Soltes of the Fritz Ascher Society and Ted Comet of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee New York, who gave a touching speech about his late wife Shoshana Comet, who created tapestries to overcome the horrors of the Holocaust. Thank you to everyone who made this event possible. Many thanks to the German Academy for hosting the event.

First Prize: Dina Barrish, IL

First Prize: Batya Wolff, NY

First Prize: Joseph Murphy, PA

Second Prize: Amitai Nelkin, NJ

Second Prize: Michal Braha, NJ

Second Prize: Stephen Cain, PA

Third Prize: Aharon Weiden, NJ

Third Prize: Eliana Weiss, NY

Third Prize: Avinoam Wizman, NJ

Honorable Mention: Betty Isakov, NJ

Honorable Mention: Dena Lauber, NY

Honorable Mention: Rafi Press, NJ