A Suffolk school has won the first Dora Love Prize, which was awarded at a special evening during Holocaust Memorial Week at the University of Essex.

Schools from across Essex and Suffolk were invited to take part in the special competition which was set up by Professor Rainer Schulze from the University of Essex to continue the work of Holocaust survivor Dora Love.

The Dora Love Prize will be awarded each year to the project which most focuses on what was most important to Dora Love in her own work, which included speaking up against intolerance, discrimination and hatred wherever it occurs, building bridges between the past and the present in order to build a better future, and developing a sense of personal responsibility.

Dora Love, who died in October 2011, was a survivor of Stutthof concentration camp. She lived for over 30 years in Colchester and throughout her later life she was committed to educating younger generations about the Holocaust. Dora was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Essex in 2009.

The Dora Love Prize evening was one of many events organised by the University as part of Holocaust Memorial Week.

Out of the ten projects specially selected to take part in the evening, the winning entry was from Year 9 students from Farlingaye High School in Woodbridge for their project More Than Just a Number. The project included assemblies with every year group, the selling of wristbands with a number referring to a Holocaust victim who could be researched on the school intranet and asking students to make a pledge on specially-designed postcards.

Professor Schulze said Farlingaye High School took the top prize as their project took the concept of the Dora Love Prize to heart. “It engages young people about the importance of not forgetting the past as well as looking to a future without discrimination. The students executed their ideas beautifully, and in doing so touched the whole school. This project clearly has the potential to reach out even further into the wider community,” he added.

The jury, which included Holocaust survivor Frank Bright, highly commended all the projects that were presented at the Lakeside Theatre, saying that all of them demonstrated inspiration, dedication and engagement.

The next Dora Love Prize will be awarded during the University of Essex Holocaust Memorial Week 2014, and schools in Essex and Suffolk will be contacted after Easter about how to take part.

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