Contact Laura Patton, via email or 913-327-8236.
Between 1933 and 1945 the Nazis sought to create a racial state comprised of what they deemed to be a racially pure population. To achieve this goal, the Nazis used propaganda, coercion, and terror to align the thoughts and values of German citizens with Nazi ideology. The German government persecuted its own citizens because of their beliefs, behaviors, and identities. The persecution and murder of non-Jews deemed unworthy of inclusion in the Nazi state often pre-dated the persecution of Jews and laid the groundwork for the mechanisms that would be used in the genocide of approximately 6 million Jews.
A successful essay or documentary entry will address both portions of the following prompt. At minimum, one-fourth of the finished work must be devoted to the REFLECTION.
RESEARCH: Describe why and how one category of non-Jewish victims experienced persecution and murder by the Nazis. (You may choose from among the following non-Jewish victims groups: Jehovah’s Witnesses, LGBTQ+, Roma and Sinti, and the Targets of Eugenics.) Provide as an example how that persecution was experienced by at least one person. Also consider whether the group experienced continued persecution during the post-war years.
REFLECTION: How can you apply the learning gained from your research to your developing responsibilities as a citizen in U.S. society?
MCHE urges students to explore several articles from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Holocaust Encyclopedia to gain essential background information about this contest topic. These are secondary sources. They are not to be considered among the five required sources. However, students may cite these as additional sources if information from them is used in their essay or documentary.
Students–The following contest rules govern the use of sources:
Students and Teachers, please note that you may find many other helpful sources of information on our Primary Sources page.
MCHE’s White Rose Research Contest Guide for Educators and Students provides detailed contest rules, guidelines, and tips. More information is given in the Contest Guide than the highlights provided on our website. We encourage all participants to read the Contest Guide carefully.
Contest Eligibility
The White Rose Research Contest is open to students in 8th through 12th grades.
Entries are accepted in two categories–essay or documentary.
Entrants compete in two age divisions–Lower (8th and 9th Grade) and Upper (10th, 11th, and 12th Grade).
Students may submit one entry in one contest category per year. Students may enter the contest every year they are eligible. Previous winners may enter gain.
Sponsoring teachers may enter the ten best essays and the ten best documentaries created by their assigned students during a contest year. (Please consult the scoring rubrics for detailed criteria.)
General Contest Rules
Contest Rules for Written Work
Contest Rules for Audio-Visual Work
A documentary is an audio/visual presentation that uses many types of sources such as interviews, narration, still images, historical audio and video, and sound effects or carefully selected music to communicate a historical argument, supported by research, and a reflection on this year’s contest prompt.
Entrants submitting a documentary must also submit a Film Introduction. If your documentary is a contest winner, you will use this introduction to tell the audience at the Academic Awards Ceremony about your film before it is viewed. Please answer the following questions in your Film Introduction:
The end of the documentary must show a list of credits that acknowledges the sources of still images, moving images, interviews, information used in narration, and music used within the film/video. These source credits must be brief—not full bibliographic citations and not annotated. However, these credits should match the citations on the Works Cited page that must accompany the Film Introduction. (See Contest Rules for Written Work above and on the downloadable White Rose Contest Guide.)
Documentaries should be saved in mp4 format, submitted as a YouTube link. Finalists may be asked to submit the mp4 files of their documentaries to MCHE. (See Additional Format Instructions for Film Introductions on the downloadable White Rose Contest Guide.)
MCHE encourages teachers to utilize this research contest as a classroom exercise.
The White Rose Research Contest and the Common Core State Standards
Sponsoring teachers are limited to submitting no more than ten essays and ten documentaries per age division per contest year. Teachers, you are the first White Rose judges! Please use the contest scoring rubrics to determine the most worthy contest candidates among your students’ entries.
If several teachers within the same school are working with their students on the White Rose contest, each of those teachers may submit up to ten essay and ten documentary entries. Please assign one sponsoring teacher to each entry even if a team of teachers worked with students together.
The following resources may be helpful to both teachers and students:
“Preview the Contest” will happen on Wednesday, October 23rd from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. via Zoom.
Dr. Shelly Cline will provide historical context for this year’s topic. Using breakout rooms, participants will have the opportunity to discuss this year’s documents and then share salient points with the whole group. Shelly and Laura Patton will answer questions about the documents and the contest generally. Laura will also share information about changes for this year’s contest.
Look for a sign-up soon!
Can’t make it? Not to worry!
We will record the session and would be happy to share it with you. Contact Laura Patton
Contest entries will be evaluated in two rounds of judging.
View the scoring rubric for essay entries.
View the scoring rubric for documentary entries.
All White Rose Finalists and their sponsoring teachers will be recognized in early May at MCHE’s Academic Awards Ceremony.
Winners of each contest category and age division will be announced at the ceremony. Winners will be asked to read their essays or introduce and screen their documentaries for the assembled audience.
Contest winners in each category and age division will receive a $300 prize.
Sponsoring teachers of each winner will be awarded a voucher worth $150 of Holocaust-related books, instructional materials, or professional development workshops.
PLEASE review the “Format Guidelines for Written Work” in the White Rose Research Contest Guide for Educators and Students before submitting your work. Failure to do so causes additional work for MCHE staff. For example, when you submit your document as a PDF, we must convert it back to its original file format and add a code number before it goes to the judges.
Please submit form per contest entry even if two students worked together on a documentary entry.
What happens after the contest deadline?
Many thanks to all students and teachers who participate in the White Rose Student Research Contest!
2023-2024 Contest Theme: Americans and the Holocaust
RESEARCH: Describe the motivations and outcomes of a non-military action or policy taken by the U.S. government or American citizens to address the persecution of European Jews between 1933 and 1945. Discuss how these actions impacted the European Jewish community or Jewish individuals, citing specific examples.
REFLECTION: Based on your research, what responsibility do you believe the U.S. has toward refugees and immigrants in today’s world?
Note that the word allowance changed during the 2023-24 contest year. Contestants were allowed 1,600-words for essays and 800-words for process papers. In both cases, one-fourth of the word allowance was to be reserved for the reflection. The time restraint on documentaries is ten minutes, one-fourth of which must be devoted to the reflection prompt.
Lower Division Essay Winner: Morgan Franey
Lower Division Documentary Winner: Halen McClure & Walter Sumner — Documentary and Process Paper
Upper Division Essay Winner: Vicky Pan
Upper Division Documentary Winner: Sophia Grantham & Piper Riffe — Documentary and Process Paper
2022-2023 Contest Theme: Jewish Resistance in the Ghettos
RESEARCH: Describe the goals and obstacles to one specific form of Jewish resistance in the ghettos. Explain how that method was used by one Jewish person or group.
REFLECTION: Consider the Kansas City Holocaust memorial and Nathan Rapoport’s Memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. After researching several types of resistance, why do you think that memorialization disproportionately focuses on armed resistance? How might you elevate forms of non-armed resistance in memorialization efforts.
Note that the word allowance changed during the 2023-24 contest year. 2022-2023 contestants worked within a 1,200-word limit for essays and a 500-word limit for process papers. The time restraints on documentaries have not changed.
Lower Division Essay Winner: Sylvie Idol
Upper Division Essay Winner: Makenzie Brantner
Upper Division Documentary Winner: Braden Thompson — Documentary and Process Paper
This research contest is named in honor of the White Rose resistance movement of German university students. Hans and Sophie Scholl, Christoph Probst, other friends, and their professor were arrested and executed for distributing leaflets denouncing the policies of the Nazi regime. May memories of these brave young people inspire us to reflect upon our own responsibilities as citizens in a democratic nation.
Photo at Left: Knowing she had been spotted by a custodian, Sophie Scholl threw the remaining anti-Nazi leaflets in her possession from the balcony of this atrium at Munich University. This incident led to her arrest.
Photo at Top: Replicas of White Rose leaflets on the cobblestones at Munich University.
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