Awards & Scholarships
Gerda Haas Award
for Excellence in Human Rights Education and Leadership
Every year our Board nominates the Gerda Haas Award recipients
Gerda Haas, founding mother of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine, has inspired many with her passion for human rights education. A Holocaust survivor originally from Germany, Gerda learned that students weren’t being taught about the Holocaust in Maine schools. Gerda not only identified a critical educational void, she took action to rectify it. The Holocaust and Human Rights Center welcomes the opportunity to recognize and honor an individual who, like Gerda Haas, has demonstrated excellence and initiative in human rights education and leadership.
Lois Galgay Reckitt Is the 2024 Gerda Haas Award Recipient
Lois Galgay Reckitt was posthumously honored as our 2024 the Gerda Haas Award recipient for Excellence in Human Rights Education and Leadership. Lois was known as a powerful activist for women, working on behalf of oppressed, vulnerable and marginalized people throughout her adult life—indeed right up until her death. Lois was committed to making sure that all people were treated with respect and dignity. From 1984 to 1987, Lois served as executive vice president of the National Organization for Women in Washington, D.C. and then as deputy director of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, a political action committee that she had co-founded in 1980. Back in Maine, Lois became co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the Maine Coalition for Human Rights, the Maine Women’s Lobby, and the first Maine chapter of the National Organization for Women. She established the Family Crisis Shelter in Portland and successfully lobbied to protect victims of domestic abuse, leading to the passage of several bills. She served in the Maine House of Representatives from 2016 until her death in 2023 where she fought to pass the Equal Rights Amendment in the Maine Constitution. Lois was inducted into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998.
Past Gerda Haas Award Recipients
Corey Hinton, 2023
Mary Bonauto, 2022
Grace Valenzuela, 2021
Rachel Talbot Ross, 2020
Richard Blanco, 2019
Christopher Meyers Asch, 2018
Pious Ali, 2017
ILAP, 2016
Tim Wilson, 2015
Betsy Parsons, 2014
Student Awards & Scholarships
We are delighted to announce the opening of the 2024-25 Awards & Scholarship Program sponsored by the HHRC. Below are descriptions of the opportunities with links to the applications on our website. We would appreciate it if you could help us spread the word about this important tradition: If you know a student who is interested, please let them know. This is an integral piece of our education offerings and a meaningful way to honor the mission and vision of those who created the HHRC 39 years ago. The awards ask students to think deeply about their personal experiences relating to the Holocaust and human rights, encouraging self reflection and commitment to the values we uphold and teach. The deadline to submit is May 1, 2025.
The Lawrence Alan Spiegel Remembrance Scholarship
The Spiegel Scholarship ($1,000) is awarded annually to the high school senior who authors the prize-winning, original essay on the prompt: “Learning about the Holocaust affected my view of the world and it is important for others to learn about it too.” Criteria: originality of voice and viewpoint, structure, command of language and mechanics. The photo is of Brooke Chase, the 2023 Spiegel Award Recipient. Apply here.
The Mathilde Schlossberger Outstanding Student of the Year Award
The Schlossberger Award recognizes an exceptional piece of original writing, fiction or non-fiction, or an unusually expressive piece of visual or performance art relating to human rights. The award was created by Florence and Kurt Strauss of Portland in memory of Kurt’s maternal grandmother, who was murdered at Theresienstadt. Apply here.
