HUNDREDS of pupils from across Colchester will compete in a historic prize in memory of a Holocaust survivor who settled in north Essex. 

The Dora Love Prize, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, aims to show young people how they can stand up to hatred, discrimination and intolerance.

Founded by Professor Rainer Schulze, a history professor at Essex University, the Dora Love Prize has inspired more than 1,000 secondary school children from across Essex, Suffolk and Kent since it started in 2012.

The award is named after the late Dora Love, who survived the Holocaust before she eventually settled in Colchester, where she spent the remaining 30 years of her life.

School groups are tasked with putting together creative responses to what they have learnt from workshops, and hearing first-hand testimony from a Holocaust survivor

They then deliver a presentation at a ceremony held at Essex University, which take place on Monday, July 4.

In 2019, Colchester Royal Grammar was announced as joint winners alongside Saxmundham Free School, in Suffolk, and presented with £250 from Holocaust survivor and competition patron Frank Bright.

And this year, an international school has taken part in the prize for the first time, with Collingwood School in British Columbia, Canada, now involved.

School teachers have spoken highly of the Dora Love Prize over the years.

Gilberd School subject lead for history Sophie Foster said pupils' projects allow them to see a lot of the discrimination still prevalent in today’s society.

She said: “Every year the prize has proved incredibly enlightening.

“It inspires our students as it gives them the opportunity to critically engage with the world around them and reflect upon the prejudices and discrimination that still exist today.”

Following her participation in the Dora Love Prize last year, Clarissa Travaglia went on to deliver lessons about the Holocaust for younger children.

She said: “The Dora Love Prize made me rethink the consequences of all the little things I do. It changed the way I think and act.”

The 2022 judging panel for the prize will be chaired by Janet Love, daughter of the late Dora Love and former member of the South African parliament for the ANC and the South African Human Rights Commission.