CONTEST OVERVIEW


The Big Picture

NHD, a non-profit education organization based in College Park, Maryland, offers year-long academic programs that engage over half a million middle- and high-school students around the world annually in conducting and presenting original research on historical topics. Since 1974, NHD has continuously improved history education by providing professional development opportunities and curriculum materials for educators. It provides the organizational structure for students like you to enter contests at the local and affiliate levels, with top students advancing to the national competition at the University of Maryland at College Park.

NHD lets students take history into their own hands…

Students pick a topic that excites them and then create a project demonstrating how this topic is representative of the annual theme. Students conduct their own primary source research to help build their argument and prove their thesis.

…and tell history in their own voices!

NHD projects can be completed by groups or individuals, and the project formats range from writing a paper, to designing a website, to putting on a performance (and more!). The format an NHD project takes depends entirely on how the students want to express themselves. NHD projects can be completed by individuals or by groups (2-5 students).

Project Types

Individual and group projects are judged as separate categories.

Do all students compete together?

There are two divisions in the National History Day program:

  • Junior Division — Grades 6-8
  • Senior Division — Grades 9-12

On Competition Day

All NHD Philly participants gather at the National Constitution Center. Students are assigned a timeslot during which they will meet with a team of judges to discuss their projects! All students, regardless of category, are interviewed on the day of the competition as part of the judging process.

Project Judging

Projects are evaluated by volunteer judges from the community. Their primary goal is to enhance students’ history practice and provide every student with constructive feedback. Judging criteria is specific to project type, but all NHD projects are evaluated on the relevance of project topic to the annual theme, strength of historical argument, and use of primary source materials. For more judging guidelines and category rules, see the NHD Contest Rule Book.

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