National History Day is now being coordinated through West Virginia University. For information on the national contest please visit the National History Day website. For information on local and state history day competitions and to begin a history day program at your school please contact Melissa Bingman at Melissa.Bingmann@mail.wvu.edu).
The National Contest is the final stage of a series of contests at local and state/affiliate levels. Students begin their journey by presenting their projects in classrooms, schools, and districts around the world. Top entries are invited to the state/affiliate level contests. The top two entries in every category at the state/affiliate level are then invited to the National Contest.
Each year nearly 3,000 students with their families and teachers gather at the University of Maryland, College Park for the week-long event. These enthusiastic groups come from all fifty United States, Washington, D.C., Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and international schools in China, Korea, and South Asia. The excitement can be felt across the campus. After spending months on project research and preparation, and competing at local and affiliate contests, these students are eager to show their hard work at the National Contest.
Objectives
National History Day motivates students to discover history by:
Cultivating interest: students research a topic of their choice
Developing research skills: students act as historians discovering how to uncover primary sources, build historical context and form historical interpretations
Becoming experts on their research topic: presenting their research to teachers, students and historians
Achieving success
The shy student gains confidence when speaking about a topic he/she has research.
The apathetic student gains passion by choosing a topic of personal interest.
The high achieving student increases his/her ability to articulate their learning through presentation.