National History Day is a curriculum and program that provide the framework for students to read, research, write, and present their findings to the public. Students work on projects through their school or as home school students and then present their work at district, state, and even national contests. At each step students, receive feedback from judges allowing them to improve projects and gain useful experience interacting with historians, museum professionals, and others along the way.
Students who participate in National History Day have multiple choices for presenting their research in creative form. Students can compete as individuals or in groups. In addition, students are broken into the junior division (grades 6, 7, 8) and senior division (grades 9, 10, 11, 12) to help keep the contest competitive. Below are descriptions of each category.
You may enter one of nine categories:
- paper (individual only)
- individual exhibit
- group exhibit
- individual performance
- group performance
- individual documentary
- group documentary
- individual website
- group website
Each category in each division is judged separately. Groups may include from 2 to 5 students. Group participants do not have to be in the same grade to compete together, but they must be in the same division.
Before you begin work on an entry for competition, you, your teacher, and your parents should carefully read the National History Day Contest Rule Book. In order to ensure students across the country participate in a fair contest, National History Day sets the rules and guidelines for all participating entries. All judges are familiar with the rules. Please note the current Contest Rule Book was revised in 2010/2011.
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