Affiliate Contest

Best Practices

Every contest is somewhat unique as the circumstances of geography, institutional sponsor, tradition and calendar affect when, where and how a contest is run. That being said, common steps, processes and principles are incorporated into every contest, whether Regional, Affiliate, or national.

All NHD contests must:

• Be made available to all students in the relevant area

• Adhere to the National History Day Contest Rule Book

• Adhere to the grade-level requirements of the Junior and Senior divisions

• Follow all National History Day procedures for judging, utilizing NHD-produced training materials for judges and the NHD evaluation forms (judging rubrics), and providing a judges’ orientation;

• Utilize NHD procedures for the selection of winners and for advancing winners to the next level

• Use the NHD name and logo on materials

Quality Control

While no two NHD contests will be exactly alike, all are expected to utilize and embrace the spirit and principles of the national organization. This is accomplished at the outset through the use of NHD-produced materials: the Rule Book, theme flyer, curriculum book, sourcebooks, the Making History series, judging instructions, judging evaluation forms and the judges’ orientation script. You and all helpers must know of the Rule Book, theme flyer, the judging instructions and evaluation forms. You must do a judges’ orientation and are encouraged to use the NHD-provided script as a template. The other materials support the program and are intended for teachers’ use during the academic year preceding the contest.

In addition to the incorporation of these essential materials there must be a commitment to the principles of fair and equitable judging before, during, and after the contest.

Understand Contest Planning Overlap

No matter your model of contest management (centralized, decentralized, or hybrid), there is a contest planning overlap that you need to take into consideration. By the time of your Regional contests, you will need to have your planning for the Affiliate contest complete. Students will need to know the general schedule for the day, how they will register, etc. By the time that your Affiliate contest is complete, you will need to have your planning for the National Contest complete. Students will want to know how to register, the schedule for the national contest, and any special activities you have planned for your delegation.

Selecting a Date and Reserving Facilities

Your Affiliate likely has a historic expectation on when and where the Affiliate contest will take place, with most Affiliate contests taking place in April or early May. In addition to precedent, weather and the national contest registration deadline will play a strong role in selecting a date. You will also want to make sure that there is enough time between Regionals and the Affiliate contest to allow students to register and improve their projects. Try to secure your date as early as possible, with some campuses letting organizations book more than a year ahead. 

Setting Other Important Deadlines

Once you know your event date, you will need to set several more deadlines, including a registration deadline, deadlines for submissions of projects (usually papers, but could be other categories depending on your contest), and a website lockout. Include these details on your website and in other communications.

Parking

There are many different angles from which you'll look at parking. Consider all of the following with your venue, and prepare to communicate it with each different audience.

• Where will your judges park? Will you cover the cost of judge parking - and how does that process work? 

• Where will students, families, and teachers park? Is this different from any area in which performance and exhibit students can unload their projects?

• Can school buses be accommodated? If so, where?

• Where are the accessible parking spots? 

• What public transportation is available nearby? Bike parking?

Catering

Depending on how your contest day is structured and your budget, do what you can to feed your judges. They will appreciate it! For a typical day of 8 am-ish to 3 pm-ish, judges will appreciate a light breakfast of coffee/tea/water and pastries, a lunch, and some snacks. Whatever you decide for catering, reserve the service early in the year, especially if you are going through a university or school. Their catering calendars book up early for spring events. You may want to ask a question about dietary restrictions or preferences on your judge sign-up.

• Student Dining: Feeding students and teachers is not at all necessary, but be sure to let teachers/parents know if food will or will not be available at the event. If your host site has a cafeteria, you could arrange for meals to be sold. You can also provide directions off-campus to nearby restaurants.

Equipment Needs and Internet Access

You may be able to work through your event venue for tables, chairs, power cords, and technology, or you may have to reserve these through a separate company. When making reservations, double-check how many they have vs. how many you need.  

• Tables: History Day events require A LOT of tables, so even if your venue has some tables, they may not have that many. Consider not just what you need for the exhibit hall, but also check-in, judges, the contest HQ, merchandise sales, and the awards ceremony. Most contests do not skirt their exhibit tables, but you may want this in check in and awards areas. 

• Podium/Sound System: Checkout the awards space and make sure they have a sound system. Your voice will be tired at the end of the day. 

• Power Cords: If you plan on running electricity to some or all of your exhibit tables, you will want to confirm with your venue that they are able to do so.

• Technology: Documentary rooms (and sometimes websites, if possible) need technology to play projects. This will include a computer/laptop, projection system, and sound. 

Internet Access: You, your judges, and your attendees will want to know about this. Does the venue have a free wireless network? Or, do you need to get passwords/logins for a secure network? Consider including this in an event program, communication with attendees, or on signage at the event. 

Other Special Activities

For participants, there is a lot of downtime at the event. Are there any activities that you (or better yet your partners) can help to facilitate for students?

• Campus Activities: Campus tours, ascot meet & greet, campus information for parents, or activities in the student union (arcade or bowling alley)

• Academic Pursuits: Speakers, or screenings of documentaries

• Informal Activities: A map where students can "pin" their hometown on a map, or their topic on a timeline of history

Registration & Event Information Information

The first type of information your participants will need is about registration. The specifics about how to register will depend on if you are using the zFairs registration system or not. The National Office provides templates for zFairs registration instructions in the Coordinator Portal. In addition to how to use the system, they will need to know the deadline to register, any project upload deadlines, entry fees, website lockout dates, and relevant policies about registration, cancellation, and event attendance. If you are using your own system, you will need to develop your own instructions and include similar information.

Event Information

No matter the registration system, all attendees will need to know the basics about the event to plan for their participation. This includes: 

• When and where the event takes place

• The general schedule for the day, public viewing times, and when they can expect to know their specific judging time

• Driving directions, public transportation information, and parking

• Lodging information

• A map of the venue, if using multiple buildings

• Information on scheduling conflicts and how they can be accommodated

• Special awards information

• Information about the awards ceremony, how to view results, and when students will get their evaluations

• Category-specific information, including when students can set-up/remove their exhibits, and what technology will be available to show documentaries

• Applicable policies: event attendance, photography/videography

The more ways you can communicate this with event attendees, the better. You may want to hand each Affiliate Qualifier a packet of this information at their Regional awards ceremony, upload it to zFairs, or include it on your website. 

• 2019 Minnesota State History Day Guide

• 2019 California History Day Contest Guide

Attendee Communication

Affiliates vary in how they communicate with attendees. Some contests communicate only with teachers, and depend on them to pass messages along. As students advance in the competition cycle, it becomes more common to add direct communication to students and parents/guardians in  the mix. zFairs offers you a convenient way to messages participants, parents/guardians and teachers. If you are not using zFairs, you should consider maintaining your own mailing lists. 

In general, consider the following points of communication:

• Advancement from Regional Contest: Share your congratulations, link to your registration system/instructions, and provide the general event information listed above. 

• Registration Deadline Reminder: A few days before the event registration deadline, send a reminder that includes similar information to above. 

• Tentative/Final Entry Schedule: Many programs share a tentative entry schedule with participants and give them a chance to fix name or title errors, or confirm that their scheduling conflicts were accommodated before sharing a final entry schedule.

Models for General Event Timeline

All NHD contests have the same essential parts: registration for students, registration and orientation for judges, judging of all entries in both divisions, judging deliberation, determination of entry rankings, an awards ceremony and distribution of evaluation forms to students. Variations among each of these parts and inclusion of other components are what make each contest unique.

One-Day Contest: Most NHD contests at the Affiliate level are held on one day, beginning anywhere from 7am to 11am and concluding late afternoon or early evening.

Two-Day Contests: Whether because of geography, program size and/or limited facilities, some Affiliates run two-day contests. Some conduct registration the evening before the contest, others begin registration early in the morning and continue the contest through noon of the next day. Some hold Junior and Senior division judging at different times in order to utilize the same rooms and judges.

About Public Viewing of Projects

Attendees come to the contest excited to see their peers, and show off for their friends and family. Public viewing of entries is an important learning experience, but needs to be weighed against the need to ensure quality judging. Your event schedule should carve out time to see projects, and let people know what is and is not possible. See the Contest Facilities & Logistics page for more information on public viewing by category. 

Entry/Judging Schedules

After your registration deadline, you can begin to create your entry/judging schedules. View the Judges & Judging page for information. 

Special Awards Schedules

Depending on the method you are using to judge special awards, you may need to create special schedules just for these judges. View the Special Awards page for examples. 

Staff/Volunteer Schedules

The better you can equip other staff and volunteers who are helping you to run the event, the less confusion and fewer questions you will get during the day. This will free you up to do other things. Create an hour-by-hour schedule of what you are expecting people to do for each of your key staff or volunteers. 

• Minnesota History Day Staff Schedule Spreadsheet

Contest HQ Staff/Volunteers

A well-prepared headquarters is the key to an event that ends on time. Below are descriptions of the volunteer jobs that need to be staffed for a contest with over 300 or so entries. Adjust according to your needs and do not panic if you do not have enough people to split up the tasks as described. This list of tasks applies to an in-person contest where judges fill out evaluation forms on paper. The workload will be lighter if your judges complete their evaluations using the zFairs online judging portal and if students also receive their evaluations that way. 

• HQ Manager: Pick someone with leadership skills to stay in HQ at all times, supervise others in the room, make sure that first-round judges provide their rankings early, that finals teams are dispatched on time, and that comments are written on every single evaluation form. The HQ Manager needs to delegate key tasks to others. Impress upon the HQ Manager the importance of double checking for accuracy. Are the evaluation forms in the right folders/envelopes? Do the entries on the winners' list match those on the judges' ranking forms? Are the winners' folders filed in the order that they will be read during the ceremony?  

  • Why should you not be the HQ Manager? As you see, it is a big job that requires focus from the beginning of the judging period to just a few minutes before the awards ceremony. During most of that time, you will be visiting judging rooms, checking in with your room/building monitors, making sure that everything is on schedule, putting out fires, circulating among the judges as they complete their paperwork, and schmoozing VIPs.

• Gatekeeper: Pick an assertive but friendly person to keep judges and especially, teachers, students, and parents out of HQ, explaining why only HQ staff and volunteers are allowed to enter. Obviously you don't want anyone to find out the status of an entry before the awards ceremony, but you also want a quiet workspace. Station the gatekeeper just outside of HQ.

  • The gatekeeper can double as the person to whom judges hand in paperwork, using a list of judging teams to check off as they return their forms. Depending upon the volume at your contest, your gatekeeper can do it all or you will need to add other people and move it further away from the door to HQ. See Judges & Judging, Review Your Judges' Work for more information.

• Forms Processors: You’ll need one or two organized and efficient people to periodically collect forms from the gatekeeper, sort by entry number and arrange in the way in which they will be returned to the students. If you have a final round, the forms for the finalists should be set aside until you know the winners so that you can file them into student packets more efficiently. Designate one person to enter rankings into the zFairs system so that you can schedule finals and/or print the winners list for the awards ceremony. 

• Finals Coordinator: This person keeps track of the categories that have final rounds, making sure that the first-round teams complete their consensus forms early enough to be able to launch finals. As the first-round consensus forms come in, this person notes the entry numbers that advance to finals and when those forms from all teams for a particular category are submitted, assembles the finals judges  and sends them out with their entry numbers and evaluation forms (printed with entry information from the system).

• Winners’ Folders Assembler: Designate a separate person to keep track of the winners. As you hand winners their medals on stage, consider also handing them folders with their certificates and evaluation forms. Prepare the folders ahead of time with labels like “Senior Group Documentary, 1st Place” and stuff them with registration information for the next contest level. If your certificates are completed in advance, you can pull the ones you need, add the evaluation forms, and complete the folders before the ceremony.

Other Staff/Volunteer Roles

• Student/Judge Check-In: You may need several different people to handle these roles, especially when your event first opens and the flow of traffic is the heaviest. 

  • Students: Student check-in is when they get their final presentation time, exhibit or judging location, event program, and any other materials you need to give them. It is sometimes organized by last name, by school, or by category. Depending on the size of your event, you may need several volunteers early on in the event to keep this process moving.

  • Judges: You will likely need a separate volunteer to get judges checked-in before orientation. They will confirm their category assignment, direct them to their seat, give them parking vouches, etc. This is the person that usually triages missing judges, and rearranges judge panels while the orientation is taking place. This same person can check judges back in after judging, collect results forms to pass along to contest HQ, and hand out thank you gifts and surveys when judges are done. The person should be familiar with the information on the Judges & Judging page as well as your Contest Policies.

• Room Monitors: The job of a room monitor is to control the flow of traffic in and out of a competition room. In a Documentary and Performance room, this means keeping people from entering/exiting while a project is being viewed. Room monitors can also help to let people into the exhibit hall while it may be closed for judging. This is a great job for people who are too young to judge, or those who don't feel comfortable as judges. 

• Tech Help: Even if you don't have room monitors, it's a great idea to have someone ready to handle all technology issues that arise. This is especially necessary in the documentary category, where judges are on a tight timetable to view projects. Your event venue may be able to provide someone. Consider stationing this person near the documentary rooms, and either providing them with a walkie-talkie, radio, or giving the judges their phone number to keep your event running smoothly. You will need this person on-deck during the first and final rounds of judging. 

• Merchandise Sales: If you are selling merchandise at the event, you may want to have a separate volunteer (other than check-in) designated for this role. This person should be comfortable handling money, and understand any special technology they need to make sales.

• Event Information Desk: Even after the event is well underway, it's a great idea to have a volunteer or staff member stationed at an information desk. They should be knowledgeable about the schedule of the event, philosophy of NHD judging, and be able to triage basic problems before bringing you in to handle larger issues.

Your contest would be impossible without judges. The Judges & Judging page includes everything you need to know about recruiting, communicating with, training, and thanking judges.

Supply & Packing Lists

Most Affiliate contests run with a very small staff, so advance planning is essential. In addition to your planning checklist, a supply/packing list is essential to help make your limited time go further. Many things don't need to be packed at the last minute. As you get items ready, put them into bins that are labelled with their final destination. Make sure all your boxes and bins are labeled with their location so others can better help you with set-up. Update your list regularly and, most importantly, save the list so you are ahead of the game next year!

• Minnesota History Day State Packing List

• Maine History Day State Packing List

Event Signage

It's hard to have too much signage for a contest. The good news is that 99% of what you'll need can be created well ahead of the contest. Take a walk through the contest facilities months before your contest and consider all of the points where signage will help people find their way. Don't forget signs leading to and from parking areas. Your host facility may provide some signs for you, or have special rules about where you can/cannot put signs. In addition to way-finding signs, also post things like your contest schedule, room schedules (for each room door), and any policies that are in effect. If you have the time, create a map that you can send in advance to your participants. 

Event Program

If you have the time and funding, an event program is a great way to share essential event information in one place. It's also a great keepsake of the student's participation in the event. Most of the information in the program is known far in advance, so they don't have to be produced at the last minute. These can be handed out as part of student check-in.

• Minnesota History Day event program

• California History Day event program

Your Affiliate program should seek to recognize students at all levels of competition, including both those who are advancing as well as those who are not. The way your program recognizes students is up to you, and should be consistent across events to the greatest extent possible.

Special Awards

In addition to the awards given for the categories of the competition, some Affiliate programs and the National Contest offer special prizes, sometimes called Topical Prizes, that are sponsored by other organizations. Examples include outstanding work in women's history, labor history, the history of WWII, etc. Please see the section on Special Awards for more information.

This section refers to what you want students, teachers and judges to do when they arrive at your event. Check-in has been used here for this purpose to distinguish it from registration, which is what you want students do to in advance of the contest. 

Social Media

Your Affiliate contest is another great opportunity to generate buzz for your program. While you will be busy running your event, there are few things you can do in advance to help this run on its own.

• Get connected. Share your social media account handles with event attendees, and encourage them to tag you or use an event hashtag.

• Preschedule posts. Many posts can be written in advance and even scheduled so they post throughout the day. Judging is starting! View projects online! Finals are posted! Ready for awards!

• Identify moments to share. Make note of those moments that you want to capture in person and schedule those items into your day. A photo of a full exhibit hall, happy people smiling, the view from the awards ceremony, or that the results have been posted. 

Press Releases

Your Affiliate contest is a great opportunity to garner recognition for students and your organization for hosting the event. A press release before the event invites local media to see it for themselves. A press release after the event can announce your national qualifiers. National Qualifier press releases are especially effective when tailored to specific geography of students in their own community. If you are lucky enough to have a Marketing department at your organization, enlist their help. You can also work with the National Office to pull media information in your area. See the Publicity page for more about this.  

• Minnesota History Day Sample Event Release

VIPs

You (or others at your organization) may be interested in using your Affiliate contest as a way to curate relationships with donors, board members, or elected officials. There are several ways to approach this which will give your VIPs the best experience possible, while allowing you to focus on running the event. Given the time limitations of these groups, it's rare to have someone who will be able to spend an entire day at the event, so consider the following options and what would be most effective:

• Judging: For program donors or organizational leadership, judging is the most in-depth way they can learn about your program. If they are new to judging, consider placing them on a panel with an experienced judge who can guide them through the process, and who knows their relationship to the program. FYI: Most elected officials do not want to judge, given the potential situation it puts them in with constituents. 

• Guided Experience: If judging is an in-depth experience, a guided experience is the most broad exposure to the program. Enlist a teacher or other staff member to serve as a tour guide for the time the VIP is at the event. You can create a customized schedule for them in advance that allows them to see projects, and talk to students and teachers. Consider serving them lunch so they an debrief their day.

• Awards Ceremony: While the awards ceremony is most exciting part of the day, it also gives the VIP the most limited look at the program. They wont' be able to see the projects, but will get a sense of excitement from the participants. Rather than announcing names, VIPs may enjoy the enthusiasm (and lack of pressure) in handing out medals or taking photographs with students.

Planning Your Awards Ceremony

Speakers: As you plan your awards ceremony, consider who needs to speak. By this point in the day, participants have been waiting and they want to know the contest results. This is not the time for lengthy remarks from anyone. Try to keep access to the microphone to a minimum. 

• Your host facility may have someone to offer a brief welcome. Your boss might want to do the same. 

• Thank everyone you need to thank.

• Make your important announcements (e.g., how to get up to the stage, that winners should stick around for a briefing about preparing for the National Contest, etc.). 

• Jump right into the results!

• If you have special prize sponsors, invite them to sit on stage and hand their prizes to the students for a photo-op instead of having them announce the winners of their prize. 

Awards Script: You can prepare almost all of your awards ceremony remarks in advance, being sure to print them in a large font that easy to read, other than the contest results! View sample Awards Ceremony notes from Michigan and Minnesota.

Photography: If your budget permits, hire a professional photographer for the awards ceremony. Try getting photos of students in the stands, top finishers (especially in front of a banner from your institution), and special prize sponsors. 

Teacher Awards: The awards ceremony is a great opportunity to recognize your Affiliate-level nominees for NHD teacher awards. Consider preparing a certificate and taking a photo of these VIPs.

Other Awards Ceremony Ideas: Some Affiliates play music to bring up the energy before the awards. Some Affiliates use the "down time" while waiting for results to show previous national qualifier documentaries or filmed performances. 

Winner Packets

In addition to student recognition items (medals, trophies, ribbons, etc.), you will need to prepare several other packets to distribute at awards.

• National Qualifier Materials: National Qualifiers will need to begin the process of registering, preparing their entries, and travel arrangements for the national contest very quickly after your Affiliate contest. This means that these materials must be ready to go for your Affiliate contest. Many Affiliates hand out packets of information, or give links to online documents, at their Affiliate awards ceremony. View the Preparing Students/Entries page for samples of these materials. 

• Special Award Winners: Special award winners will need information on how to redeem their prize, or the prize itself. View the Special Awards page for samples of these materials. 

You will want to share contest results and special award winners outside of the awards ceremony. You can have a template ready to go to post these results, ready to fill in when you are ready, or use the online registration system to generate this information. Most Affiliate programs post this information somewhere on their website, and promote it through social media. 

• zFairs results sample

• Non-zFairs Results Sample: Note how in this sample they are able to include sponsor information about special prizes as an additional way to recognize organizations.

You will also need to follow the instructions from NHD on how to advance your Affiliate contest winners as National Qualifiers. NHD will send these instructions out during contest season, and you will want to do this as soon as possible so your students and teachers can register for nationals.

Your Affiliate contest is a good opportunity to gather data from stakeholders. You can help to show the impact the program has, as well as identify areas for improvement in your event itself. For any audience, you will need to decide how you are distributing the survey, and tabulating the results. View the "Types of Evaluation" section Program Evaluation Page for more information and samples.