Contest Overview

NHD seeks to instill students with a lifelong love of learning about the world around them, which can only be obtained after an understanding of what came before them. NHD seeks to elevate history education to its rightful position of importance in developing students who are well-grounded as well as well-rounded. NHD teaches students to think, to question, to analyze, to apply, and to synthesize information. These skills transcend the study of history and prepare students to become thoughtful and responsible citizens. 

The contest is a way to encourage students to participate in an academic program. The contest, by definition, is a competitive event. Most participants will not get to walk across the stage as a “winner,” so it is equally important to guide students in making the most of the experience. A positive experience, whether a student won or not, will lead to an alumnus who may decide to give back by judging, donating, or supporting your program in many other ways.

The contest year begins immediately after the National Contest and ends in June with the National Contest. There may be up to four levels of competition:

Divisions

• Junior Division: Grades 6-8

• Senior Division: Grades 9-12

• Youth Division: Some Affiliate programs offer a youth division, which is not outlined in the official NHD Contest Rule Book and does not advance to the National Contest. Please see the Youth Division page for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What happens when an entry has students from different divisions? Group members may be in different grade levels, 6-12. Per the NHD Contests Rulebook, the group project must enter the division of the oldest group member. 

• How should students enter when they are from a nongraded school? Students who are coming from a school that is not graded should discuss their registration process with their Affiliate coordinator. Most often, the coordinator will be familiar with the participating schools and can discuss the student's age and other factors with the teacher to determine the appropriate division. The NHD Contest Participation Statement states that a student may participate in the Junior Division for a maximum of three years and the Senior Division for a maximum of four years. 

Group Sizes

Students may create their entries as individuals or groups. For the purposes of contests, individual and group entries do not compete against each other. An individual entry is the work of only one student. A group entry can be created by two to five group members. 

Frequently Asked Questions

• What happens when a group member no longer wants to compete? According to the NHD Contest Rulebook, "once a group project enters the first level of competition beyond the school level, students may not be added or replaced. If the group loses one or more members, even temporarily, the remaining group members are still eligible to compete. This is true even if only one student remains. The project is still a group entry because it reflects multiple students' work. It is up to the event coordinator to decide if group members no longer participating must still pay registration fees. 

• Can entries change group members as they advance through levels of competition? No. According to the NHD Contest Rulebook, "once a group project enters the first level of competition beyond the school level, students may not be added or replaced. If the group loses one or more members, even temporarily, the remaining group members are still eligible to compete. This is true even if only one student remains. The project is still a group entry because it reflects multiple students' work."

• Should judges consider if a group entry was created by only two, compared to five group members? There are no allowances made for different group sizes during judging. Projects created by two or five group members are judged equally against each other. 

Categories

To reduce the potential for miscommunication and increase consistency, you should use the official name for each category. The term “project” is not an exhibit, as it could refer to student work in any category. Coordinators often hear exhibits referred to as “boards,” documentaries as “media” or “films,” and performances as “dramas,” “presentations,” or “plays.”  

• Documentary

• Exhibit

• Paper

• Performance

• Website

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can students change categories between levels of competition? No. According to the NHD Contest Rulebook, "changing categories or topics is not permitted after entering the first level of NHD competition beyond the school level."

An annual theme governs the entry development and evaluation processes to keep the program fresh year to year and encourage creativity and variety in topic selection. The themes are broad enough to facilitate a wide variety in topic selection - from local to national to international history - but narrow enough to enable focus. Themes may be repeated, but never within a seven-year time span so that a sixth grader will see a different theme each year through twelfth grade.

There are many ways to interpret or approach the theme. Students often gravitate to well-known topics, and many of the same topics will be seen at a regional contest.  Encourage students to think creatively. Topics can range from cultural to scientific, as well as politics and military. 

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who picks the annual theme? The theme is set by the NHD National Office. Among other factors, they consider how long it has been since the theme last occurred and the anniversaries of major historical events that may align with the theme. 

• When are upcoming themes announced? The theme for the following year is announced to coordinators only by around December of the previous year, with the official announcement to the public in late spring. This is done to prevent confusion among students and teachers. 

• Do the themes ever change? Are there ever new themes? Yes! Looking at the list of past themes, you will see a core of "tried and true" themes that regularly rotate. There are also themes that have been refined over the years based on experience and feedback from teachers and coordinators. 

All themes have the words “in history” in them. When selecting topics, students are advised to consider topics that will allow for analysis of impact.  

Frequently Asked Questions

• How "old" do topics need to be? There is no formal rule about the age of a topic. You will hear about this myth and are encouraged to explain that the best topics are those for which one can gain historical perspective from historians who have written about the event. The bottom line is that students must justify how their topics are significant in history. NHD urges students to avoid topics that have occurred too recently because those events or ideas are likely too recent to enable historical perspective. However, students can look at current events to assess the ongoing impact of historical events.

• Can teachers limit the topic selection of their students? Yes. Within the structure of the NHD Contest Rulebook, teachers can shape the program's implementation within their classroom, which includes limiting topic selection. They may choose to limit topics to a certain time period, geography, content area, etc., to better fit the course content in which NHD is being used. Teachers may create a list of topics not permitted in their class or require parental/administrative sign-off on topics. Teachers may limit the number of duplicate topics within a contest year. 

• Can students change topic? According to the NHD Contest Rulebook, "changing categories or topics is not permitted after entering the first level of NHD competition beyond the school level. Narrowing and refining topics are permitted and encouraged." Please don't judge if a student did or didn't change their topic based solely on a project's title. Uncovering new research, getting feedback, and revision are all part of the History Day project. Coordinators should look at the project and research to understand if students are truly changing their topic or are advancing through the process of historical inquiry and growth.

The NHD Contest Rule Book is a student's guide to creating an entry and preparing for judging. It stipulates the general rules that pertain to every entry, such as the requirement of an annotated bibliography. It also covers the category-specific rules with detailed rules, including size limits for exhibits, time limits for documentaries and performances, etc. 

Every student must be given access to the Contest Rule Book, either by receiving a printed copy or through a PDF copy, which is available as a free download. Teachers must be informed of its importance, and every coordinator down to the regional level must be familiar with it. Refer directly to the Rule Book when questions arise. When in doubt about NHD rules, contact NHD. Ultimately, NHD's executive director is the final arbiter of all rules. The Rule Book is revised every five years or so. Please keep track of suggested rules changes and share them with the national staff.

Rules and Judging

Rules exist to equalize entries as much as possible. However, through training, judges need to understand that the contest is not about rules. 

• Minor Rule Violations: A minor rules violation should not keep an otherwise worthy entry from advancing unless an equally worthy entry without minor violations is competing for the same place. Minor violations are those that are cosmetic in nature, e.g., misspellings, grammatical issues, etc. These can be fixed. 

• Major Rule Violations: Major violations that provide a competitive advantage should prevent an entry from advancing. For example, an exhibit with hundreds of extra words gives a student a competitive edge, but an exhibit with two extra words does not. Ultimately, whether a rule violation enables an entry to provide additional information is a judgment call to be made by your well-trained judges.

Disqualification

Many students and teachers use the term “disqualification,” but disqualification only applies in limited, specific instances. Disqualification results in removal from the competition (i.e., not being judged and not receiving recognition for the work). Students are not disqualified because their exhibit has too many words or for any rule violations other than the three stated here and in the Rule Book. Be careful to use the term “disqualification” to refer only to the violations that result in disqualification. 

A positive judging experience is the most important thing to get right. The two most important things to know about judging are that judges are a student's primary and most memorable encounter with NHD, and judges are the only variable you cannot control. This is a dangerous combination, but most of the time, it works out just fine. To reduce the potential for judging errors, inappropriate comments, and other problems and to increase the potential for a lasting positive experience for students, judge training is critical. 

View the Judges section of this guide to learn more about:

• What to know before you start

• Judge recruitment and communication

• Judge training and orientation

• How to handle challenging judging situations

If you are looking for examples of contest policies, here are the policies that the NHD National Contest follows.