There are important differences between the terms "regional" and "district" within your Affiliate program. 

Which Term Should I Use?

Old habits die hard. Some Affiliate and Regional coordinators - and definitely some teachers - refer to a Regional Contest as a District Contest because many years ago, the terms were used somewhat interchangeably. If your Affiliate is divided into Regions, please call them Regions. If some or all of those Regions have school districts that also hold contests before Regionals, please call those school-level contests District Contests. Of course, if you have a situation like Minnesota's, described above, then call them as you wish. For the purposes of this guide, we'll use the standard definitions.

Whatever level you are referencing, remember to:

• Be consistent between events. Adopt a similar naming convention that will work across Regional or District contests. Remember to include NHD or National History Day as appropriate, as well as your Affiliate name.

• Be consistent between years. Especially when there is a change of sponsorship, be sure to maintain a consistent name for the contests. This helps teachers and judges to register and identify with the right one(s).

• Be clear with teachers about the contest they are expected to attend. You may need to provide additional materials to guide them or to personally let them know which competition to attend FAR IN ADVANCE of any competition deadlines. Once a program year is underway, do not make any changes to the path that a particular school follows. 

One More Definition of "Region"

In the NHD universe, we have yet another definition of "region." For the purposes of representation on the Executive Council of Coordinators (ECC), all Affiliates are divided into geographic regions made up of several states/territories/countries. There are currently 10 ECC regions. See more in the ECC section of Structure and History.

The number one goal for any National History Day competition is a positive experience for the participating students. Establishing Regional contests will allow you to accomplish this goal by creating a network of accessible and affordable Regional events where students can participate. 

Having Regional contests is beneficial for your Affiliate program, for National History Day, and, ultimately, for the students for several reasons. 

1. They engage the community at a local level. Many community organizations, like local historical societies and colleges/universities, and individuals are looking for meaningful ways to engage with the K-12 community. History Day provides a way to do this through directly running a Regional program, hosting a contest, leading teacher workshops, or judging. 

2. They grow support for your program at multiple institutions. Regional partners and programs share the responsibility and reward for hosting or overseeing the program, building long-term sustainability for NHD that extends beyond just your Affiliate institution.

3. They encourage student revision. The quality of student work improves with exposure to new ideas. These ideas can come from viewing other projects outside of their classmates or from interactions with judges at a Regional contest. Advancing from a Regional to Affiliate contest allows them to implement these changes and new ideas, improving the quality of their projects as well as the overall quality back at their schools in the following year.

4. They stabilize long-term growth in the Affiliate program and contest. When an Affiliate program doesn’t have Regionals, the potential number of entries at an Affiliate contest can cause unpredictable problems. If you allow unrestricted registration or even a limited number of registered entries per category from each participating school, the number of entries at your Affiliate contest can be unpredictable and eventually unmanageable. Regional programs establish a known number of Regional contests from which you can set the number of entries that will advance. This can make your Affiliate contest more predictable in size and, thus, much easier to budget for and plan. 

5. They lead to growth in participation. Schools and families will have shorter distances to travel to Regional contests and, likely, lower registration fees. Your Regional contests will absorb this school-level growth at several Regional contests, leaving your Affiliate contest relatively more stable from year to year.

As you create or restructure your Regions, another consideration is how you will manage them. The management structure for Regional contests and programs varies WIDELY across Affiliate programs. No one approach is the only “right” way. The history of the NHD program in your Affiliate, your institutional capacity, geography, and Affiliate culture will help to determine which approach is right for you. In general, there are three models for managing Regional programs within an Affiliate:

As the Affiliate coordinator, you are responsible for overseeing the network of Regional events, including setting and adjusting Regional boundaries as needed. You likely inherited Regional programs with existing boundaries, but these need to be periodically reviewed as participation changes or new partnerships are formed. When you're ready, grab either your existing map of Regions or print a map of your state/territory/country and dig out your colored pencils. 

When comparing Regionals, it’s important to compare the SCHOOL level participation, not just the contests themselves. Usually, a Regional contest already has registration limits based on space and availability, which may artificially suppress numbers and give you false comparisons. When determining the true pool of students that a Regional is representing, you must look at the school-level data.

Setting Regional Boundaries

In creating boundaries, your goal is to distribute participation as equally as possible so that every school has about the same distance to travel to participate in a contest. An entirely even distribution may not be possible, simply based on population centers, in which case you have some Regions that are larger than others. Regions do not have to be equal in geographic size. Where possible, err on even participation.

As discussed above, boundaries are most commonly geographic, but they could also be based on the type of schools represented at the event or on the school district hosting the contest. 

When thinking about setting geographic boundaries, consider both physical and mental geography. While some geographic boundaries seem clear-cut on paper, you may find that physical and mental geography do not always align. 

• For example: A school may be physically closer to Regional A, they may be mentally aligned to the city in which Regional B takes place. They may take part in other events in this city, roads may be better traveled to this city, or they may be used to doing their shopping in this city. When this happens, a school may want to permanently be assigned to their preferred Regional. 

Keep growth in mind. As regional participation grows, you can divide crowded Regions into two or more additional Regions. 

What happens when a coordinator doesn't agree with the teachers or Regional coordinator? It’s up to you as the Affiliate coordinator to look at the big picture of participation, consider it along with the wishes of your Regional coordinators, and make the final determination on which Regional contest a school should attend. In the end, your best response is to make the decision that facilitates the greatest student participation in the NHD program and Regional contest. 

Planning for Growth in Regional Participation

After each Regional event, it’s beneficial to reflect on the event and make notes about changes or improvements for the following year. One important item to note is the capacity of the Regional event for future years. You may find that an event has too many entries, not enough entries, or a division in which there is no competition. Unless there is an extremely compelling and unavoidable reason, do not change regional boundaries or advancement procedures during the program year. Save that for summer and announce any changes in the early fall.

Adjusting Boundaries: You may need to adjust the boundaries of a Regional to solve a capacity problem at the event. Try to make these decisions with long-term change in mind. Consult with both teachers and Regional coordinators to build buy-in.

Adding a Regional: If a contest is truly at capacity, it is often better to split it into two or more regions rather than further minimize the number of entries a school may send to the Regional contest. The first step is to plot out the schools' geographic spread and participation numbers. You should then be able to determine the most logical geographic location for a new Regional to complement your existing events and begin to recruit a new partner. This process may take a long time to complete. See the Recruiting Regional Institutional Sponsors for more information on recruiting a new Regional institutional sponsor.

• • Keep in mind that there may be hurt feelings between your Regional coordinators when adding a Regional or adjusting boundaries. Adding a Regional will likely involve moving schools from existing Regional contests, which may anger some Regional coordinators who feel you are taking “their schools.” Including them in the discussion process will give them buy-in to your decision, but ultimately, do what is best for the program and the participating schools and students. 

  • Another idea for managing Regional growth is to encourage schools with high participation to hold in-school contests. These will narrow the number of entries vying for a spot in a school's delegation to the Regional contest, provide students with yet another level of judging feedback, and enable the school to celebrate the work of all participating students. Some schools make this a festive event. You and your Regional coordinators do not need to be involved in these. 

Collapsing a Regional: There may be a point at which there are so few students at an event that there is no meaningful competition at the Regional. Some teachers and students find this frustrating, even if it means more students can advance to the Affiliate contest. Do not make the decision to collapse a Regional hastily, as regaining the Regional venue and/or sponsor can be challenging. Consider how far the students will need to travel to reach a different Regional event and if this will prohibit future participation by current or future schools. Building growth from a smaller, existing event can be easier than promising you will add a more convenient event in the future.

Regardless of the management structure, you will need to think through a number of things and develop policies that will apply in all circumstances and across all Regions. You'll find sample policies in this section to help. 

Switching Regionals: A school or individual students may request that they be allowed to switch to a different Regional contest from the one they are assigned. Most frequently, they are facing a major conflict like Spring Break or a school play, which is slated to take place at the same day/time as the Regional contest. Establish a consistent, Affiliate-wide process for handling these requests. Please note that:

• • You are strongly recommended to have firm boundaries between Regions, meaning that each school goes to a designated Regional contest. This yields consistency across the Affiliate and helps all coordinators and teachers to plan accordingly. 

  • Create a policy stating that the boundaries must be honored but that you will consider requests for changes on a case-by-case basis. If you decide to allow a switch for an extenuating circumstance, it’s best to make the decision that will facilitate the greatest amount of student participation in the program and contest. 

    • Examples of requests that you are encouraged to accommodate are religious observances, required testing (e.g., AP exams, SATs, etc.), or medical emergencies. You are encouraged not to accommodate requests based on other kinds of date conflicts (e.g., dance recital, family trip, etc.) And, definitely beware of requests based on the strength of the competition. Do not let schools or individual students choose the region where they think their odds for advancement are better. 

  • Teachers should request the switch FAR in advance to give Regional coordinators enough time to plan for facilities and judge recruitment.

  • If the school should be attending a District contest sponsored by their school district, they generally shouldn’t switch.

  • Regional coordinators can provide input, but you should approve the switch since you are responsible for overseeing the entire system. 

  • If you allow a switch, be clear that it is only for the given year and be able to defend your decision. 

  • Keep in mind that every exception you allow sets a precedent.

A Student Who Lives in One Region but Attends School in Another: NHD's guidance on this is to go with the location of the school where the student is enrolled instead of the student's residence. 

Cyber Schools: While less common, cyber schools will likely have students participating within the geographic boundaries of multiple Regionals. Requiring all students from the cyber school to travel to one Regional will likely place an unfair burden on them. It may be best for you to allow a cyber school to send students to multiple Regional contests based on the geographic location of each entry. If students are working in group entries, they would have to select one Regional contest in which to participate.

Splitting a School between Multiple Regional Contests: If a student or a number of students from a school has a conflict with the date of their assigned Regional, their teacher may ask a Regional coordinator if it’s possible to send some of their students to a different event. Some/most Affiliate coordinators do not allow this on the grounds that it may be seen as allowing a school to “game the system” and possibly have more entries advance to the Affiliate contest than they would if their students competed at one event. Rather than splitting schools between events, work with the teachers to determine the event that works for the majority of students and see if you can arrange for virtual interviews, if allowed, or for an earlier or later judging time for others. In the end, students sometimes have to make tough choices about the activities in which they are able to participate.

Whether you are running the Regionals within your Affiliate through a centralized, decentralized, or hybrid model, it’s good to strive for a consistent experience across your Regional competitions. 

Consistency is easier to accomplish through a centralized model, where you control almost all of the variables related to the Regional contests. Within a decentralized or hybrid model, you will need to build consensus with Regional sponsors/coordinators about event consistency.

Your first priority is to try to enforce consistency in the high-priority areas listed below. It’s “nice” when the low priorities are consistent, but these items are less about fair and equitable competition, which is your highest priority as an Affiliate coordinator. 

High Priority

Strive to set policies and best practices about the following high-priority items for all Regional contests within your Affiliate. You may need to provide tools, calendars, and other logistical support to Regional coordinators to support these priorities.

Adherence to NHD Contest Rulebook: Affiliate coordinators and Regional coordinators, by extension, are bound by the Annual Agreement with National History Day to adhere to the NHD Contest Rulebook.

Use of Basic Event Logistics: Regional coordinators should follow best practices related to event logistics, including, but not limited to, the use of the NHD judging rubrics, NHD judging instructions, the creation of a contest schedule with student interview times and locations, and providing a student-free area for judges to discuss and rank projects.

Registration Using the zFairs System: Encourage your Regional coordinators to use the zFairs online registration system. You may need to provide a level of technical support or work with NHD to set up group training for all of your Regional coordinators. Also, you are encouraged to share the zFairs Guide and videos that NHD provides. Linking all of the Regional event information from your Affiliate program website will make the registration experience easier for students and teachers. Using zFairs enhances consistency across contests for coordinators, students, teachers, and parents. It also comes with built-in data collection, which helps significantly with accurate participation counting.

Registration Fees: Rentals, food, and other event costs may make it impossible for an Affiliate coordinator to enforce a consistent registration fee across all Regional contests. You can, however, strive to work with your Regional coordinators to make sure the event is as affordable as possible.

• • Fee Waivers: Coordinators at some events are able and willing to waive registration fees for students, usually based on an entry-specific request from a teacher or based on a school’s high Free and Reduced Lunch population. Discuss if this is an option with your Regional coordinators and know who is responsible for granting these waivers.

Data Tracking: The growth of an Affiliate NHD program is often based on the long-term nurturing of relationships between teachers and coordinators, both at the Affiliate and Regional levels. It is essential to maintain a database to track data between years and across transitions in program staff, to which both Regional and Affiliate coordinators have access. zFairs enables the counting of contest participation and other contest-specific information. Think of it as a source for essential data that then needs to be exported for analysis and storage. At base, you will want to work with your Regional coordinators to obtain and maintain data on the following: 

• • Participating teacher names, schools, email addresses

  • Participating student and parent names, schools, grade levels, email addresses

  • Participating judge names and contact information

  • School-level student participation data (NOTE: zFairs does not collect complete school-level data because only those registering for a contest will interact with the system. For tips on gathering school-level data and maintaining data privacy, see Data Gathering.)

  • “Leads” for potential recruitment

Event Communication: Work with your Regional coordinator to establish a basic communication schedule with participating teachers/schools about the event. Between the Affiliate and Regional coordinator, teachers should get the following messages. Who will send each message? 

• • “Back to School Greeting:” Introduce the NHD theme and any new program elements from NHD (e.g., rules or rubric changes, etc.), and announce Regional date and registration deadlines, including any pre-registration deadlines, if applicable.

  • Registration Materials: An email containing links to or copies of registration materials and relevant event information, such as parking, maps, and a general event schedule.

  • Registration Deadline Reminder: A reminder about upcoming deadlines about a week in advance will help to minimize the number of late registrations you receive.

  • Tentative and Final Event Schedule: A tentative and final event schedule should be emailed or posted online once they are ready.

  • Event Results: Results should be emailed or posted online shortly after the event.

Judge Training: In order to provide fair and consistent judging, Regional coordinators should use the judge training materials provided by National History Day or an Affiliate-specific version created by you and based on the materials provided by National History Day.

Policies: In addition to consistency in auto-advancement and guidelines on switching/splitting regionals, you should try to develop a consistent set of policies and guidelines that apply to all events in your Affiliate. View sample policies from other Affiliates. 

Low Priority

Consider how each of your Regionals is handling the following items, but it is less essential to the quality of an event if these items vary between competitions. 

• Judge Registration: Where and how are judges signing up to judge at a Regional competition? Is this a common sign-up form for all events within your Affiliate, allowing them to sign up for multiple events? Or does each Regional coordinator have their own form and maintain their own judge database? If possible, try to share access to the database of past judges in case there are transitions between Regional contest sponsors.

• Event Information on Website: Make event information easy for your audience to find. Where can teachers, students, and parents find information about their Regional contest on the web? Do all Regionals have an online presence for event information at the minimum? Is there a common page from which all Regionals are linked?

• Late Registrations and/or Late Fees: The issue of accepting late registrations is a delicate balancing act. We understand that late registrations can cause problems for event coordinators. Students, however, are often not the ultimate cause of late registrations. We must be careful not to punish students for the mistakes of adults. How lenient can event coordinators be in accepting late registrations? Will they apply any late fees for registrations submitted after the deadline?

• Press for the Event: It’s an excellent idea to try to get publicity for your contests. Is an Affiliate or Regional coordinator able to promote the event to local newspapers through a press release?

• Food for Judges: A full and well-caffeinated judge is a happy judge. What are the guidelines on the snacks or meals you want Regional coordinators to provide for judges? What sorts of dietary requests can the event venue accommodate?

• Teacher and Judge Swag: Does your Regional event budget or your Affiliate budget allow you to give them a small gift, such as a button, mug, or t-shirt, or a voucher for coffee at the cafeteria or a teacher breakroom with treats?

• Award Practices: Try to be consistent in the way you are recognizing participants and winners at your Regional contests, including participation certificates, ribbons, or medals for honorable mentions and for those entries advancing to the Affiliate contest. Discuss who can and will purchase or create these materials. 

• Returning Evaluation Forms: Students are anxious for feedback after the contest, and those who are advancing often have a limited amount of time to improve their project. Try to establish a consistent timeline on which evaluation forms will be returned to participating teachers/schools. Who is responsible for sorting and returning these materials?

As the Affiliate coordinator, it is your responsibility to determine the number of entries that advance from Regional contests to the Affiliate Contest. Please allow at least two entries per Region per category. Beyond that, it's up to you. There are two models you can follow to decide how many projects to advance from each Regional:

• Equal Advancement

• Proportional Advancement

Before you can make this decision, there are several factors you should take into consideration. Keep in mind that you may need to revisit these questions every few years as participation changes in your Affiliate. 

• What is the capacity of your Affiliate contest?: You need to know the maximum size of your Affiliate contest - both physically and what you can handle administratively. How many rooms do you have available for the competition? How many exhibits can you hold in your exhibit hall? What is the capacity of your awards ceremony? How many judges can you recruit and fit into your judge room?

• Are there large differences in participation at the school level between your Regional contests?: Look at your past participation data to determine the number of school-level students participating in each of your Regions. It’s possible that some of your Regions may be pulling from schools with significantly higher program participation than other Regions. You may want to acknowledge this by allowing more entries to advance from Regions with higher school-level participation.

• How much time/capacity do you have to determine advancement?: Equal advancement is the easiest model to follow, giving you and your teachers a known quantity of entries to advance. Proportional allotment can be more equitable but requires data gathering, calculations, and additional explanation to teachers. Either way, you'll want the buy-in of your Advisory Committee, especially if you are considering changing your model.

Auto-Advancement

Especially at the Regional level of competition, you will find that there are some categories in which there may be little or no competition for one of the “spots” to advance to the Affiliate contest. This can cause a great deal of debate between coordinators and judges. Should an entry advance to the Affiliate contest - even if the judges feel it’s not of sufficient quality - just because there is no competition and a spot available? This issue is discussed in more detail in the Judges section.

You may find yourself looking for a new institutional sponsor for a Regional program, a host site for a Regional contest, or both. As you do so, consider the benefits of sponsoring a Regional program similar to those of sponsoring an Affiliate program.

Types of Regional Institutional Sponsors

Across the program, many different kinds of institutions sponsor Regional contests and programs, including but not limited to:

• Historical societies or museums

• Colleges and Universities: Within a college or university, the program may be coordinated by the Department of Education, History, Social Studies, the Library/Archives, or a consortium of staff across programs. 

• Community Library or Archives

• School or School District: Be aware of the inherent conflict of interest to have a school participating in NHD as a regional sponsor. Throughout the NHD network, there are schools that sponsor regional contests with teachers as coordinators. Thus, it can be done and done very well; you just need to make sure to mitigate the conflict of interest. See the Conflict of Interest section.

• Volunteers: Some Regional programs are coordinated by volunteers without an official organizational affiliation.

Institutional Qualifications

Look for an institution that has the qualifications you think you need now but also in the future with an eye towards program growth. 

• Can they make a multi-year commitment? This will save you time and allow them to grow in their role and relationships with schools.

• Do they have, or plan to secure, the human resources needed to run the program? This includes a coordinator who can work on the Regional program and contest, recruit judges, and help administer the event. While this is likely not 100% of a position, do their other duties align or conflict with the timeline of History Day?

• If you are looking for a host site, do they have facilities and catering available? How much will these cost - and will this relationship allow you to get them at a discount? Are there activities, like tours, available for students on campus? 

• If they want to grow participation, can they support classroom or teacher outreach? Host workshops? 

• Do they have the capability to fund the Regional program, either through event fees, grants, institutional support, or a combination? Be transparent with them about your event fees and how much flexibility they do or don't have to set their prices to cover costs. 

• What other resources can they leverage? Marketing/PR? Volunteer recruitment? Teacher training staff? How do these align with your expectations?

Roles and Responsibilities of a Regional Sponsor

In: In establishing a Regional program, it’s important to have clear expectations on the role and responsibilities that a Regional sponsor may have and what you will do for them. The scope of engagement that a Regional program may have is highly variable and will likely vary not just between Affiliate programs but even within an Affiliate program itself. Their role depends on your needs as well as their capacity. 

The Regional Contest

At the base level, the Regional sponsor should play a role in hosting and/or coordinating the Regional contest. The Affiliate coordinator and the Regional coordinator must have an open conversation about who is responsible for performing each “task” related to the planning and implementing of a Regional contest. 

• Minimum Regional Role at Contest: Some Regional coordinators only play a minimal role (such as reserving facilities) and leave the rest of the responsibilities to the Affiliate coordinator.

• Maximum Regional Role at Contest: Some Regional sponsors plan and run the entire Regional contest, sometimes with or without the Affiliate coordinator present. 

Promotion

Some Regional sponsors have strong connections to their local K-12 community. They can be one of your greatest assets and play a vital role in promoting and growing the National History Day program in the area. Their role might include:

• Presentations at local K-12 education conferences

• Work with pre-service teachers

• Personal connections with educators

• Cross-promotion of NHD with other K-12 audiences they may serve

Outreach 

If a Regional sponsor has more capacity, an Affiliate program may tap them to outreach to participating students or teachers. This outreach can either support or replace the outreach that an Affiliate coordinator may have the capacity to do themselves. Outreach may include:

• Student Outreach: Introduce the National History Day program or provide feedback to students on their projects. 

• Educator Outreach: Presentations on NHD at schools or district PD programs, host workshops to introduce the program to new educators, or explore a topic in-depth with experienced teachers.

Connection with Local Resources

Depending on the type of institution the Regional sponsor is representing, they may be able to connect teachers and students with additional resources within the community, such as:

• Libraries and Research Opportunities: If the Regional sponsor has a research collection, can they provide you with topic ideas related to the theme? Can they host students individually or on a field trip for library research?

• Mentors/Classroom Volunteers: Some Regional sponsors are connected to college undergraduates or other volunteers interested in working with students one-on-one in the classroom as they research and create projects, not just the day of competition. 

• Judges: Do they have a volunteer network or staff they can tap into to support the Regional level contest and/or school-level judging?

Fundraising

A smaller number of Regional sponsors may be willing or able to fundraise to support the NHD program in their area. Fundraising opportunities may include:

• Covering Regional Contest Costs: A Regional sponsor may be able to solicit cash or in-kind donations to eliminate or minimize the cost of the Regional contest, including food, facilities, printing, etc. 

• Support for Students Advancing to Affiliate/Nationals: A Regional coordinator may want to approach local businesses, community organizations, or judges to support the travel and event costs for students from the area advancing to the Affiliate or National competitions.

• Grants to Support Schools, Outreach, or their Position: Some Regional sponsors may already be applying for larger grants and may be interested in folding National History Day into the scope of those applications, allowing them to fund their position to do more outreach or redistribute mini-grants to schools.

Codifying the Relationship: Formal Agreement or Memorandum of Understanding

As NHD has with Affiliates, you are strongly encouraged to develop a formal agreement with your Regional sponsoring institutions. Feel free to adapt the language of the Affiliate Agreement, and be sure to ask your institution about procedures for legal review before you finalize the document. 

Generally speaking, include the following sections:

• Key Definitions: Program levels, institutional sponsor vs. contest host site, etc.

• Distinction of Authority: Authority can go either way in terms of whose responsibility and when it needs to occur. View the Regional/District Management checklist at the top of this page for possible items to cover.

• Duties and Expectations of Both Parties: Branding, quality control, acknowledgments, professionalism, authority, academic integrity, data collection and reporting, the training to be provided for and by them, where to find resources, purchasing materials and supplies

• Financial Arrangement

• Advancement between levels (how many entries from school to region and region to affiliate)

• Scheduling of Regional Contests and Events

• Term and Termination

• Signatures: Lines for the authorizing executive and the coordinator

• Relevant Policies: Such as Conflict of Interest, judging procedures, a protocol for complaints

Sample Affiliate-Regional Agreements

Once you have a committed Regional institutional sponsor, the next step is to identify the coordinator. The institution may assign someone to the Regional Coordinator role without your involvement, or you may be asked to provide guidance on qualifications. This person may be responsible for all aspects of the job, or they may have the support of others.

As with running an Affiliate program, a Regional program requires several roles:

• Contest Management: This is a core responsibility and involves everything from liaising with you and knowing the ins and outs of NHD to planning the contest event and training judges.

• Teacher and Student Outreach: This role may exist in the same person or it may be someone else who communicates with teachers and plans school visits, conference presentations, library research events, and other events or activities geared toward schools.

• Administrative Support: Frequently an administrative assistant who can support the program both on the contest day as well as preparation and wrap-up. They may assist with reserving facilities, placing food orders, submitting requests for copies, depositing checks, updating the website, or sending invoices.

• Volunteer and Judge Recruitment: May be the same administrative support person, but could also be a separate person who works with organizational volunteers.

• Assistants: Some organizations can provide assistants to support the implementation of the event itself, checking in judges, running a registration desk, or tabulating results. Some assistants are able to assist outside of the competition and may be able to help with data entry, schedule creation, sorting comment sheets, and other administrative tasks.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of NHD: Having a background in the NHD program is beneficial, but this is not required and can be learned. 

• Multi-Year Commitment: In a perfect world, a Regional coordinator would serve for multiple years, saving you time in training and building institutional memory. Some institutions may want to rotate faculty or graduate students through the coordinator role. If this is the model they want to use, try to encourage overlap so the Regional sponsor becomes self-sufficient in training successors.  

• The Right Mix of Skills: The perfect Regional coordinator is a unicorn with an almost impossible-to-find mix of skills. No one person will have these all. Try to strive for someone who is organized, has attention to detail, is technologically literate, can follow instructions, is flexible, has strong interpersonal and team building skills, is humble, sees their role through a customer service focus, has strong communication skills, is dedicated, and works well under pressure.

• Consideration of Resources: A strong Regional coordinator has a professional or personal network into which they can tap to support the program. Being part of a larger institution, such as a museum or college/university will allow them to do this.

Your Role with Regard to The Regional Coordinators

Serving as a primary conduit of information.

• Between the Affiliate program and Regional coordinators: Providing regular updates about what is going on with the program at the Affiliate level

• Between Regional coordinators: Providing opportunities for Regional coordinators to network, learn together, and build community

• Between Regional coordinators and participating teachers: Ensuring that participating teachers are getting relevant and timely communication about Regional contests

• Between the National History Day and participating teachers: Communicating key program messages from National History Day to participating teachers within the Affiliate program

• Between National History Day and Regional coordinators: Communicating key questions or concerns from NHD to Regional coordinators, or vice versa

Setting regional boundaries and rules about advancement from school to region and from Region to Affiliate.

Setting expectations for Regional Coordinators.

• Must they attend the Affiliate contest? If yes, what will they do there? Will you pay for their travel?

• What data must they collect and report, and when?

• Must they use the Affiliate program logo on all of their materials?  Can they create a Regional logo?

• Are meetings for all Regional coordinators required? Will you pay for their travel if these are in person?

• What are their protocols to follow for things like questions about the program, handling complaints, or special requests from teachers.

Training your Regional Coordinators.

Holding regular meetings for all Regional Coordinators. 

• At minimum, annual meetings will help to keep your Regional coordinators engaged and informed about relevant issues within the NHD program. The best time of year and the frequency of these meetings is up to you. Consider holding most of them virtually to save on costs and time. 

• At these meetings, provide updates from NHD, discuss the distribution of resources to teachers, theme information, contest registration system, rules changes, etc. Also, enlist their help in planning some aspects of the Affiliate contest, like special prizes. Ask them to share their questions and concerns. Ask for their advice about changes that you are considering, especially those that affect them directly, like changes to entry advancement between levels or regional boundaries. 

Problems

Clear communication and advance planning can alleviate many problems between the Affiliate and Regional coordinators. Problems, however, will arise. Most commonly, these problems include:

• Succession and Sustainability: Does the institution have a plan for when a Regional coordinator moves on?  Does anyone else know the job? Is the Regional coordinator keeping good records? How happy is the institutional leadership with running the program?  If there is a hiring gap between coordinators, are you prepared to step in and run the contest in the interim?

• Conflict of Interest: If the regional coordinator has competing students, what is the mitigation plan? 

• Removing a Regional Coordinator: Remember that you cannot fire a wayward Regional Coordinator. When and how do you address concerns? If you feel removal is the best option, how do you communicate that effectively?

• Removing a Regional Sponsor: Having an annually-signed agreement will help you immensely with a situation where you want to sever a relationship with a regional sponsor. 

• Financial Challenges and Fundraising: If a Regional program is supposed to fund itself, what role do you play in helping or in shoring up a region that is struggling?

• Regional Disagreements Among Coordinators: Good and frequent communication will help you with this one. You can solve any problem much more easily if you know about it early.

• Problems with Authority: Your agreement and setting the parameters early in the relationship will help you here. If you've inherited an existing regional structure and have a Regional coordinator who doesn't respect your role, do what you can to establish those boundaries and build your relationship with that person. 

• Negotiating Change within a Region: By building solid relationships with your Regional sponsor and the coordinator, you will be better able to request changes.

• Lack of Attention to Contest Best Practices: schedules and number of projects per judging team, mixing entry types.

• Complaints About a Regional Coordinator: These are tough. Tread carefully and think through your options before taking action. Check in with Kim at NHD for advice and always keep your supervisor in the loop.