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FAQ

Each year, students around the world discover history through National History Day® (NHD) by creating historical research projects. Here are some of the commonly asked questions. More can be found here.

General Contest Questions

You may absolutely participate even if your school is not. We need your parent/guardian or a school staff member to serve in the role of teacher for the registration and contest proces

Have your teacher contact our regional contest. It is likely that your teacher hasn’t registered for the contest yet and we can help with that.

You can still participate in the contest if some members of your group may need to miss the contest day. There is an expectation that the missing contest members would be available for the next level of competition if your project advances. The project cannot become an individual project after it has been researched and prepared by a group.

Not necessarily. You must be present for the interview time with judges. We advise you to register and arrive 15 minutes before your interview time.

If you are in the exhibit category, you must be registered and have the exhibit set up before the contest judging begins (approximately 9:00 a.m.).

If you are in the performance or documentary category and a second round (run-offs) of judging is needed, you will need to be present for that as well.

We do provide downtime activities and dining options for the times you are not presenting your project.

Final rounds are essentially a second round of judging. Due to number of entries we need to divide the projects into multiple groups so it is not just one judge team judging 20 junior group exhibits or watching 12 senior individual documentaries. These multiple groups each send on their top few projects to a “final round” or “second round” of judging to determine the regional or state finalists.

Depends on their category.

REGIONALS:

  • Paper, Website, and Exhibit* = WILL NOT know whether they made final rounds or not (there are no interviews in final round)

  • Documentary and Performance* = WILL know whether they made final rounds as they need to be present to showcase their project in-person (there are no interviews in final round)

*Keep in mind there may not be a final round at every regional since final rounds depend on number of entries. Check the program to see categories with final rounds.

As you move through the NHD contest levels, you are able to revise and adjust nearly everything about your project. The only thing you cannot change is the topic; adding new group members; and moving between individual and group categories.

Documentary Category Questions

Yes. The documentary judging is open to anyone who would like to view the project.

We highly recommend you create and present your documentary as a mp4 file on a flash drive to ensure it will work even if the Internet fails.

We highly recommend you create and present your documentary as a mp4 file on a flash drive to ensure it will work even if the Internet fails.

No. Our contest site has all the equipment needed for sharing documentary project

Exhibit Category Questions

Yes, the title page, process paper, and bibliography are considered separate from the exhibit. Entries must follow the 500-word limit for the exhibit itself as well as the 500 word limit for the process paper.

No. You can design your exhibit however you desire to fit with your project content. Keep in mind, the key element judges will use to evaluate your project is historical content and analysis. If something is creatively amazing, but lacks depth of content, it will likely not be considered a strong project.

Paper Category Questions

No. The paper judging is closed. There are options available throughout the day to share your paper with others.

Illustrations are acceptable. Captions do not count in the word total. Make sure that illustrations are directly related to the text, and don’t overdo them. A paper project heavy on illustrations may end up being too light on analysis and interpretation.

Various types of creative writing (for example, fictional diaries, poems, etc.) are permitted, but must conform to all general and category rules.

Yes. You still must prepare a process paper.

Performance Category Questions

You can make up characters to make a broader historical point, but don’t make up history.

Yes. The performance judging is open to anyone who would like to view the project.

We do not have a secure storage location for props. It is best if you plan on returning them to your vehicle.

Website Category Questions

Your entire site is limited to 100 MB of file space per the National NHD office.

Yes. Process papers in pdf format must be included in the actual website and part of the navigational system.

No. The website judging is closed. There are options available throughout the day to share your website with others.

Probably. You will need to contact us and we will can see if the National NHD office can convert it for you.