National History Day

National History Day is an annual competition for students, grade 6-12, where they present their historical research projects to qualified judges at the regional level.

What is National History Day?

At Missouri State University students compete for a chance to advance to state and, hopefully from there, to the national contest. MSU’s Department of History is proud to sponsor History Day in our region.

Every year, around 300 students from over 15 schools in Springfield and surrounding areas participate in the contest by designing a website, putting on a performance, writing a historical paper, creating a documentary, or curating a museum-like exhibit. Their projects range in topics from local history to global issues, and are judged by our faculty, history graduate assistants, and other qualified members of the community.

Get involved

Teacher helps student set up NHD project

Educators

Become an NHD teacher

Students

Create an NHD project

Judges

Become an NHD judge

History majors

Volunteer while in college

Upcoming National History Day

March 1, 2024

The History Day competition will be held in person on March 1, 2024. This format follows the state and national levels. The deadline to register for this event is February 12, 2024. Students competing in the website and historical paper categories must submit their completed project by this date. Students in the documentary category must submit their work in progress at this date as well; please note they are allowed to make changes to their project up until the day of the contest. Students in the exhibit and performance categories are not required to submit anything prior to the contest.